CelebraTEN

CELEBRATEN’

Chicago’s Millennium ParkTenth Anniversary Celebration

Ryan DickeyHSP 350

Event Description

Millennium Park’s Tenth anniversary celebration: CELEBRATEN’

The purpose of having an event in honor of the tenth anniversary of Millennium

Park is to celebrate what the creation of this park has done for the city of Chicago. The

park has brought together both the residents of the Chicagoland area and tourists from

across the world through its architecture, art, design, and musical festivities. Since it has

become one of the country’s most popular and enjoyed destinations, it deserves a

celebratory festival in honor of the city and those who contributed to the funding,

creation, and involvement of Millennium Park.

Through this event, more funding will be gained to add additional aspects to the

park. The park has grown greatly throughout the past ten years and it only deserves to

keep creating art and activities for the community to observe and enjoy. In addition to

funding, I will raise awareness of how significant this destination has become for the city

of Chicago. While there are multiple parks throughout the Chicagoland area, Millennium

Park has become the strongest of them all as a place for residents to relax, visitors to tour,

and for events to take place. This anniversary event serves as a celebration for everything

this park has become to Chicago and the surrounding communities.

This celebratory event will take place on Saturday, June 14, 2014. While the

opening ceremony of the park was not until July of 2004, June serves as a strong month

to attract more visitors. In order to attract as many guests as possible, the date needs to be

available for many, during a time of permitting weather. June is when most high schools

and colleges end their year, which means students will more likely be around and able to

attend. Saturday is an off day for most working adults, which is a reason for choosing this

day of the week. On June 14, this event will run all day in order to incorporate as much

into the celebration as possible. It will begin at noon and go until around 11 o’clock at

night. By making this event an all day affair, we can have multiple bands/singers, a time

for a honoring speech ceremony, meet and greet with the artists, and day long activities.

There will be approximately 10 musical entertainment guests, each performing for about

an hour. At 3 o’clock, there will be a speech in honor of this anniversary, as well as the

people and history that went into the creation of the park. Following the speech, the

remaining entertainers will perform, concluding the night around 11 pm.

In addition to musical entertainment, the event will hold an area for food vendors

that will be located in the McCormick Tribune Plaza and Ice Rink area and outside of the

Park Grill restaurant. This area will include food vendors from around the city of

Chicago. Some of these vendors will include, Lou Malnati’s, Billy Goat Tavern and Grill,

Eli’s Cheesecake, and Vienna Beef. While there will be other activities that cost money,

this is where most of the event’s revenue will come from. The food and beverage area

will run all day long, allowing guests to sit and enjoy their meal, or walk around and

observe the activities around the park.

Since the architecture throughout the park is such a significant aspect, we will

have some of the artists of these sculptures come help to celebrate the anniversary.

Because these artists had such a strong role in the creation of this park, their attendance

would not only be greatly respected, each of them would enjoy observing what they

helped create. Artists such as, Anish Kapoor, Jaume Plensa, and Frank Gehry, will be

available for meet and greets to up to 200 guests at a specific cost. This will not only help

to generate additional income, but for residents and tourists to learn the background of

the people who assisted in creating such a magical area of Chicago.

Event Management and Approvals

This event requires an area for musical entertainment, food and beverages, meet

and greet, historical information, and additional activities. For the musical entertainment,

we have the Pritzker pavilion. The stage will be used for the musical guests, as well as for

the celebratory speech. The grass area of the pavilion will be used for guests to attend the

musical performances and speech. The food and beverages will be located in the

McCormick Tribune Plaza and Park Grill area. This is a large enough space for vendors

to have their own booths set up and for the guests to enjoy their meals. The meet and

greet area will be where the guests will have the opportunity to meet the artists who

designed the architecture seen through out the park. The Wrigley Square and Millennium

Monument, is where we plan to have the artists, as well as historical visuals and

information on the park and its history. The area of Cloud Gate will consist of optional

picture taking with the “Bean.” This area is also for the children to enjoy the amazement

of the “Bean’s” mirror surface, as well as the nearby Crow Fountain’s water sprinkling.

Souvenirs will also be sold in this area. Some souvenirs may include the Cloud Gate

pictures, t-shirts, professional photographs of the park, and albums of the musical

entertainment.

For the event layout to be successful, audiovisual will be required in areas through

out the park. While Millennium Park already had speakers surrounding the park, it needs

to be made sure that these are working properly in order for the musical entertainment to

be a success. Audiovisual will primarily be required for the entertainment in the pavilion.

Each musical guest, as well as the speaker will require audio assistance. Each performer

will have their own equipment but will need the rest of the audio set up for each

performance. There will also need to be audio throughout the park for background music

and announcements regarding the day’s festivities. Visual aid will be needed in the

historical information area, as there will be a photo slideshow playing throughout the day

on a screen projector. This projector will be arranged next to the Millennium Monument

for all guests to stop and watch the history and makeup of the park.

So many respected families, individuals and organizations went into the process of

Millennium Park, which therefore has created a wide variety of stakeholders and agencies

that will have contribution to this event. The partnership of the city of Chicago and the

charitable community have had such a strong role in the formation of this park and will

therefore provide strong assistance in this event. Other stakeholders include the Jay

Pritzker family, Irving B. Harris, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special

Events, previous Mayor Richard M. Daley, Frank Gehry, and the Chicago Park District.

These charitable individuals and organizations devoted much of their time and money

into the production of Millennium Park, and their efforts will be very valued and

respected in this tenth year celebration.

The sponsors of this event include the Chicago Park District, Bank One

Foundation, ABC Chicago, WGN, CTA, DePaul University, Hinckley Springs, Chicago

Tribune, and Chicago Sun-Times. These sponsorships will provide a significant role in

the funding of this event. These sponsors will help for television and radio airtime in the

announcement and progress of the event. The television stations and the newspaper

companies will help in the marketing of the event and the presentation of the outcome. A

smaller organization like DePaul will help with targeting market segments more than

with the financial funding. DePaul is a university located in the city, and as a sponsor, the

school can help ensure the attendance of its students, families, employees, and alumni.

Having both smaller and larger sponsors of this event will help to create an even greater

success.

To ensure that this event can become a success, approvals, contracts, and

notifying will be needed. One of the necessary steps in receiving approval for this event

is getting a special event permit application. Since the entire event will take place within

the park’s area, there is no need to have streets closed or parking blocked. In regards to

the city’s approval, there will need to be food licenses, liquor licenses, Itinerant Merchant

License in regards to the selling of souvenirs, and notifying of the CTA transit. In

addition to these licenses, insurance will be needed in case of any damage done to the

park and its physical art. This insurance will be attached to the application process, which

is to be submitted o the mayor’s office 45 days prior to the event. The approvals and

licenses are necessary in the safety and success of events, and are a crucial role in the

planning process.

Event Marketing

I plan to market my target costumers through the most used sources of media.

Because I plan to target a wide range of people, I must market in forms of media that

apply to a variety of ages. Chicago consists largely of busy commuters to work and

school, which creates the need for advertisements in public transportation, such as in the

CTA buses and CTA trains. In addition to public transportation, the advertisements will

be in the universities around the city, including DePaul, Columbia, Northwestern, and

UIC. This strategy is to target those students who find Millennium Park to be an

enjoyable destination to visit. These students will most likely spread the word to parents

and friends who don’t attend school in the city, but who would be interested in this

celebration. Local restaurants within the area, particularly those vendors of the event, will

have the advertisements as well in order to not only promote Celebraten’, but each

restaurants food as well. For the residents living in the suburbs, where it would be more

difficult to see these advertisements through out the city, there will be radio stations that

will alert the community of the event through commercials and announcements. The

targeted demographic for this event is any age group living in the Chicagoland area, as

well as those tourists who find Millennium Park to be an enjoyable destination to visit.

For ten years, Millennium park has served as a park for young children to play in, an area

to observe beautiful architecture, a quiet place to relax, and a tourist attraction that helps

define what the cit of Chicago truly is. Therefore, this celebration is for the general public

of Chicago, its surrounding suburbs, and those outside of the area who enjoy the park as a

place to visit .For that reason, these forms of marketing will provide a strong reach to

these people because these methods of advertising serve to a wide variety of people in a

wide variety of ways.

Having a partnership with Groupon will play another strong role in the marketing

process of the event. Groupon is solely a win-win process and no out of the pocket cash

is needed in being featured on the website. Therefore, I have collaborated a deal with the

company that will aim to attract more visitors to this event. The Groupon is $10 for $15

worth of food and beverage tickets at the Celebraten’ event. Therefore, by paying $10 for

this Groupon, an attendee of this event could receive $15 worth of food and beverages in

tickets. Being featured on this website is a strong form of marketing that stands out

among the rest. This company has grown significantly popular within the past few years

and having a partnership with them could potentially have a strong positive impact on

this event. Partnering with Groupon will put the advertising of this event on a well known

website, attracting those devoted users of the company. The deal will also attract those

Chicago residents who had not planned on coming to the event due to lack of awareness

or lack of curiosity. Having a coupon like this gives those types of costumers more of a

reason to try something new that serves interest to them. This deal will be featured on the

website about a month or two prior to June 14, 2014. If the minimum number of people

buy the offer, the deal will become valid, and contribute to the success of the event.

The success of the event also depends largely on the costs and rewards that are

gained and lost through out the process. Millennium Park is a public city park and does

not require an entrance fee. Therefore, there will be no entrance fee for this event.

However, there will be an optional donation area at the entrance of the event. Donations

will be given to Millennium Park in order to potentially add more to the park in regards

to art or areas for entertainment. Millennium has progressively become the city’s most

popular destination and deserves a contribution to honor its positive addition to what the

city of Chicago has to offer its residents and tourists.

In addition to optional donations, most of the revenue from this event will come

from the food and beverages. Prior to entering the food area, tickets will be given out.

Because specific restaurants are providing their own food for this event, the vendors will

make a profit off of these tickets as well. The cost of the food will range from $2 tickets

to $14 tickets. The guests will be offered tickets for smaller side portions, regular entrée

size portions, non-alcoholic beverages, and alcoholic beverages. Each one of these items

has their own price and ticket color. Guests will be able to decide what types of food and

beverage they want and buy the tickets based off of that.

Another costly item of this event is also one of the most interesting parts to

Celebraten’. The architecture of Millennium Park is one of the most significant aspects,

which is why we have decided to bring back the artists to tell their story. This aspect of

the event will be in such high demand and one day is not enough time to allow every

person to meet and greet with the artists. Therefore, we will be selling 200 tickets at $40

a piece for each artist. First come, first served is the basis behind this aspect. For those

who wish to meet with one of the artists, they will be able to purchase a ticket until the

200 have been sold out for that specific artist. Therefore, instead of guests waiting in line

all day to meet an artist, they will be able to enjoy the festival as well. Having no set

maximum amount of tickets sold would not be enjoyable for the guests or the artist.

Aiming to sell each of the 200 tickets per artist, the event will make $8000 per artist,

which will help to generate more revenue, as well as pay the price of having these artists

come to the event.

A simple, yet attractive advertisement will add to the success of the event. Not

only will a simple advertisement be more cost efficient, it gets the point across simply

and smoothly. Below is a sample advertisement that will be located on public

transportation throughout the city, local restaurants, and around university campuses.

Budget

Site Rental Fees:Jay Pritzker Pavilion: $40,000Stage: $7,000Wrigley Square: $750 ($350 per hour, maximum of 3 hours)North Promenade: $7,000South Promenade: $7,000Central Promenade: $7,000

SUBTOTAL: $68,750

Furniture FeesTables: $1,615Chairs: $2,270Canopy/Tent: $1750 ($350 - 20x30 each, need 5)Fans: $128

SUBTOTAL: $5,763

Audio-Visual/Entertainment Fees:Screen Projector with stand & audio: $85Walkie-talkies: $2,250Musical guests: $130,000Technical labor: $10,300SUBTOTAL: $142, 635

Decoration/Supplies:Signs: $200Stage décor: $500Portable toilets: $7,500Survey box drop: $40Extra trashcans: $600SUBTOTAL: $8,840

Miscellaneous:Food Vendors: $50,000Radio Advertising: $5,000 ($1,000 per month, 5 months prior)Transportation Advertising: $4,200Newspaper advertising: $30,000SUBTOTAL: $89,200

TOTAL: $315,188

Budget Synopsis

The goal of CELEBRATEN’ is to honor Millennium Park and gain more funding

in order to add additional aspects to the park. Therefore, this event is not being budgeted

based on the highest profitably possible, but based on how much extra revenue can be

received in order to continue the creation of new attractions and activities to the park.

Since much of the necessities of an event can be provided by Millennium Park, the above

budget is based on what the park cannot offer. The Millennium Park website includes a

chart on how much each individual section of the park costs to rent. As a result, the

sections needed for the event were included on this budget and summed up to a total of

$68, 750.

The next part of the budget includes the furniture rental needed for the areas of

the park that do not have seating. The event will require 150 tables for the eating area.

These tables are rounded and will seat 10 at each. Therefore, there will be 1500 chairs

needed in this area. The remainder of the tables and chairs will be for the entrance and

food and beverage ticketing areas. In addition, there will be a total of 5 tents. 3 of these

tents will be located in the eating area and will have 3 fans in each in order to keep the

guests cool on the hot summer day. 1 of the remaining tents will be located in the central

promenade area and the last will be for the children’s activities. The subtotal for furniture

section comes out to $5,763.

While much of Millennium Park contains audio-visual features, a screen projector

with a stand and audio will need to be rented for the historical slideshow. In addition,

walkie-talkies will be given to a selection of the volunteers at the event in order to keep

on task. Since technical staff may need to be hired in order to set up these types of

features, there is a section for this cost in the budget. Lastly, much of the budget will be

going towards the musical entertainment with 10 performers. It is estimated that there

will be a few local performers with a lower cost, a few more exclusive bands with higher

costs and the remaining at an average cost. With this estimation, the budget for audio-

visual and entertainment comes out to $142, 635.

The decoration and supplies will make this event all the more worthwhile for

those who will be looking forward to it for months and even more appealing to those

street-walkers who happen to stroll by Millennium Park on June 14, 2014. Therefore, it is

necessary to have decorative signs and stage décor. The two of these amount to $700. In

addition, portable toilets and extra trash cans will be needed since the park does not have

enough restrooms and trash bins to supply the expected amount of guests. This subtotal

comes out to $8,840, which also includes the survey boxes for guests to place the surveys

handed out at the end of the event.

The miscellaneous section of the budget includes the food vendors and

advertising. To advertise on the radio costs on average about $1000 per month. Since this

event should be advertised for about 5 months prior to the date, radio advertising will cost

a total of $5,000. Newspapers will also be advertised in months prior. Since newspapers

are more costly to advertise in, this event will be given ads on Saturdays and Sundays

twice a month for the first two months and then one Saturday and Sunday for a third

month. This amounts to $30,000. Transportation advertising is a key factor in the city of

Chicago. CelebraTEN’ will be advertised on both CTA buses and trains. This cost will

amount to about $4,200 for 5 months also. In total, miscellaneous fees come out to

$89,200.

In order to save spending money, there will be volunteers working on the event,

rather than paying a labor cost. Since the residents of the Chicagoland area are familiar

and very fond of Millennium Park and its offerings, it will not be hard to find people to

help with this event. Volunteers will be searched for all around the city, suburbs, and

local schools. In order to supply the volunteers with some sort of benefit, each will be

given free food all day, as well as put in a drawing to meet the musical guest of their

choice. While only one volunteer will win this raffle, it gives more residents of the area

an incentive to volunteer. Another way of cutting down costs will be to use Columbia

College students as the photographers for this event, particularly for the picture with the

“Bean.” About 6 students will be selected as the photographers for this event. This will

benefit both the event and the students as they are given the same benefits as the other

volunteers of CelebraTEN’.

The source of income for this event is expected to come mainly from the food and

beverage and optional donations. Since there is only a select amount of factors for

income to come from, the price of food and beverage will be relatively high. While this

does not always appeal to guests, since they will already be at the event, they will most

likely chose to eat there. In addition, optional donations will be asked for at the entrances.

For those who wish to see Millennium Park progress in the future, it is probable that

these guests will provide a generous donation.

In addition to these factors, other sources of income include the Groupon deal that

will be offered a month of two prior to CelebraTEN’. Groupon is a rapidly growing

company and it is hopeful that this event will make a large source of income from the

deal. The artist meet and greet will also generate about $24,00. Selling 200 tickets for

each artist at a cost of $40 per ticket will amount to $8,000 per artist. While there are

other sources of income that may come into affect along the process, these factors are

where most of the income will be generated.

Event Staging

The décor of CELEBRATEN’ will be based around a blue color scheme. The

décor will be simple yet celebratory and allow for an on street view of what the event is

offering to the public of Chicago. Most of the sound, lighting and special effects will be

coming from the Pritzker Pavilion where the musical guests will be performing. The

stage will be decorated with a large sign entitled with the name of the event. In order to

incorporate the blue theme, the lighting during each musical act will be centered on the

color blue. While each performer will have his or her own display and form of

entertainment, it is important to remember why this event is occurring and the theme

helps to bring out that idea.

Specific areas of the park will incorporate the different aspects to the event. The

main entrances will be located along Michigan Ave. The entrances will lead to the food

and beverage ticketing area, as well as the Groupon exchange tables. To the left, will be

the children’s activity area near the Crown Fountain. To the right of the ticketing area

will be the historical information and meet and greet, located in the Wrigley Square and

Millennium Monument section. The picture taking with the “Bean” will of course be

located with the Cloud Gate. Not far from Cloud Gate is the McCormick Tribune Plaza

and Ice Rink area, which will hold the food vendors, and eating areas. And last, the

musical entertainment will be held in the Pritzker Pavilion, for guests to enjoy while

sitting on the Great Lawn. While all of Millennium Park will not be used for this event,

the sections incorporated will hold each part of the event perfectly and in an effective

manner. Although, the remainder of the park will not be part of the event, it will still be

open to the public throughout the event’s range of time.

The food and beverage vendors will be from around the Chicagoland area. Since

the event is showing off a destination in which the city is known for, it is only acceptable

to also incorporate the food in which Chicago is known for. Therefore, with a few

mentioned earlier, some of the vendors will include, Lou Malnati’s, Billy Goat Tavern

and Grill, Eli’s Cheesecake, Vienna Beef, Portillo’s and Giordano’s. Just to name a few,

these vendors will give all the more reason for the residents of Chicagoland to enjoy the

food we love most.

Since a larger crowd is expected in such a respected park, security and safety will

be present in order to keep all aspects of the park in their original conditions. As with all

the other staff, security will be organized on a volunteer basis. There will be a specific

amount of guards assigned to multiple parts of the park to make sure no architecture, art,

landscaping, etc. is receiving any damage. As for any breakthrough of bad weather, fire,

or accidents, Millennium Park is not a difficult venue to evacuate in a short amount of

time. It is expected that all guests and volunteers will follow the guards through the

quickest way to exit the park.

Set up for CelebraTEN’ will begin early in the morning on the day of the event.

At around 6 AM, tents will begin being set up, tables and chairs will be placed in correct

positions, and vendors will start the placing of their stations. Because the first musical

guest begins right at the start of the event, there is expected to be a large line at 12 PM.

Since there are two entrances, it is hopeful that the beginning of the event will run

smoothly and the guests will be able to enjoy the first performance with no problems. As

for tear down, all volunteers are expected to stay after the end of the event to help with

clean up and the putting away of all furniture. Since Millennium Park is a public space, it

is expected that all aspects of this event will be cleaned up prior to the next morning. The

park should be left in the condition that the city observes it each day.

As mentioned, staff will be based on volunteers. Volunteers will be searched for

through out the whole Chicagoland area. Advertising for these volunteers will occur

months in advance. Volunteers may come from inside the city, suburbs outside the city,

and especially within surrounding schools. It would be wonderful to have a wide age

range of volunteers for experience purposes and to appeal to all guests. The event could

never have too many volunteers, which means the more people who apply, the better.

Volunteers will be needed in all aspects and areas of the event. First, there will be

volunteers needed at the entrances and exits of the park. These volunteers will be in

charge of any donations or event questions and information. These volunteers will also be

handing out brochures with the specific agenda for the day. Second, there will be about

ten volunteers needed in each of the 3 food and beverage tents. These volunteers will be

in charge of cleaning up whatever remainders the guests leave behind. More volunteers

will be needed to pass out the surveys throughout the day, specifically closer to the

conclusion of the event. They will not be in charge of collecting these surveys, as there

will be multiple boxes for these to be placed in. Volunteers will also be placed in the

children’s activity area to help with the entertainment for the children. In order for this

event to appeal to all ages, it is necessary to have an area for children to enjoy. The

volunteers in this area will help face paint, direct games, and make sure the water

activities within the Crown Fountain are running safe and smoothly. The remaining of the

volunteers will be walking around through out the event, available for any questions or

concerns. To make sure there is always someone around for assistance, multiple

volunteers will be located in each area of the event during its occurrence.

Since the tasks of the volunteers are relatively simple, it is not necessary to have

long training sessions. Volunteers are solely to arrive an hour before the event begins.

This time will allow for placement of each volunteer and their tasks for the day. A few

volunteers per area will be given a walkie-talkie. This will allow for each area to keep in

touch with each other to make sure the event runs as expected.

Below is the evaluation survey of the event that guests will be asked to fill out

upon the conclusion of CELEBRATEN’. It may also be helpful for the volunteers to fill

this survey out as well, as they also experienced the day and what the event had to offer

for the city of Chicago.

Evaluation

Survey:

As CelebraTEN’ nears an end, please take a few moments to fill out the survey below. Your feedback is important to us in how we can improve our events in the future and help to continue the success of Millennium Park as a nationwide attraction. Be sure to drop this survey is any of the blue boxes near the entry and exits of the festival. Thank you for time, we hope you enjoyed CelebraTEN’

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 5 (1 being the lowest, 5 being the highest):

Did this event mete your expectations in regards to what you expected this festival to offer?1 2 3 4 5Did you learn more about the park’s history and what it has to offer during this event?1 2 3 4 5Did any of the musical guests apply to your interests?1 2 3 4 5Was the food and beverage offered sufficient to your demands?1 2 3 4 5Did you see and hear enough about the event before today? How did you find out about it?1 2 3 4 5CTA transportation Universities Radio advertisements GROUPON Other: Please answer YES or NO to the following questions:

Do you hope to see more attractions added to the park in the future?YES NOWould you enjoy seeing more festivals held in Millennium Park?YES NODid Millennium Park receive the recognition it deserves during this event?YES NOWould you enjoy seeing future celebrations for Millennium Park?YES NOWill you be returning to Millennium Park more frequently in the near future?YES NOWhat type of attraction would you most like to see that would be appropriate for Millennium Park and its purpose to the city of Chicago?Please provide a short answer below:

Agenda:

12:00 PM – Musical Guest #1

1:00 PM – Musical Guest #2Artist Meet and Greet: Anish Kapoor (Cloud Gate)


3:00 PM – Honorary Speech

4:00 PM – Musical Guest #4Artist Meet and Greet: Frank Gehry (Jay Pritzker Pavilion & BP Bridge)


6:00 PM – Musical Guest #6Artist Meet and Greet: Jaume Plensa (Crown Fountain)





Food and beverage will be offered in the McCormick Tribune Plaza and Ice Rink area during the duration of the event – 12:00 PM-11:00 PM

Activities for children will take place near the Crown Fountain –12:00 PM-5:00 PM

Optional pictures with the “Bean” – 12:00 PM-9:00 PM

Business

CelebraTEN