Organizers of the Legends Concert announced Monday they will not hold the event this year because of a lack of funds.
The third annual music festival was slated for Oct. 13 at the Columbus Riverwalk, but plans were scuttled after an anticipated grant was denied last month by the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The CVB provided $35,000 for the concert last year and $25,000 for the inaugural show. But when the board failed to reach agreement at its July meeting, Legends committee member Steve Rogers withdrew this year’s $22,000 request.
Musical acts had been lined up, and dates were secured, but no contracts had been signed, said Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority Executive Director Roger Short, who also serves on the Legends committee.
This year’s lineup paled a bit compared to previous years, admitted Short.
Smaller acts prevailed, like The Gents, an Amory-based Motown, soul and rock band; Vince Johnson and The Plantation Allstars, a Memphis-based blues and Southern rock band; and a Jimmy Buffett Tribute Band — Parrots of the Caribbean.
Last year’s Legends concert featured Dennis Edwards with The Temptations, Rare Earth, former Lynyrd Skynyrd member Artimus Pyle and a local band, The Flames. The 2010 concert drew crowds with hit-makers Percy Sledge and Bobby “Blue” Bland.
But due to high overhead costs last year, the Legends committee worked hard to scale back to a level they felt the CVB would fund, Short said.
Their submitted budget anticipated $30,000 in gross revenues — including the CVB grant and $8,000 in ticket sales — and $27,200 in expenses. Nearly $8,000 was devoted to paying the three bands.
Short said he’s not sure what the future holds for the concert, though he believes there is interest from the general public in seeing it revived.
“It’s just dead for this year, or in a coma,” he said Monday. “We’ll make a determination whether or not we’ll try to do it next year. We felt like it was a positive thing for the city.”
Columbus Mayor Robert Smith, who also serves on the Legends committee, said he’s disappointed the CVB chose not to fund “a wholesome evening for the city,” especially considering the CVB’s support for other events, like neighborhood festivals.
“How could you fund all the rest of them and not fund Legends?” he asked Monday. “It doesn’t make sense.”
He especially took issue with CVB board member Mark Castleberry’s assertion that the Board would be subsidizing $27.50 per ticket for an event not widely supported by the community.
“The Legends concert was the only concert that turned money back in to the CVB — no other festival returned money,” Smith said, citing the $2,800 profit organizers expected to return to CVB coffers.
Without the CVB’s financial support, he said, it will be hard to bring high-caliber artists to Columbus, diminishing the regional draw and diluting the economic potential from concert-goers who might have booked hotel rooms, eaten in local restaurants and shopped with local merchants.
“I guess they didn’t see the need for another concert,” Smith said. “Life goes on.”
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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