Andre Jebbinson, Staff Reporter

'Pinkies': This group of women, all dressed in pink outfits showed strong support for the theme 'Pretty in Pink' at the Red Stripe Temptation Isle party on Sunday, August 8 held at the Mariner's Beach Club in Negril, Westmoreland. - Photo by Noel Thompson

Summer is not officially over, but the major shows of the season are and organisers must now determine whether the season was a good one.

"It was a very good year, one of the best we have ever staged. The attendance was good, there were no incidents, good weather, good performers and good support from our sponsors," said Robert Russell, chairman of Summerfest Productions.

Most of the shows this summer veered to the west of the island, but patrons followed the sound of the music there. Think of all the party essentials and the summer parties had them. Many of the parties were all inclusive and with that package came the booze, the skin and of course, the food.

Negril was the home of the Red Stripe Temptation Isle (RTI) and the Appleton Treasure Island (ATI), while Sumfest took place in Montego Bay.

Temptation Isle and Treasure Island not only shared the host town, but also the same date, independence weekend. That by itself was drama and many wondered how both events would fare.

Different estimates

Looking back, the organisers of both parties thought they came out on top.

"We got the crowd. It shows the entertainment value Jamaica has in which a country can have so many parties at the same time and they get their support," said Andrew Price, communications and promotions manager for ATI.

He estimated that about 10,000 patrons passed through the gates of the events.

However, Alex Chin of RTI, finds it hard to believe the ATI numbers were that high.

Based on the 30,000 he estimated attended his event, and his observation, he believes his parties outdid the rival's.

While he and Price did not agree on the numbers, they both were resolute that one event did not affect the other.

"We went and we took our crowd. We marketed by bringing to the people what we know they want. We made sure they got the Appleton experience there. As you know, there is no party without Appleton," Price said.

Many will remember that Appleton and Absolute Temptation Isle parted ways last year and staged separate events this year.

Absolute Temptation Isle partnered with beer giant Red Stripe and called the event Red Stripe Temptation Isle.

When asked, Chin said leaving Appleton brought both negative and positive results.

"Yes ,because the sponsors we're now working with are excellent. I see where we have grown. It was negative in the sense that, how many parties can Negril handle one weekend? It is almost like a competition. The budget we spent on marketing could have been spent in executing the event," he said.

Sumfest was pretty much alone in its schedule as it was probably not a good idea for anybody else to contest with the 'greatest reggae show on earth'. Sumfest, into its 15th year, went off without a major glitch.

Making money

The idea of putting together parties of this magnitude is to give people an opportunity to have a good time, but the main purpose is, of course, to make money.

An estimated $100,000,000 was spent to stage Sumfest it has been reported. Price said ATI cost "in excess of the six figure mark," while Chin would not comment on his figures. In any case, huge sums are spent on these events.

Sponsors generally undertake about 30 per cent of the costs of the events while the promoters pick up the rest. After months of planning, it can take one simple act of nature to undo all the work. The weather this year was good, but the profit for RTI did not fulfil the expectation.

"It isn't ideally the profit we were looking for. There was a lot of infrastructure cost that we had to cover. You plan this thing for eight months and you look to get back what you put in," Chin said.

But different persons have different agendas.

Price said, "We didn't go down there to make money, but to make an investment in the brand and give back to our supporters."

Promoter's risk

This is why Summerfest's Russell is hoping that in the future sponsors will begin to undertake more of the costs. He hopes the 30 per cent can be bumped up to about 60.

"The promoter run a great risk. If rain should fall on a Thursday night (dancehall night at Sumfest), the promoters stand to lose multiple millions," he said.

Still, the events have been well supported and all can report the season was good.

"Everybody from all spheres benefited, from the man with the jerk to hotel operators...We at Appleton believe we will continue this bond that we have with Negril," Price said.