Sunset deal swallows one tourist problem

 

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

 

A hard-fought new contract between the city of Key West and the Cultural Preservation Society (CPS) that allows the non-profit to continue operating the Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square solves one of the two problems that had threatened the iconic tourist attraction.

City commissioners approved the new five-year contract at their Tuesday, Nov. 18, meeting, settling the issue of whether the CPS would be allowed to continue its management of the 30-plus year old event that attracts thousands of visitors to Mallory Square every day. CPS has been on a month to month agreement to continue Sunset Celebration operations since March, when its previous contract with the city expired.

But the new contract also takes a stand in the deep division that had split the CPS membership both before and during the negotiations. Performers at Sunset Celebration, the sword swallowers, tightrope walkers and magicians, have traditionally not been required to pay the daily set-up fee the CPS charges the food vendors and artisans who also are part of the Celebration cast. But the new contract requires a flat $20 a day fee from everybody, including the performers, to help bolster the CPS’s shaky finances.

That didn’t sit too well with several performers who attended the City Commission meeting. Dale Pritchard, a sword swallower who has performed for decades at Sunset Celebration, as well as festivals in Canada, Europe and the U.S., said he has never been asked to pay a fee.

“I have yet to see one anywhere that charges a performer to perform. We don’t get paid to perform. We draw the crowds for vendors to sell their wares,” he said.

Don Sullivan, a member of the CPS board of directors, said the move to include performers, arguably the main draw for tourists, in the fee requirements, was regrettable. However, it costs the CPS $11,500 a month to manage Sunset Celebration, including fees for rent, insurance, pier management, clean-up and security.

“We don’t want to charge the performers,” he said. “We don’t know how to make it more equitable for everyone.”

Some performers, however, were willing to pay the fee. Mark Riggs, vice chair of the CPS and a long-time unicycle and ladder performer at Sunset Celebration, said the event “is a goldmine” for performers, who can make hundreds of dollars a day from tips visitors give them. Riggs said he makes a six-figure salary from his performances. And City Commissioner Mark Rossi also weighed in, saying the performers should pay something, even a donation towards the CPS’s operational costs.

“I honestly believe there should be a happy medium. But, by the same token, guys, if you’re using the services, you should make a donation. These people [artisans and food vendors] are paying the freight up there for people who are tipping you,” he said.

The five-year contract also gives the CPS the right to have an artisans-only market in Mallory Square starting at 10 a.m. on days when there is a cruise ship in port, another way to help the CPS boost revenue. And Rossi suggested lowering the monthly rent the new contract charges CPS from $6,566 to $5,000 as a way to give CPS more flexibility in the fees it charges its members. But no commissioner would second Rossi’s motion and Commissioner Teri Johnston vetoed the idea.

“It seems really reasonable to me,” she said about the rent the city is charging CPS, which will remain unchanged for two years. “We’re leasing out some of the most expensive real estate in Key West. Is this a hardship?”

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