Event production company becomes COVID-19 victim while Freedom Fair goes virtual
Before the COVID-19 pandemic snuffed out public events in Tacoma and the rest of the world, it looked like the city might get two July 4th festivals in 2020.
The city ended up with none.
Now, the producer of one of those events and many others around Puget Sound has gone out of business, a victim of the pandemic. The other is coming out with a virtual Independence Day event — just in time for Christmas.
The Tacoma Events Commission, which put on the Freedom Fair and Air Show for 40 years, is releasing its “2020 Virtual Tacoma Freedom Fair and Air Show” online on Nov. 28, executive director Gary Grape said this week.
The commission, a nonprofit, declined to bid on the new version of Freedom Fair, renamed T-Town Family 4th, after Metro Parks Tacoma announced in 2019 that it was partnering with the city to put on the event and was moving it to Dune Peninsula at Point Defiance Park.
The Events Commission announced in 2019 that it was still going to produce a scaled down Freedom Fair in 2020. The contract for the T-Town event was given to Issaquah-based Festivals Inc. in early 2020.
Then, the coronavirus came calling.
On May 11, Metro Parks announced that it was postponing the event until later in the summer.
But that announcement came before the second coronavirus wave in July — largely attributed to Independence Day gatherings — and the event was never held.
Festivals Inc., which also put on Taste of Tacoma and the Bite of Seattle, went into receivership in October, said Brett Gorrell, the company’s president.
“In the end, there goes 20 years of my life of blood, sweat and tears doing what it took to put on these amazing free community festivals,” Gorrell told The News Tribune Thursday.
Devastated festival industry
While the website for Festivals Inc. is no longer active, the company said it had been in business for 38 years. Founder and CFO Alan Silverman led a team of six full-time employees. Silverman died in December.
“The live event industry worldwide has been destroyed and the trickle-down effect for the communities they serve is a travesty,” Gorrell said. “So many people and businesses out of work and many closing up shop and shutting down events permanently.”
The company also produces Oktoberfest Northwest at the Washington State Fair Events Center in Puyallup. It too, was canceled this year. State Fair spokeswoman Stacy Van Horne said it was too soon to make decisions about Oktoberfest 2021 or with what company the fair would be co-producing the event.
Gorrell said the combination of event permit restrictions, public health directives and state restrictions on large events and gatherings doomed the company’s events.
“I am truly confident in knowing that we did absolutely everything possible — within our control — to survive this worldwide pandemic,” Gorrell said.
The company did not receive state or local funding to put on Taste or Bite, he said.
“We have put on these events at our own risk for over 38 years and are incredibly proud of that record,” Gorrell said.
Gorrell said the company completed a significant amount of work for T-Town Family 4th, giving the city and Metro Parks a head start on the 2021 event, if it happens.
That remains to be seen, said Metro Parks regional parks manager Phedra Redifer.
“It’s really too early for us to even project out in ‘21 what the community event scene will look like,” she said Thursday.
Vendors who paid fees for the T-Town event have been refunded, Redifer said. It was unclear how much sponsor money had been returned.
“We made significant efforts to support our sponsors via our media, social, etc.,” Gorrell said. “We have had a long-standing reputation of over-delivering for our sponsors and the vast majority were understanding of the situation.”
While some vendors have apparently been refunded, Gorrell would not comment on the company’s refunding status, citing the receivership.
Gorrell said he hoped the copyrighted trademarks for Taste of Tacoma would find a new home.
Virtual event
The online event the Events Commission has created features a 60-minute film, interactive exhibits and activities. Like the real Freedom Fair, it has fireworks, military jets, Camp Patriot, a car show, music and entertainment.
The “event” goes live at noon, Nov. 28 and will be available until noon, Dec. 31. It’s free to access but some interactive features, like games, might charge a fee, Grape said. Details were still being worked out this week.
Like Metro Parks, Grape said the nature of the pandemic makes it too difficult to start planning for 2021. He said the odds of having a July 4th festival were 50/50.
Grape said the Tacoma Events Commission will consider bidding for T-Town Family 4th in 2021 if Metro Parks puts out a request for proposal.
While the relationship between Metro Parks and the Events Commission was strained in 2019, Grape now calls it amicable.
“We’d love to do it,” Grape said of T-Town Family 4th. “The biggest problem we had last year, when we didn’t want to even bid on it, is that after getting the RFP we see that they totally dismantled Freedom Fair, as we knew it through the years, and moved it completely off the waterfront.”
Redifer said the Events Commission could apply for the 2021 producer role but said they wouldn’t get any special treatment.
“If and when we do issue another RFP, they are certainly welcome to submit a proposal just like everybody else would,” Redifer said.
This story was originally published November 13, 2020 at 2:15 PM.
