Festival breaks even for first time while generating $2.84 million economic impact from city’s $265,000 investment
The Maricopa City Council heard a comprehensive presentation Tuesday, August 5, reviewing the 2025 Wild West Music Fest, which took place April 4-6, 2025 at Copper Sky Recreation Complex. Community Enrichment Director Quinn Konold presented data showing the festival’s financial turnaround and significant economic impact on local businesses.
About the Festival
The Wild West Music Fest is a three-day outdoor music festival featuring national headliners, local performers, carnival rides, food trucks, and vendors. The 2025 event attracted 9,500 attendees over three days in April, with performers including LeAnn Rimes, Baby Bash, and Twista. The festival represents a departure from the city’s traditional free community celebrations..
Strategic Goals Drive Tourism Investment
The festival aligns with the city’s strategic priorities to attract visitors from across the region and nation through sports and event tourism while using bed tax funds to boost local businesses and enhance Maricopa’s regional profile.
The City of Maricopa funds tourism initiatives through a 5.5% Hotel/Motel Additional Tax — commonly referred to as the bed tax — on hotel and short-term rental stays. Per Arizona law, 1.5 percentage points of this tax must be used exclusively for tourism promotion. This allows the city to support events like the Wild West Music Fest without impacting general taxpayers.
Mayor Nancy Smith emphasized the festival’s purpose during the discussion: “I think to communicate to the public what the goal of the event is and why we chose to spend $250,000… is because you get this $2.8 million economic impact.”
From Celebration to Sustainability
The Wild West Music Fest originated from the city’s 2023 strategic planning process. In February 2023, the council identified tourism goals during a futures planning meeting. The city posted an invitation for bid in March 2023, awarding the contract to SLE Entertainment & Public Relations in May 2023. The first festival occurred in October 2023 as part of Maricopa’s 20th anniversary celebration.
Originally planned as “Stagecoach Days,” the event was renamed Wild West Music Fest due to naming rights issues with the event partner. The city is bringing back the “Stagecoach Days” name for future city-owned events.
Financial Performance Shows Dramatic Improvement
The festival’s financial picture improved dramatically between 2023 and 2025, as shown in the following comparison:
| Category | WWMF 2023 | WWMF 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance | 15,000 | 9,500 |
| City Investment | $350,000 | $265,000 (incl. $240K to SLE) |
| Total Expenses | $1,077,753.78 | $463,803.99 |
| Total Revenue | $826,305.81 | $466,119.90 |
| Net Profit | –$251,447.97 (loss) | +$2,315.91 (profit) |
| Voluntary Donation to City | None | $9,303.25 (from bar revenue) |
Note: The city also contributed $47,014 in additional in-kind support: $39,420 in facility use (estimated rental value) and $7,594 in actual staffing costs for police, fire, and public works overtime.
The attendance decrease coincided with a shift in festival goals. As Konold noted, the festival moved from being “past the birthday celebration” to focusing on “how can we begin to make it financially make sense for them.”
Per the 2025 contract, SLE retained 100% of the net profit but voluntarily donated $9,303 to the city from bar revenue.
Konold clarified the city’s financial exposure: “I get the question a lot, ‘So, does that mean the city lost $250,000?’ I kind of always use an analogy of, you go to the grocery store and you come out with groceries, you say, ‘I lost all my money.’ Well, I bought the groceries. What were we going for? We were going for the exposure, the celebration of the 20th, and that $251,000 deficit, that’s absorbed by our event partner in this. So, our investment never exceeded the 350.”
Economic Impact Exceeds Expectations
An economic impact study conducted by IMPLAN revealed the festival generated $2.84 million in total economic impact for the local economy. The study surveyed over 200 attendees about their spending on lodging, transportation, food, and retail purchases.
The survey data showed specific spending patterns across different categories:
Mayor Smith expressed satisfaction with the results: “We brought into our local businesses $2.8 million. For year two, I actually am very impressed with that.”
The festival drew 74% of its attendees from Maricopa, with 22% from surrounding Arizona cities and 4% from out of state. Smith noted the significance of local participation: “7,000 people from the City of Maricopa enjoyed this event. Now, that’s bigger than any other event that we hold, and it’s quite significant. It’s 10% of our community. And that, to me, says there is interest, and the bigger it gets, I think the bigger interest there will be.”
Councilmember Manfredi emphasized the multiplier effect of the economic impact, noting how tourist spending creates a ripple effect as money circulates through the local economy multiple times.
Fairness Questions Arise Over City Support
Councilmember AnnaMarie Knorr raised concerns about the city’s financial support for the festival, noting that SLE receives approximately $39,420 in free facility use plus additional costs for police, fire, and public works staff totaling $7,594 in overtime.
“I just thought that information was important. I wanted it as also just to understand the full investment,” Knorr said. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t provide the space for free… I’m just saying that that fact, or that information needs to be something that is known to the Council as we consider this.”
Knorr questioned whether the city applies consistent standards to all event partners, noting the difference between Wild West Music Fest, where a private business receives profit, and other city events. She emphasized wanting “a standard and transparency and treating people equally.”
Konold noted that requiring rental fees would likely prevent the event: “You wouldn’t be collecting that revenue because they wouldn’t be doing the event. Number two, they might do it differently. They might say, ‘Well, I don’t want the room for as many days.'”
Mayor Smith defended the arrangement as part of the city’s tourism strategy: “I see, as it grows, that we would change our terms and have a better understanding of how Maricopa is going to share in that profit potentially, something in the future. But we put out the bid for proposals, knowing that this is… our goal is to create an influx of revenue that supports both local commerce and the growth of our city.”
The discussion also touched on whether the city could work with other event producers in the future. Steve Levine Entertainment (SLE) owns the “Wild West Music Fest” name, meaning the city cannot put out a Request for Proposals (RFP) for that specific event name. Any future RFP would need to seek a different event concept.
Manfredi emphasized that other organizations can pursue their own events: “If someone else wants to put on an event, put on an event. Come to the city, talk to the city, work with the city, negotiate with the city, and figure out an event that you want to place.”
However, the scale of investment required presents challenges for potential competitors. As demonstrated by SLE’s $251,000 loss in the first year, few organizations have the financial resources to absorb such significant upfront costs while building an event’s audience and profitability over time.
Setting Clear Expectations
Councilmember Eric Goettl called for establishing clear benchmarks for the festival’s performance: “We have to be real careful if we’re gonna change that relationship mid-stride. But to Council Member Knorr’s comment, I think we also need to be able to evaluate what they’re bringing to our city and if it’s meeting certain benchmarks. And that’s my request here with this body, is we need to be very clear what those benchmarks are for us so that they can be communicated to SLE so we aren’t constantly moving a goalpost in this relationship.”
Mayor Smith relayed information from Chandler Chamber of Commerce officials about the Chandler Ostrich Festival’s timeline, noting it took seven years to become profitable under SLE’s management and generated approximately $9.5 million annually after 36 years of operation. Councilmember Amber Liermann noted that Chandler officials compared Maricopa’s first year to Chandler’s fifth year performance, indicating the local festival was ahead of typical development timelines.
Contract Continues Through 2027
The council approved the budget for a third Wild West Music Fest, with city staff currently in contract negotiations with SLE to select dates for 2026. Konold explained the contract terms: “The contract that we have with them runs through, or it runs through 2027, but needs to be renewed each year.” This means the city provides annual approval rather than entering into new contract negotiations.
Konold outlined the evaluation process: “We’ll continue in ’26 and ’27 to study the trends and see is that economic impact growing? Are more people coming to visit? And look to make decisions as we do that.”
The director expressed appreciation for SLE’s investment: “Our event producer at some point will watch this, express my appreciation for them taking the leap and investing in our community, being the first to raise their hand to this level and say, ‘Yeah, we’ll do that, and we’ll invest our money, and we’ll watch this grow.'”
The festival represents Maricopa’s entry into paid event tourism, marking a shift from the city’s traditional free community events as it works toward its goal of becoming a regional destination city.
