Sponsor Information

National Cherry Festival Sponsor Info

Remember the sights, sounds, and smells of a summer celebration in your hometown when you were a kid? It probably had music shows and sporting events and marching bands and rides on a midway and pie-eating contests and clean blue skies and warm sunshine and crowds of smiling faces and no worries.

This year's over 100 sponsorable events include all of the above and more! Free air shows over the Bay, colorful parades, music shows, and lots of lucious cherries prepared every way you can imagine will be found all week long on Traverse City's beautiful Lake Michigan shores.

If this sounds like an atmosphere that would be conducive for presenting your company's products or services, then you've guessed the National Cherry Festival's number one asset. Our Corporate Sponsorship Program offers Experiential Marketing opportunities that help emotionally connect your company to your customers and prospects. We hope you'll consider joining the National Cherry Festival's sponsor family. We're confident that the sponsorship programs we are proposing will encourage customer loyalty and demonstrate your relevance to consumers. Besides, it just might bring out the kid in you that you've probably missed for a long time!


Benefits Of Being A Sponsor

ParadeThe National Cherry Festival is an eight-day event featuring over 100 activities for visitors to enjoy throughout the entire week at the premier Festival Open Space Park and other event staging areas throughout the Grand Traverse Region.

National Cherry Festival venues offer your company a most conducive atmosphere for consumers to receive YOUR message.

Listed below are benefits associated with event sponsorship of Michigan's Travel Bureau's Number One event:
  • Over 500,000 on-site visitors over an eight (8) day period
  • Turn-key, demographically specific event sponsorship programs
  • Media and Public Relations opportunities: Corporate image enhancement through grass-roots community involvement and statewide media campaigns
  • Radio and television interview opportunities
  • Direct access to consumers through on-site product distribution and sampling
  • Cross-promotional and activation / leveraging opportunities
  • Grocers' cooperative marketing campaign with up to six (6) grocer chains
  • On-site signage
  • Advertisement in Festival "Official Program" exposure--distribution 50,000
  • Couponing opportunities
  • Client and vendor hosting opportunities
  • Company staff participation opportunities
  • Attachment to National Cherry Festival website (www.cherryfestival.org)
Audience Demographic/ Phychographics Makeup:

Bayside Stage EventThe estimated annual attendance at the National Cherry Festival is around 500,000. Attendance figures are the result of a cross reference of city police counts, ticketed venue counts, and Event Director counts. Direct and indirect economic impact is estimated at about $26 million annually, including 450 jobs (or $7.2 million in wages).

NMC Research Services Visitor Survey Recap
  • The majority of respondents (79%) indicated this was not their first visit to the National Cherry Festival. Approximately 50% have attended the Cherry Festival over 10 times.

  • The single largest group of respondents (42%) indicated they would attend the festival for one to two days; over 35% indicated they would attend three to four days.

  • The majority of respondents (87%) indicated they live in Michigan, with the single largest group of Michigan residents (48%) reporting they live in Grand Traverse County, followed by Oakland, representing 9.5%.

  • The single largest group of respondents (34%) reported they are 35 to 44 years of age, with the second largest group (27%) reporting they are 45 to 54 years of age; thus, 61% of respondents are 35 to 54.

  • The majority of respondents (70%) indicated they are married; the majority of respondents (58%) were female.

  • Approximately 40% of respondents reported family incomes of over $75,000 for 2002.

  • The largest group of respondents (39%) indicated they have a college degree, with 17% indicating they have a post-grad degree. Approximately 20% of respondents were Professionals, followed by Executive/Administrative/Managerial at 15% and Homemaker and Sales, each at 9%.

  • The single largest group of respondents (49%) indicated they anticipated spending less than $100 at the festival. The second largest group (33%) indicated they anticipated spending $100 to $250.

  • The majority of respondents (55%) indicated they were very satisfied with their National Cherry Festival experience to date.

  • Respondents most frequently reported listening to Rock (20%), Country (19%), or Pop (14%) music.

  • Out of 1,161 responses regarding recreational activities, the most frequently mentioned recreational activities included: Biking (126), Walking (120), Swimming (112), Golf (94), Running (66), Boating (64), Fishing (61).

Facts about The National Cherry Festival

FIRST FESTIVAL
-- was held in 1926

ANNUAL ATTENDANCE
-- over 500,000 over eight days

PROGRAM
-- Over 100 events and activities (85 percent are free)

SOURCES OF INCOME
-- Event Sponsors, Corporate Membership Program, Ticket Sales, Vendor and Souvenir Sales

PROMOTION
-- through promotional material, including regionally and nationally distributed brochures; news releases; feature stories in national media; National Cherry Queen tours and appearances; interchange with other major festivals in the country; 50,000 Festival week programs; Midwest media blitzes; personal presentations

OPERATION OF FESTIVAL
-- minimum of 35,000 volunteer hours and 15,000 staff hours each year

FESTIVAL EXPENDITURES
-- over 75 percent of dollars spent by Festival remain in the area

ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS
-- International Festival and Events Association; Michigan Festival and Events Association; West Michigan Tourist Association

FESTIVAL PUBLICATIONS
-- "Cherry Creations -- The Ultimate Cherry Cookbook" (distributed nationally)

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Community Benefits

Community pride
-- A tradition of festival -- encourages people to stay involved in the community -- over 1,000 proud volunteers in the Ambassador Community Share Programs

Promotion of the cherry industry
-- Cherries D'vine, orchard tours, Industry Day, Grand Cherries Buffet, Cherry Queen visits, Cherry Farm Market, Grand Traverse Heritage Museum Exhibit, Cherry Pie for the Michigan State Senate, M.D.O.T. Highway Rest Area Welcome Centers

Contribution to arts/culture
-- Arts and Crafts Fair, Traverse Symphony Orchestra, Wine Tasting, and other music performances at Open Space Park

Community Share Program
-- Contributes to over 60 charitable and civic organizations
(e.g. hockey booster, Poseidon swim club, Kiwanis, church organizations, etc) -- total cash donations over $30,000 annually in exchange for staffing Festival activities

NMC Scholarship Program
-- Provides a $2,500 scholarship to NMC culinary arts students

Queen Scholarship Program
-- $11,500 for queen and runner-up

Donation to TBA
-- Handicap equipment from Special Kids Program

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Economic Benefits

Adds $26 million dollars to the region's economy annually

Creates hundreds of full time jobs within the hospitality industry

National Cherry Festival spends nearly $1,000,000 annually with local vendors from paper supply companies to insurance companies to porta-jons, etc.

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National Cherry Festival Mission Statement

The mission of the National Cherry Festival is to celebrate cherries, tourism, and community involvement.