Steve Levine Entertainment released its financial report to the city of Maricopa this week for the inaugural Wild West Music Festival, which happened four months ago, showing a loss of $251,448.
SLE’s attendance figure was between 15,000 and 17,000. A few months ago, city officials estimated the figure to be between 17,000 and 20,000.
Total revenues from the event were $826,306 with the expenses coming in at $1,077,754.
The event saw $230,253 in ticket sales, which equated to an average ticket price between $13 and $15. The face value for a one-day ticket was $30.
The largest expense for the event was entertainment at $482,981, covering the musical acts and their travel and hotel expenses, along with the midway rides.
The next largest expense was infrastructure at $271,007, which included production costs, the stage and any other technology used.
Parking, staffing and security for the event was $202,752.
Maricopa Mayor Nancy Smith lauded the event at the State of the City address earlier this month.
“The echoes of excitement are still reverberating through our community. Let’s take a moment to relive the majesty of this event,” Smith said as she introduced a professionally produced three-minute highlight reel of last year’s event.
Smith used the occasion to announce its return in 2024.
The marketing expenses for the event came in at $34,883. An analysis of those expenditures done back in November by InMaricopa showed that roughly 93% of that budget went to attracting people to the event from outside of Maricopa.
Smith was proud to show off her city.
“I most liked hearing comments from visitors because they were amazed how the grounds and the stage presentation was the best they’d ever seen at an event,” Smith said. “The overwhelming positive response has fueled our determination to bring back this epic festival.”
The city put up $370,000 in seed money for last year’s event, which was approved by the City Council as part of a fund for the celebration of the city’s 20th anniversary.
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