SnowGlobe guaranteed in SLT through 2018

By Kathryn Reed

Preserving the new field is more important to South Lake Tahoe officials than a long-term contract with the promoter of SnowGlobe.

The five City Council members agreed to extend the three-day music festival contract through 2018. The prior deal went through this year. (The event is Dec. 29-31.) The promoter wanted a 10-year deal.

SnowGlobe promoter Chad Donnelly did not get everything he wanted from South Lake Tahoe. Photo/LTN

The electeds are worried what the impact will be of 15,000 people on the field for three consecutive days. The city is in the process of constructing a new ball field near the community field off Al Tahoe Boulevard. Grass will be planted next spring. So, for this year all that will be impacted is dirt.

Even though there has always been a clause in the contract about the need for Chad Donnelly – the promoter of SnowGlobe – to repair any damage, in the past the festival has been on artificial turf.

Donnelly also wanted the council to pony up more money to keep the festival in town. Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority already gives $50,000 annually to SnowGlobe.

Donnelly spewed numbers at the council without any supporting evidence. He said it costs upward of $4 million to stage the event, that gross revenues from ticket sales is about $3.5 million, that he has invested at least $14 million in the last four years, and the economic impact to the South Shore has been between $17 million and $22 million.

While he said he plans to have an independent economic analysis done, no time line was presented to do so.

He wanted more money from the city – cash – and for the city to help more with the cost of transportation and garbage pick up. On a 3-2 vote (Councilmembers JoAnn Conner and Hal Cole were in the minority), the council agreed to give Donnelly $30,000 in cash in 2017, $35,000 in 2018 and to split the garbage-transportation expenses as long as the city does not spend more than $50,000 total.

Donnelly said he will be back at a future date to discuss bringing more events to the ball field, saying they might not all be music.