The City of Oldsmar will cap off its yearlong centennial celebration with a special concert featuring a lineup of rock legends at Tampa Bay Downs on October 1.
The City of Oldsmar’s centennial festivities have already featured a concert by the Black Honkeys, a swanky dinner dance at Nielsen, and a classic Oldsmobile car show amid the weekend-long Oldsmar Days festivities.
Still to come are the rescheduled Oldsmar Days parade, three more Fifth Friday concerts and a centennial themed Celebrate Oldsmar! weekend in September.
But the event that will cap off the city’s yearlong 100th birthday party will be the biggest – and most expensive – of all the centennial activities, as the city council agreed last week to front $50,000 for a concert loaded with rock legends on October 1 at Tampa Bay Downs.
“The producer is looking for $50,000 for this concert, and I need some feedback from the city council of how you guys feel,” Council member and Oldsmar100 chair Dan Saracki said on April 5, noting the centennial committee would pay the $20,000 deposit due upon the signing of the contract.
Saracki said he and Mayor Doug Bevis recently attended a test version of the show, which features members of the groups Journey, Kansas, the Beaver Brown Band and Deep Purple backed by local group Stormbringer, and he believes the concert at Tampa Bay Downs will be the perfect way to wrap up the centennial celebration.
Although he couldn’t give an estimate of how much money the concert would take in, he said between general admission tickets, box seats, and food and beer sales, and the fact that the racetrack is allowing the city to use the facility for $1.00, the show is basically guaranteed to turn a profit.
“We, as the city, we can keep the ticket money, or the centennial task force can keep the money, from ticket sales,” he said. “So this will be a profit maker.”
After discussing the financials and logistics of the event, the proposal quickly received support from Saracki’s fellow council members.
“Well, this only happens every 100 years,” Council member Jerry Beverland said. “I’m all for it.”
“I’m in favor of it,” Vice-Mayor Eric Seidel added.
Mayor Bevis also said he liked the idea, but he wanted clarification on how, or if, the city would be reimbursed for the event.
“Would the contract be structured so that…revenues generated would come back to reimburse the city, that basically we would be making a loan to the centennial?” Bevis asked.
“Positively reimburse the city,” Saracki replied.
“My goal is to give the City of Oldsmar all the money back, whatever profits we make.”
Saracki said he is currently working with the city attorney and the concert promoter to finalize the details of the agreement.
Although ticket prices have not been set, Saracki estimated roughly 2,800-3,000 general admission seats will cost $25-$30, with pricer box seats also available.
“We want to keep the costs low, because this is a centennial event to bring people together for this concert and the City of Oldsmar,” he said.
Related content:
- Officials reschedule annual Oldsmar Days parade for September
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- Oldmar readies for biggest weekend in its 100-year history
- Black Honkeys rock Oldsmar’s Fifth Friday centennial celebration
- Fifth Friday concerts highlight Oldsmar’s centennial celebration
- Oldsmar prepares for centennial celebration in 2016
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