City of Sunnyside, Washington Issues Event Management RFP

The City of Sunnyside, Washington has issued an event management RFP for the Cinco de Mayo Festival. The annual Cinco de Mayo festival is the largest and longest running cultural event in the Yakima Valley, celebrating Mexican and Latin American heritage and culture and drawing over 25,000 in attendance.The festival historically includes live music performances, a large Mexican dancing horse contest, a one-of-a-kind parade with up to 300 dancing horses, large carnival, authentic  Mexican refreshments, and a variety of exhibitors and vendor booths.

Scope of Work:

• Contacting and engaging with individuals, governmental agencies, small and large businesses, and others to secure event vendors.
• Hire entertainment acts to perform during the festival.
• Contract with festival equipment providers including stage, sound, booths, etc.
• Ensure all equipment providers, entertainment acts, permit fees, etc. are invoiced and paid on time.
• Organize event schedule including start and stop time, entertainment schedule, vendor/sponsor placement, etc., and communicate schedule with City staff.
• Develop, manage, and execute master event plan and timeline; assign/delegate tasks to volunteer teams; evaluate, analyze, and report results for the event to City staff on a regular and consistent basis.
• Responsible for timely submission of all applicable City permits and applications as set forth in SMC 12.46, Special (Community) Event Permit (Attachment A) and Noise Variance (Attachment B).
• Coordinate and communicate effectively with various City departments to secure proper and required permits, street closures, no parking signs, police coverage, etc.
• Promote open lines of communication with the City and report on a monthly basis regarding results from various efforts under this Contract.
• Marketing – Oversee the implementation of the marketing campaign to include, at a minimum:
  • Design, create, and distribute promotional materials and campaigns highlighting the 30th Annual Cinco de Mayo Festival.
  • Interact with press and television media, social media, local merchants and others to advertise Cinco de Mayo.
  • Negotiate advertising with local and regional media.
  • Create a web and social media presence to promote and advertise the festival.
  • Facilitate links with other websites to advertise event and encourage attendance.
  • Provide written reports, as will be required by the City, detailing results derived from the promotional efforts set forth above.

• Responsible for leading/managing volunteer committees, both pre-event and on-site, for all aspects of the event.
• Manage relationships with event vendors to ensure compliance with all City permits, Washington State Department of Health, and other agencies as required by state and local law.
• Direct and manage on-site event set up and clean-up.

Due Date:

August 8th, 2017 to:

Deborah Estrada, CMC, City Clerk
City of Sunnyside
818 E. Edison Avenue
Sunnyside, WA 98944

PR firms in Washington State include Allison PR and Weber Shandwick PR.