SnowGlobe still in search of permanent location
By Kathryn Reed
Where will the stages for SnowGlobe 2015 be located?
That is a question many people would like answered.
Promoter Chad Donnelly has a three-year contract with South Lake Tahoe to bring the three-day music festival to the city. While this is the fourth year for SnowGlobe, it is the first year of the latest contract.
A big condition of the contract is that the ball fields adjacent to Lake Tahoe Community College can only be used in subsequent years if it’s deemed the artificial turf can sustain such activity. That answer won’t be known until the spring.
SnowGlobe is returning to the ball fields next to Lake Tahoe Community College Dec 29-31. Photo/LTN file
“Last year the team thought the field could only take one more year. And because the college is using it for soccer, it is getting used for that as well,” City Manager Nancy Kerry told Lake Tahoe News.
The city and college own the field. However, when it was built with what was Measure R money, the taxpayers agreed to the measure with the belief it was a community ball field.
Now the college is adding to the wear and tear by having resurrected the men and women’s soccer programs. A question is whether LTCC should be contributing to the maintenance costs of the field. Plus, there is money in the just approved Measure F that deals with fields.
“When it comes to the field where SnowGlobe is happening, the city is in the driver’s seat, as the community field is under the control of the city, not LTCC. We just have first right to scheduling for our programs,” Kindred Murillo, LTCC president, told Lake Tahoe News.
If the field were replaced during the life of the SnowGlobe contract, a new venue automatically has to be found. When the field is replaced, funds will come from what is now Measure R.
“We really need an event location in town,” Kerry said. “And with Hard Rock coming on line, we’d really like to keep it on the South Shore. We will explore any option if we can’t have it on the field. To lose it to another location would be disappointing for economic reasons as well as we have it running smoothly.”
Donnelly would also like to keep it within the city limits – especially since that is whom he has the contract with. He said it is premature to be discussing the possibility of moving the festival across the state line.
“In a perfect world I don’t necessarily know that it is the best fit (at LTCC). I love the location and our partners there and there are things that make it very special, but there are a few different places that could potentially add to the experience,” Donnelly told Lake Tahoe News.
He would not reveal what other locations he might prefer.
One thing that needs to be taken into consideration is the festival keeps growing. In the first year about 9,000 people attended each night. This year Donnelly is predicting close to 15,000 per night.
Donnelly said the growth is a “testament that people like the city of South Lake Tahoe, the festival, and the opportunity to ski and snowboard.”
Discussions about changing locations will take place between Donnelly and the city when he is here later this month for SnowGlobe. Also on the table is the possibility of bringing a summer festival, with a different music genre, to town.
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Notes:
• SnowGlobe is Dec. 29 from 3-11pm, Dec. 30 2:30-11pm, and Dec. 31 2:30pm-Jan. 1 at 1:30am.
• The city’s hot line is already up and running – 530.542.6001.
• There will be fireworks all three nights.
• Tickets are still available.
* The airport, with mandatory shuttle service (so no-one under the influence is on our roads).
* The TaHole (back of the new retail shops). Put down an outside event center there, adjacent to all kinds of lodgings, Heavenly Village, etc… and stage all kinds of events there (aerial ski shows; music venue; snow-park (tubing, etc.). The space is just sitting there, and likely will not be built out for YEARS. We don’t need a convention center – we need an “event center”! Let’s think outside of the box! All the commotion will be where it belongs, and most transportation will not be necessary, as it will sit in the heart of lodging! It could be the SLT version of the Mountain View Shoreline Pavillion… and bring revenue to SLT all year long! The outside venue would make the Nevada venues look like what they are – parking lots!
Irish Wahini, I’m with you 100% and I’d add a few things. Bus service out to the airport and beyond. Out to the Apache neighborhood and to Christmas Valley.
Maybe Vail could provide a shutte sevice from Meyers to Kirkwood for all those skiers that love the steep and deep at “the wood”.
Also I’ve thought for years since the hole sat vacant for so long, it would be an excellent location for an outdoor event center like an amphitheater with live music, plays, comedy, and with proper planning and design, could also be used as a sledding hill in the winter. Plus it’s within city limits, hopefully increasing revenue for the city and creating employment
for locals and a good place for vistors and locals alike, to enjoy our beautiful town!
Let it snow! Bing Crosby from the film “White Christmas”???
OLS, Old Long Skiis, or just ol Bob
The hole has far too much investment/debt to be used for an out door event center $200,000,000 +.
I love the idea of being next to the lodging, parking, bathrooms ….etc.
The Bills property sold for less than $6,000,000. The area has been turned into a tacky two story strip mall. Most people don’t know about the large parking lot in the rear.
People could park at the casinos and use the underground tunnel for access.
Look how much better the area looks like after they removed the old entrance to the Ho. Let the sun shine in.
Sunriser, sunk costs are ignored in decision making. The Net Present Value of the proposed development is the only thing that matters.
I’ve seen little published with regards to the organizer approaching the outdoor concert area used during the summer in the Harvey’s parking lot. I don’t believe that venue held the 9 to 15 thousand predicted but it did hold say 5 to 7 thousand. The parking lot behind the remodeled Horizon, now known as Hard Rock, and the lot behind Harvey’s are owned by the same group of the Park Family. A SnowGlobe event could utilize the combined lots to handle their crowds.
The downer to that would be lost revenue to the City of SLT as the event would be held in Nevada.
Irish W. I agree! A paved place like the airport would be almost perfect. There would be noise and it would bother some residences. That’s gonna happen anywhere.
Moral,
Take a look at build-able lot prices. Multiply that by 350 +/-. The condos will be built. The last approved plans for a convention center included a 2,000 “concert seating” building. Smaller than the old High Sierra room.
I vote for the airport as the venue to use for snow globe. Give this spot a real purpose and calflight is right there for the emergencies that might arrise.
Agree with all above. Snowglobe needs to be centralized where it belongs – at the stateline. This is the only place where all the noise and commotion that this type of event generates will provide a peaceful coexistence with the residents of the community. Lets do something for the locals on this one and improve the quality of life here.
Id like to see SnowGlobe use local transportation companies instead of outsourcing. Why aren’t the local transportation companies being used for Snowglobe in addition to companies from the Bay area? I thought this event was about creating revenue for Tahoe and local businesses? There will be tons of rogue (illegal)drivers capitalizing on the event & the very controversial Uber is advertising that they will be in Tahoe for the festivities. Uber is not allowed in Nevada, they have been banned. The major after parties are in Nevada. They also do not comply with local, state and federal transportation regulations. (Drug testing, background checks, adequate insurance). In the future, it would be nice to see the concerts closer to where the after parties are and see the promoters using more local businesses.
Not sure the critters will enjoy Snow Globe when Lake Tahoe Wuldlife Care goes in pretty much across the street from the ball fields in the next year or so! Talk about jolting the bears out of hibernation!!!! Pretty much thought it would be moving to another venue by then!
Interesting that the ballfield is now being used by the college. The college absolutely refused to allow their parking to be used for that ballfield when it was built. Now, they want to share. How nice. Maybe they will build an event venue for Snowglobe with their newfound fortune.
Obviously, the City has to pay for a new venue, build it (with a grant, of course… LOL) and supply everything necessary so that a few can profit from the event. Citizens? Hah, we don’t care about citizens, they can just suck it up.
As far as it being necessary to keep the event in California so as to “keep the revenue”. The notion is absurd. If 15,000 people come to South Lake Tahoe, there is nowhere near enough capacity in Nevada to handle 15,000 additional people’s lodging, food, groceries, gas, etc. The area benefits from people spending money, regardless of the state line. Clearly, there are far more affordable services in California than are available in Nevada.
Just my opinion.
Is there any potential to hold SnowGlobe at Camp Richardson, maybe on the side of the street where the Renaissance Faire is held?
Littleone and nature bats last, I’ve asked a city council person to let us use the airport parking lot and terminal for rib cook offs featuring local cooks ans have local entertainment providing the music. How about a local art show in the vacant terminal? The council person looked into it and was told , NO! By the powers that be controlling what goes on out at the airport.
Too bad really, the parking lot is almost always empty and the terminal, other than the occasional meetings, sit empty.
No wonder the county sold it to the City of South Lake Tahoe for the grand sum of one dollar! The county saw it was an albatross around its neck and unloaded it.
So I say since it’s not used much, let’s make better use of whats already there. Concerts, Art shows, Car shows, Antique shows with appraisals by experts of their value, programs for kids, etc,etc.
As far as the original topic, if LTCC wants to continue to use the field for SnowGlobe let them peel off some of the taxpayer money they are getting to replace the plastic grass that has been destroyed.
Hopefully they use real grass this time, not fake plastic grass. Real grass, with care, will last much longer.
So party on SnowGlobers, and let’s just hope nobody dies or gets raped this year. OLS
Care… where would the expected 15,000 people park, even assuming that transportation were provided? What would Emerald Bay Road look like if we got a typical winter storm?
The airport creates the same problems: limited parking and single-lane access to our entire town that would presumably be blocked for hours three days in a row, at one of our busiest times of the year.
There are no easy solutions but if the powers that be open their tightly closed minds the opportunities for resolving this are there.unfortunatly, someone and some neighborhoods will be impacted. There is really no way around that issue. The airport really does have most of the ammenities needed. IMHO
SnowGlobe would be a non-aviation use and wouldn’t be approved by FAA. Get over it. Unless they weren’t told about it but then they’d find out.
The sand pits on the north side of Twin Peaks (by the Y) could be repurposed into a year round concert/event facility. The USFS might prefer an environmentally superior land use there, and the immediate neighbors are all industrial or warehouse uses. It would a nice setting if properly developed.
The sand pit is one of the VERY few places in the basin where people can ride dirt bikes and go 4-wheeling. Don’t even THINK about taking that away. The dirt bike community puts a lot of effort into that place. Every time we turn around, the envirovengers are kicking them out of more “public lands”. You won’t be happy till they’re all gone, will you? What will California do without all the revenue from the green stickers??
The soccer field is already destroyed after the last three years. One more year of snowglobe and it will have to be replaced or they will have to move the soccer team.
What do you think of this idea? Drop Snowglobe and let the residents enjoy their well earned Holiday Peace and Quite!
how bout this…. says: What a novel idea. Love it!!
Snowglobe should be moved to where ever it has the least impact on residents. I already go out of town every year on New Years just so I don’t have to deal with all the drunk punks. Surfin’ is always good on New Years!!
Gee dog, take a chill pill. No one is gonna take away the destructive ohv folks little slice of pie. Your rabid accusations are pretty YAWN
Everybody should look south to Mammoth and see how they successfully conduct their many music festivals throughout the year. The Bluesapalooza for one is a 3 day (this year 4 day) festival held the first weekend in August every year. I bring this one in particular up because it is an exceptionally loud volume outdoor venue in a residential area. On Saturday it also features unlimited beer tasting from over 80 microbreweries. All of the ingredients for disaster as the naysayers would believe. This event and may others similar are produced year round in the community. Like South Tahoe there are plenty of accommodations for the attendees. Unlike Tahoe, it has a highly efficient FREE transportation system which actually services the entire community which helps mitigate potential alcohol/motor vehicle incidents.
Different events use different venues throughout the year. The events are embraced and yes tolerated by the community for the exceptionally large influx of cash and jobs generated.
It is time for the individuals who are against events in the community to come together with those who support them to find ways and venues that are acceptable to all so we can promote more revenue generating events in South Tahoe. No matter what you believe, we are a tourist economy and we need to do everything we can to encourage more tourist related events for a more healthy and vibrant community.