The next Great Bend Airfest will take place in 2028 as the event moves from every three years to every four years. Changes in Airfest, June Jaunt and Party in the Park were all discussed Monday night by the Great Bend City Council.
No binding action was taken; the work session began after adjourning from the agenda meeting. The work session also included discussion about how year-end transfers to capital projects may be allocated.
Airport Manager Martin Miller joined the discussion on the air show. The cost for Airfest was $272,000, and the City can’t count on receiving all of the donations it received for the 2024 show. Miller estimated that in three years, counting for inflation, the same show would cost $312,000.
Funds came from the City, ticket sales and donations, plus $23,000 in COVID funds that won’t be available again.
The reasoning behind putting four years between shows was that the City could set aside $50,000 a year from the general fund, providing $200,000. The other option would be a smaller show, but the consensus was that Airfest needs to maintain its high quality of air acts and ground entertainment. Councilman Cory Urban asked about the possibility of going bigger and better, perhaps booking the Thunderbirds in 2029.
“These shows are as good as shows that are 50,000 to 100,000 in attendance, and we can’t pull that,” Miller said.
Rain affected ticket sales and attendance. “We might have lost 1,000,” Martin said of ticket sales.
The possibility of taking out insurance against weather-related issues was discussed but Miller said getting an insurance payout based on a weather event would be difficult.
“They’re only going to account for rain. We had wind; we didn’t see a parachute jump.” He added, “You’re not going to get a quote right now, for three or four years down the road, anyway.”
City Administrator Logan Burns mentioned Miller’s role in coordinating a successful Air Show.
“If you ask me, that event doesn’t even run without Martin, just because of the connections that he has and being able to put on the show.”
Miller responded that the performers do like the way Great Bend does its show.
Party in the Park, June Jaunt
June Jaunt should be re-branded as the Big Bend Bash, merging with Great Bend Economic Development’s Great Bend Alive efforts, the council agreed Monday after a presentation by City Coordinator Christina Hayes. That means the City’s allocation for June Jaunt will be reduced, leaving more money for Party in the Park.
For 2025, the City has allocated $22,000 for June Jaunt and $35,000 for Party in the Park.
No binding action was taken, but the consensus was to allocate $15,000 for a kids zone at the Big Bend Bash and assist GBED with the rest of the festival, and add $7,000 to Party in the Park for a total of $42,000.
“It was the City Council’s goal 14 years ago to create two or three signature festivals for Great Bend as a gift to our citizens and businesses – festivals that could thrive without requiring City staff to seek sponsorships year after year,” Hayes reported. That led to the creation of June Jaunt to kick off the summer and Party in the Park as the end-of-summer bash.
June Jaunt is part of a series of festivals along K-96, from Tribune to Ellinwood, but most communities have dropped it and Great Bend has the biggest festival. Big Bend Bash would be a re-branding. The kids zone would keep the “good old-fashioned family fun” in the courthouse square.
“We would take out the vendors from the square, and it would go into the consumption district. We would take out the bands, and either it would go into the consumption district or she (GBED President Sara Arnberger) has plans to host a big concert inside the Crest Theater. Our piece is really just the kids’ activities. I could still hire a juggler or a magician or fire breathers, or we could still do an outdoor movie. The big jumbo games could still be used,” Hayes said.
“Great Bend Alive would be taking on the beer gardens. They would be taking on all that extra stuff because they want to make it their fundraiser.”
The added funding toward Party in the Park would help with rising costs. Items that need to be nailed down include the future location of the mud volleyball tournament and whether or not to continue having fireworks at the end. One possibility discussed for mud volleyball is to use land owned by the City on Foxglove Street in Amber Meadows to keep it close to Veterans Memorial Park.
