It takes a long time to plan and coordinate a community event, and with that there are a lot of unanswered questions on how to start and how to execute one, be it a gala, an outdoor party, a festival or a parade.

Those community events are good for the city. They not only attract thousands to downtown Aberdeen, but they get people to shop, eat and drink at local businesses, which brings more revenue for small business and for the city.

It’s why the Downtown Aberdeen Association and the Pacific Northwest Music Project are hosting a community events forum on Saturday, April 27 inside the Side One Studios building — 202 S. K St., in Aberdeen. The meeting, which starts at 10 a.m., will be a collaborative one, where people can help by talking about what has worked for them. The collaboration is in addition to the agenda, which includes a couple of guest speakers from the city and Grays Harbor County. The deadline to sign up for the event is April 17.

Dani Bacon, one of the people who is running the event, spoke about a few of the goals they have.

“I think since COVID, a lot of the local organizations haven’t come together to kind of talk about overlap and best practice sharing, maybe it never happened, I don’t know” Bacon said. “I think it would be good for people to get together and talk about the limited resources we have in our community, and being able to share those resources — everything from food vendors and who has tables. We try to do things for the community that are free and most of the time we have very little funding. To be able to share and pool together some of the resources when events aren’t overlapping would be hugely beneficial to everyone. I also think it’s a really cool thing to do the best practice sharing. There are a lot of people in this community who are new to community events, are new to the kind of event they’re doing, or there are people who want to do events and don’t really know where to start.”

Bacon said she spent 20-plus years of her career coordinating corporate events, but there are other events she doesn’t know how to do.

“Have I ever organized a parade? No I’ve never organized a parade,” Bacon said.

Bacon said to do such larger events, they need to know what kind of permits they need, how to do that, who to talk to and where to get the funding.

“I think those are (a few) of the biggest goals for Bette (Worth), Bobbi (McCracken) and I,” Bacon said in reference to two of the ladies who organize two of the largest projects in town, Summerfest and Winterfest.

Bacon said weather is the biggest challenge for Aberdeen. But there are other challenges.

“Being able to be prepared for those backup plans, you hate to get a huge tent or something just in case there’s rain, and then there’s a huge expense that’s been shelled out and you didn’t need it, whatever those things might be,” Bacon said. “The other thing is, it’s difficult to know how many people are going to attend an event.”

Bacon and her husband Lee organized the lighting of their building back in February 2023. Despite the cold and wet weather, hundreds showed up.

“For example, we thought 40 people might show up, and like 200 people showed up,” Bacon said. “So then you have to quickly shift gears and say ‘OK, what do we do?’ So we quickly erected a little tent and we just tried to do some things to try and help, because it was pouring rain outside and we had no idea so many people would be interested. But then on the flip side, sometimes you arrange for all this fanfare and very little people show up.”

Getting the word out

And then there’s advertising, which can be a challenge.

“I think an event like this will help people understand where to go do your advertising, how to advertise for free, how to get your word out there, just sharing those resources,” Bacon said.

To combat the problem where people say they didn’t know about an event, Bacon tries to get the most exposure for the event she’s planning.

“If you’re an effective event coordinator, you try to think of lots of different ways to spread your word,” Bacon said. “It might be on the radio doing interviews, it might be in the newspaper, it might be putting flyers up at businesses and on their doors, it might be social media campaigns. And not just one kind of social media.”

Equipment

And then for tents, tables, bleachers, etc — Bacon said the city can help rent some of those kinds of equipment. And there are companies that can help as well. But plan ahead.

“You would contact Parks and Recreation and you can do that,” Bacon said. “And then there are a few places in town where you can rent those kinds of equipment. It just depends how far in advance you’ve planned your event to figure out how quick you need the equipment and trying to see who has it available.”

Advice

For new community event planners in town, they might want to set their sights on 2025 because the planning process takes a long time and summer is just around the corner.

“I would say to do a community event, you should (plan) at a minimum of about a year in advance,” Bacon said. “It takes time to get permitting in place. It takes time to find all your vendors and get them in place. We’ve got those lovely two months of summer that everybody is competing for … so to be able to make sure events aren’t overlapping and you aren’t conflicting with somebody else, who’s already doing that event, or something like that, I would say at least a year in advance. Especially if you’re going to be trying to secure city funding from the city’s LTAC (Lodging Tax Advisory Committee) or the county’s LTAC, it could be a year, year and a half in advance depending on the date of your event.”

Finding a space

As far as a venue goes, Bacon said it’s really tough to find the right space for indoor events.

“We have a lot of vacant buildings but so many of them aren’t usable spaces for people,” Bacon said. “They may not have power or heat, or holes in the floors, or whatever. There are only a few for indoor events.”

But if you’re looking for a space outside, Bacon recommends starting your planning process by calling the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.

“They have so many parks that you can rent for the day,” Bacon said. “It depends on the event. If it’s appropriate to close a street, you can do that. I would say those are probably the two starting points as far as securing a venue.”

Procuring capital

For financing an event, you could apply for a grant if you’re a nonprofit organization.

“Otherwise you can seek out the people you know,” Bacon said. “You can talk to the people at your church, you can talk to some of the local businesses. A lot of them are willing to support your effort, maybe not the whole thing, but they might say ‘Hey, I’ve got a little bit I can give.’ And then you put their name on an event somewhere. People love that. It’s a form of advertising for them.”

More work to do

Bacon shared a few pointers for the day of the event, which is a crucial one.

“I would say the big one is always coordinating your volunteers,” Bacon said. “Volunteers are a huge piece of these kinds of events. You oftentimes have registration desks, people helping with photography, or helping with the emcee (part) of it, helping to erect a stage or a tent. So keeping a good handle on your volunteers, understanding where they are, making sure they’re arriving and understanding what their tasks are, that’s probably the biggest ‘day of’ thing to be aware of. And to know, don’t assign yourself anything that day. On that day, as the coordinator of the event, you are the coordinator of the event. You shouldn’t be hands-on doing things while trying to coordinate.”

City’s best interest in mind

Bacon wants to see success. It’ll only help Aberdeen.

“The more successful these community events are that organizations put on, the more the city benefits from the tourism,” Bacon said. “Somebody who comes for an event, they’re not gonna just come to the event. They’re gonna stop at a restaurant, they’re gonna go have a drink somewhere, they’re gonna go stop at a store. They’re gonna go explore the city in a way they wouldn’t have before.”

Bacon said events that aren’t as well-organized might have people pass on them, but well-organized events could make them come back to the city for more events, which will bring more revenue and tourism for the city. The positive effect starts with the community. It’s the point of the April 27 event.

“I think every little bit we can do as a community together to bring in people from out of our area into our area, I think it’s great for the economy,” Bacon said.

To help a popular downtown festival

So far, Aberdeen’s Rain Glow Festival has raised nearly $8,000, according to Doug Orr, president of Harbor Art Guild and mayor of Aberdeen. Rain Glow is still looking for donations if people would like to donate to the Harbor Art Guilt, a 501(c)3 nonprofit at the Aberdeen Art Center. Any donation is 100% tax deductible. At this point the festival is happening on July 27, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., but Orr wants to make it the best it can be.

“There are some exciting things that we’re going to be adding,” Orr said about the festival. “It’s full steam ahead.”

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.