Music pros pitch big-name country music fest to Clovis

Could Clovis be the home of the next big country music festival?

A pair of music industry professionals say so, and they came to town this week to try to convince city officials and business people that Old Town Clovis is prime real estate for a “world class music festival” that could attract A-list talent and thousands of fans.

Jon Brooks, a Nashville-based music marketer, consultant and event producer, and Ellis Jay Pailet, a New Orleans-based entertainment attorney, made the two-hour presentation Tuesday night.

It was met with equal parts excitement and skepticism by the 25 people in the room, including Clovis Mayor Jose Flores, members of the Chamber of Commerce and the Clovis Rodeo Association board of directors.

The boiled-down version of the pitch: create the Big Hat Jam, a three-day music festival that would complement Clovis’ annual Big Hat Days beginning in 2013.

The festival would serve as the Big Hat Days kick-off with a Friday night concert that would feature up to four A-list acts. It would continue on Saturday night after Big Hat Days, then put an exclamation point on the weekend with a Sunday afternoon concert.

When they say A-list acts, they’re talking names such as Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood and Lady Antebellum. With those types of artists, the festival could draw 50,000 people and potentially knock off Stagecoach, the annual country festival in Indio, as the biggest in California.

Big Hat Jam would — in their proposal –happen at Clovis Rodeo Grounds and spill into nearby Clarke Intermediate School grounds.

What would make this work is the established popularity of Big Hat Days. The festival would “hitch its wagon” to Big Hat Days, which already draws 150,000 people on its own. That, Brooks said, is enough to lure big-name corporate sponsors who like to put their names on music festivals.

Those corporate sponsorships are the key to everything. Brooks says they’d have to raise $4.2-$5 million worth of capital to start the festival. He says that’s possible, and he wouldn’t have flown to the Valley on his own nickel and prepared the presentation otherwise.

“We’re not coming in here asking for a check from the city,” Brooks said.

Instead, they wanted the OK from the Clovis brain trust to put together a detailed business plan.

Mayor Flores said he liked the concept, but it needed more work. Rodeo board members wanted to know more about how it would affect their event a few weeks later. But Larry Baumeister, owner of Old Town Saloon, said it’s exactly what Clovis needs.

The next step? Brooks and Pailet start work on a more detailed proposal and come back within 30 days to see whether their festival idea will become a reality.

“The clock is ticking,” Brooks said.

By Mike Osegueda