If the Mount Mansfield Company, which runs the two ski areas more popularly known as Stowe, had decided to stage a winter carnival in the middle of the drab January thaw period, the reaction of this conservative, quiet, picture-book-pretty Vermont community would have been all too predictable, and the result would certainly have been mixed, to put it kindly. But the Stowe Winter Carnival, after just two seasons, has become a major event in the ski world, and based on all objectives set for it, is a resounding success. The spectacular success story is one of good timing, and better luck; but even more so, it is one of hard work and a solid, business-like approach.
A youthful Stowe businessman named Gar Anderson is given the most credit for launching the carnival.
“We had three objectives,” Gar said in a recent interview. “In order of importance, they were to promote the Stowe area, to give the local community a boost at a ‘down’ time of the year, and to bring more people here.”
A major reason is that this winter carnival, which has netted Stowe more publicity than most ski areas can generate in a decade, was begun by members of the community, planned and controlled by people outside the mountain corporation, and is run by a committee with a wide representation.
There is an Executive Board with four members (Anderson is chairman). Under that is a Board of Trustees, with 13 members, chosen to bring a broad range of representation. “We have a banker, a town selectman (Vermont’s name for town councilman), lodge owners, restaurant, shop and business leaders, the police chief, and a representative from the Mount Mansfield Company,” Anderson notes. Event chairmen are appointed for each major event — and there is a lot of them.
All these are volunteers, and during the first year so were those who did much of the secretarial and administrative work. By the second year, paid personnel were added in the administrative end.
The operation is larger than many a small business. The 1976 budget for the carnival, for example, is in the range of $165,000, much of it going to the Freetyle Pro Meet, ($110,000), but it is a balanced budget: except for the mountain corporation expenses, the carnival pays for itself.
That is not to downgrade the support by the corporation, however. Anderson points out that direct money input has come from the corporation, and the furnishing of personnel, particularly — secretarial and administrative — has been considerable. And while an exact dollars figure was not given, it amounts to thousands, not hundreds, of dollars.
To raise money for the carnival, Anderson and his crew not only gained sponsors — most of whom used a low-key approach in backing events named for them or their product — but found the program booklet, sale of buttons, Las Vegas night and a calcutta to be major successful fund-raising activities.
The response of the community brought a positive reaction from the Mount Mansfield Company. Some administrative personnel have been paid by the mountain, the attitude of cooperation has been quite high, and in promoting the carnival the corporation offered one of the best ski bargains anywhere around: A 9-day package that includes lift ticket and three lessons a day (if the skier wants that many) for just $60. That works out to just over $6.66 a day.
When planning began, Anderson wasn’t sure what the reaction of the Mount Mansfield Company would be. Sepp Rusch, the legendary ski industry figure who heads the corporation, has a reputation as a crusty old man, not overly fond of flashy ideas. Bill Riley, key management figure, is solid, respected and of the same mold: performance, not talk, is their hallmark.
“We called a meeting and asked Riley to come,” Gar recalls. “That was in the fall of 1974. His attitude was generally favorable. Questioning, but favorable.”
The main concern of Riley, and of those who were at the meeting, was that whatever was done had to reflect the same high standards on which Stowe prides itself. Riley recalls that his one condition for mountain corporation involvement was that anything done at the mountain itself would be under corporation control.
“We had our doubts about freestyling,” Riley admits. “But after talking with them, we became convinced they were a professional group of people.” And, Riley says, the freestyle costs about 50 per cent of what a World Cup class amateur ski race would cost. In rough numbers, the mountain spends some $30,000 to $40,000 to put the freestyle event on. The last world cup event at Stowe had a price tag of $80,000, Riley says.
For that, Stowe has gotten top television coverage on ABC’s Wide World of Sports, plus separate prime-time coverage of the women’s freestylers. It is the kind of coverage that a ski area could not buy for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But that is a specialized success. What about the carnival as a whole? How is its success to be measured? By number of lift tickets sold during the period of the carnival? There was no great change here.
What about total dollars spent in the Stowe area? This year, carnival organizers decided to ask the two local banks to keep track of the how much the increase in deposits were during carnival week. One bank said 1976 was up 22 per cent over last year, while the other reported a 60 per cent increase. And since 1975, the first carnival year, showed an even larger, but unaccounted, increase, the estimate is that the amount of money flowing in the Stowe area is at least double that of pre-carnival years.
Is success measured by publicity generated? Then success was achieved. There was not only the TV coverage mentioned earlier, but widespread print pick-up of high quality and in valuable publications. The press was invited in large numbers — the first year at no charge to the press, the second year at a 50 per cent rate for lodging and meals.
Success might be measured by the enthusiasm of the community, which was high, both in planning and running the carnival, and in taking part in events. “It certainly lifted us out of the doldrums,” says Trow Elliman, editor-publisher of the Stowe Reporter. “This area was coming off three poor snow years, and people wanted to do something about promoting Stowe.”
And this leads to a subtle, but significant success barometer: Has the carnival helped improve relations between the local community and the mountain corporation? The quick and easy answer is yes, but there is a cause and effect factor that began long before the carnival was planned.
Like almost any business which is the largest in a small town, ski areas constantly face a “Big Brother” or “Company Town” image. This has been the case for Stowe and the Mount Mansfield Company, which runs the slopes and several hotels.
A few years back, a writer spent several days in the area, gathering views on mountain-town relationship. His verdict: a pervasive feeling of discontent, strong anti-mountain feeling and little evident desire on the part of the mountain to improve things.
He cited as an example the way in which the corporation, which had provided free skiing to area youngsters for decades, reduced the program suddenly, without asking for cooperation or counsel from local residents. An exchange of views before the decision to curtail free skiing would have helped smooth ruffled feelings, the theory went.
Few ski areas, however, are going to conduct their business on the whims of townsfolk, and at Stowe that much remains true.
A few years back, things began to change, and it would seem that the corporation commitment to a local chamber-of-commerce style organization known as The Stowe Area Association has had a lot to do with it.
| Income | Expense | |
|---|---|---|
| Sled Dog Race | $ 2,000 | $ 2,000 |
| Las Vegas Night | 7,500 | 1,000 |
| Fiddlers’ Contest | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| Tyrolian Night | 650 | – |
| Snowgolf | – | – |
| Square Dance | 100 | 200 |
| Freestyle | 110,000 | 123,600 |
| Backgammon | 300 | – |
| Awards | – | – |
| Ice Skating | 800 | 800 |
| Flags | 974 | 974 |
| Buttons | 2,000 | 332 |
| Tickets | – | 215 |
| Program | 15,000 | 5,000 |
| Advertising | – | 1,970 |
| Administration | – | 7,000 |
| VIP | – | 1,500 |
| Press | – | 750 |
| Travel | – | 3,000 |
| King & Queen Dinner | 1,022 | 351 |
| Hostess | – | – |
| Church Supper | 150 | 150 |
| Calcutta | 13,000 | 6,550 |
| Donations | 6/800 | 1,800 |
| Quilt Raffle | 325 | 325 |
| $161,621 | $158,517 |
The Association collects about one per cent of gross revenue from almost every single area business — less from some, such as gasoline stations, and more from others, including The Mount Mansfield Company. It was the corporation which itself voluntarily increased its eshare of contribution to an estimated two per cent.
The funds are used primarily for advertising and promotion, and the annual budget of $300,000 is a hefty one. By spending money together, the individual businesses boost Stowe as a winter and summer resort. Not only have the results been good for business, there has been more communication between local business and the mountain.
The Mount Mansfield Company has only one representative on the governing board of the association, and this cannot “control” it or the way it spends money. The company has a heavy influence, and could always pull out, but the smaller businesses respect the way in which the company leads, rather than dominates.
The association,which also operates as a reservation service complete with in-coming WATS line, is run by a full-time executive director.
Bill Riley, of the Mt. Mansfield Co., feels the fact that there was a strong area association helped make the carnival possible. “Instead of spending energy rounding up people to gain support, the organizers got the backing of the association,” says Riley. That provided the credibility that helped with local town officials, and with the mountain company.
There remains the undercurrent of distrust any big business must expect, but the relationship of the mountain and the town has been further boosted by the carnival. “They didnt’t try to run the whole show, and we liked that,” said one lodge owner of the corporation and the carnival.
For the future, consideration is being given now to altering the concept of the carnival. Riley, and some others, want to move the freestyle contest to another time of the year. The result might be a more traditional Winter Carnival, with all of the events which draw press coverage and inspire local participation, but without actually competing with the massive attention given the freestyling.
Faced with the realization that the workload cannot be carried on by volunteer efforts forever, there is talk of having the Stowe Area Association take over the administrative duties of the carnival.
Those decisions are yet to be made. One decision that has been made is to continue the carnival.
The reason can be found in the pile of newspaper and magazine clippings, the articles, full color, in Ski, Skiing, Vermont Life, Ski America and elsewhere—and in the bank deposits the week of the carnival, and throughout the year.
Schedule of Carnival Events
FRIDAY:
- 5:30 PM Kick off Party at Stowe Center (Open House)
- 7:00 PM Official opening ceremonies: crowning of King and Queen at Stowe Cinema.
SATURDAY:
- 10:00 AM Air New England Sled Dog Races behind the Rusty Nail;
- 10:00 AM Stowe Open Backgammon Tournament (World Backgammon Assn.)
- 4:00 PM Skating Races at Village Ice Rink — Air New England
- 6:30 PM Village Open House — Main Street closed to traffic
SUNDAY:
- 10:00 AM Air New England Sled Dog Races behind the Rusty Nail
- 2:00 PM Freestyle Clinic (children under 16) at Spruce Peak
- 7:00 PM Figure Skating exhibition and Parade at Village ice rink — Air New England
MONDAY:
- 10:00 AM Country Club X-Country Race (all ages) Stowe Country Club
- 2:00 PM Cross Country Clinic at Stowe Country Club
- 4:00 PM Gluhwein Fest at Restaurant Swisspot:
- 8:00 PM Stowe Hockey Game at Village Ice Rink — Air New England
- 10:00 PM Nightclub Night, special attractions at the Baggy Knees, The Rusty Nail, Sister Kates, Topnotch and Marty’s.
TUESDAY:
- 12 Noon Stowe-Sugarbush Challenge Cup at Spruce Peak
- 4:00 PM Awards and Happy Hour at the Matterhorn
- 8:00 PM Las Vegas Night at Topnotch
TUESDAY:
- 10:00 AM Trapp Family Cabin Race (X-C) at Trapp Family Lodge
- 12 Noon Ski Week Visitors Race (Wednesday Giant Slalom) Spruce Peak
- 4:00 PM Happy Hour at Sister Kates
- 8:00 PM Pernod Fiddlers; Contest at the Stowe Playhouse
THURSDAY: 9 AM Labatt Snowgold Tournament
- 10:00 AM Pernod Hang Gliding Trials at Mt. Mansfield
- 10:00 AM Freestyle Practice at Mt. Mansfield and Spruce Peak
- 4:00 PM Happy Hour at the Baggy Knees
- 8:00 PM Tyrolian Night at the Grand Motor Inn
FRIDAY:
- 12 Noon Colgate Women’s Freestyle Mogul Championships: The National on Mt. Mansfield
- 1:00 PM Pernod Hang Gliding Exhibition at Mt. Mansfield
- 1:15 PM Equitable-Ski America Classic Men’s Freestyle Mogul Competition The National on Mt. Mansfield
- 4:00 PM Happy Hour at the Rusty Nail
- 6:30 PM Church Supper, Stowe Community Church
- 8:00 PM Pro-Am Calcutta at Topnotch
SATURDAY:
- 12 Noon Colgate Women’s Freestyle Ballet Championships at Spruce Peak
- 1:00 PM Pernod Hang Gliding Exhibition at Spruce Peak
- 1:15 PM Equitable-Ski America Classic Men’s Freestyle Ballet Championships at Spruce Peak
- 3:00 PM Ski America Celebrity Ballet
- 8:00 PM Salomon Film Festival at Stowe High School
SUNDAY:
- 12 Noon Colgate Women’s Freestyle Aerial Championships at Spruce Peak
- 1:00 PM Pernod Hang Gliding Exhibition at Spruce Peak
- 1:15 PM Equitable-Ski America Classic Men’s Freestyle Aerial Championships at Spruce Peak
- 6:00 PM Colgate Women’s Freestyle Skiing Championships and Equitable-Ski America Classic Awards Ceremony and Press Reception and Winter Carnival closing ceremonies at the Stowe Playhouse.
Not all Carnivals work
Not all Winter Carnivals work out like Stowe’s efforts. Many smaller ski areas cannot afford the money or time to devote to a carnival, when the job of running the slopes and producing good skiing must come first. Then, too, even a larger area can find the lack of community interest makes a carnival unworthwhile.
At Mount Snow, some 2½ hours south of Stowe in Vermont, a “Winterfest” was launched in the mid-1960’s. After four years, it was dropped. While it generated some involvement from other area business people in the initial year, and good press coverage, it faded in successive years.
One reason seemed to be that it was the mountain corporation that started the carnival, and not those from the community. Efforts to gain support from lodges, resturants and businesses met with little success.
Then, too, those were the good snow years, and there was a feeling that such promotions “wasted time” that could be spent more productively elsewhere.
Last fall, there was an effort to revive the Mount Snow Winterfest, after a lull of five years. A local reservation service operator said he would attempt to put together such an event, but his efforts were not sucessful.
At Stratton Mountain, 1976 saw the first Winter Carnival, also with a pro freestyle competition. It was moderately successful. But Stratton, unlike Stowe, has two other major ski areas in the same general region (Bromley and Magic Mountain) and this made a community effort directed just at Stratton more difficult.
As with all promotional activities, a winter carnival must be tailored to suit each specific ski area.
