Tall Stacks 2012!

If they hold it, we will come!

TS presence

Chris, as you probably remember from your years on the NATCHEZ, October is a big month for conventions and charters, which is why the NATCHEZ didn't participate in TS prior to '06. Unfortunately Katrina took away that business and so she was available in '06. The cost of fuel and the crew logistics would also be strikes against her returning.

Please note the first paragraph of the article:
"Look for the world-class music and arts event dedicated to Cincinnati's historic links to steamboats and the Ohio River"
It's a MUSIC & ARTS event, not a riverboat meet!
S'
David D.

if i understood the write ups after the last TS many of the boats were frustrated with the lack of money they received from it and poor running of the event by the city. I would think Cincy would have to do some reaching out to those folks just to even get them to come back.
There are many who would come just for the boats though. Admittedly I didn't go, lack of funds and a strong dislike for crowds was my reason. Although, if they do manage to hold another one I would definitely try to go to it. Watching what has happened with the boats in the last 2-3 years makes me cherish, all the more, the ones that are left

The other thing to keep in mind is that previous Tall Stacks had a great benefactor who donated lots of his time and floating equipment to make the river-ops portion of Tall Stacks work -- Nelson Jones. Off-hand I can't think of any one person with the knowledge, interest, and floating equipment to take over river-ops at the same scale and quality as Nelson did.

As we used to say in the scrap bizz:

"Let's see what happens."

Hey all,

I have read the article and the comments and I can't help but reiterate what Dave Dewey said..."It is a Music and Arts event".

This is the problem with all the Tall Stacks events BUT the first one. They say the music and arts bring people to the river. But the FIRST Tall Stacks, in 1988 (A Bicentennial celebration of Cincinnati's River Heritage) didn't focus on the music and arts, it focused on the boats and they sold out EVERY cruise., made money, and decided to make it happen every 4 years. Each subsequent Tall Stacks has been harder on the boats and their ticket sales. The second TS had a larger number of boats, yet less of them sold out...same thing in 1995 and 1999. By 2003 the word was out and a number of the returning boats didn't. 2006 was a strange one...they had some great boats...but the river didn't cooperate. Not to mention the land-based entertainment didn't draw the crowds they wanted. They lost alot of money. It would seem to me (the uneducated to planning large-scaled public music and arts events with a couple of boats there) going back to what the festival WAS...simple, boats, cruises, river entertainers in 2 venues on the landing, focus on the river....they might make a buck and have alot of satisfied customers. Bringing in high paid world class acts is a crap shoot in October. With flippant weather their investment could go south fast and lose a ton of money.

The first Tall Stacks was best. River people doing what they do on boats they knew and thousands of people coming to experience it and leaving with a satisfaction of a FUN learning experience. We had thousands of people on the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE every morning for the Passport Tours. Some brought us gifts to thank us for coming! We would keep the tours going up to an hour after they were supposed to stop to let the hundreds still in line to tour the boat come aboard. John Hartford and Vic Tooker were amongst the few headliners to entertain at the festival. It started on Thursday and ended on Sunday. The crew worked 12 hour shifts and 4 cruises a day....hard work! The end result was alot of happy people who came to Louisville to experience the BELLE again, alot of income for the boat (we virtually emptied out the concession and souvinier stands!), and alot of good old hard work with a great reward by a dedicated crew. We weren't the only crew to have this experience as it happened on the BONNIE BELLE (Jeffersonville, IN), the PA DENNY (Charleston, WV), the MARK TWAIN (Hannibal, MO), the ISLAND QUEEN (Memphis, TN), the SOUTHERN BELLE (Chattanooga, TN), the BECKY THATCHER (Cincinnati, OH), the SPIRIT OF CINCINNATI (Cincinnati, OH), the DELTA QUEEN (Cincinnati, OH), the PRESIDENT (St. Louis, MO), the RIVER QUEEN (Jeffersonville, IN), and the WEST VIRGINIA BELLE (Charleston, WV).

Just some thoughts and ramblings to ponder about where it was and what it has done.
Amazing how all but two of those boats are still operating in some capacity!

Collating the comments

To summarize Travis' posting: it worked well for the boats when the boat people basically ran the event. Hence it would be great if we could return to that. But, as Steve pointed out, the biggest boat benefactor and boatman, Nelson Jones, has departed and the chances of finding someone to fill his shoes is grim. As David pointed out, the Festival poohbahs now proclaim it to be a Music and Arts festival, and are probably soliciting the sponsors based on that premise. And I as pointed out, the chances of having the NATCHEZ there again are next to nil. Add these all up, and it doesn't look real promising on the boat end of the festival.
Here are a couple of observations from the '06 boat end: there was no way the NATCHEZ could afford to come up and pay for her fuel and expenses and then get reimbursed. So I believe a certain amount of the anticipated proceeds were advanced so she could pay for those items as she went. I think that some, if not all boats, had contracts which guaranteed them x dollars or passengers or profit, so that the boat owners knew they weren't risking a financial bath. Now, in order to make these guarantees, the festival people set the ticket prices and the types of cruises each boat would take and when. This caused quite a few complaints about the high ticket price, but all we could respond was that it was set by the committee, not by the boat. Another problem with the committee in charge of boat things: they advertised a couple of our trips as Mardi Gras trips with all the trimmings, like beads, masks, etc. Only thing is, they didn't tell us - so we didn't have those things to hand out. That made for bad PR. I believe there were also some issues about food on the boats which didn't prepare their own, but I don't know what that was about. I'm guessing that IF boats would come to another TS, they would be the ones like our CELEBRATION BELLE, which makes money coming over by offering daylong trips and bussing people back to their starting point, and which prepares its own food. One other point about '06 - the fast rising water did certainly cause problems especially with repositioning the boats. But there wasn't agreement among the captains as to whether to run or not. The NATCHEZ was adamant about running, for while the river was high and more rapid than usual, it was nothing compared to conditions the NATCHEZ operates in regularly, and of course she has the handling and power needed for such conditions. So there was some ill will, if only temporary, during the summit meetings at high water. As it turned out, I believe we stayed dockside for one morning and then everyone resumed cruising.