Chamber of Commerce fundraiser still successful, executive
director says
Morgan Hill – A surge in expenses pushed down profits from the city’s trademark Taste of Morgan Hill festival last September 26 percent from 2004, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Dan Ehrler has revealed.
Responding to a public information act request filed by The Times, Ehrler said the event grossed $225,425, up from $184,446 in 2004. But expenses rose even more dramatically, from $100,348 in 2004 to $162,832 this year.
Ehrler had previously declined to release the event’s financial information. Last week, The Times requested the information be released under Internal Revenue Service law, which requires nonprofit organizations to release financial records to any member of the public.
In response, Ehrler relayed the information by e-mail to The Times and chamber membership late Friday afternoon. He said the chamber “genuinely believed it was for their internal uses, only” and disclosed that net revenue was $62,601, down from $84,098 last year.
Despite the tumble in earnings, Ehrler called the event a huge success considering the array of changes organizers made to the 16th Taste of Morgan Hill.
“It was a success because of what we learned from this year of firsts,” he said, “which will result in the opportunity to go back to the drawing board to fine-tune what was done in preparation for a very special centennial Taste of Morgan Hill.”
Ehrler said the $62,000 increase in expenses was due to a large jump in the cost of tent rentals as well as expanded police and street maintenance costs and permitting fees.
“There are a lot of things we’re paying for,” he said.
Taste of Morgan Hill is the chamber’s largest fundraiser and an opportunity for local businesses and artisans to show off the city’s charms to more than 40,000 people.
For the first time, the 2005 festival was limited to Morgan Hill restaurants and businesses, and several arts and crafts vendors were pushed aside to make room for downtown businesses. The first 15 events featured restaurateurs and caterers from up and down South Valley.
With the changes, there were glitches. Many participants interviewed in September praised the event, other vendors told the Times recently that it was unorganized and too spread out, hurting vendors at the Community and Cultural Center. Several food vendors were stationed at the center for the first time this year.
“The experiment at the cultural center didn’t go nearly as well as planned; however, the chamber was also extremely accommodating to the people at that area,” said Michael Castelan, owner of Poppy’s Fish, Poultry & More. “If we as a group had marketed better we would have had a better turnout.”
Castelan said several food vendors have banded together to begin planning for the next scheduled for September 2006, as the city celebrates its centennial. And the chamber will begin planning next year’s festival in January, two months earlier than normal.
“There are a lot of different things we’re going to be looking at in terms of what may need tweaking for next year,” Ehrler said. “I’m looking to firm up that decision making as soon as we can.”
The event will also once again be restricted to Morgan Hill vendors.
“That’s our intent,” Ehrler said. “There was a lot of enthusiasm from food vendors. We’re hoping that people who participated will come back and that others will want to join them.”
