Twenty local churches participated in the nondenominational Christian festival.

Twenty local churches
participated in the
nondenominational
Christian festival.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

CHAMPION — Organizers of this summer’s Collide Christian music festival held at the Trumbull County Fairgrounds say lower-than-hoped-for attendance and financial difficulties haven’t put a damper on plans to bring the festival back next year.

“We’re extremely happy with the way things went,” said Cles Holbrook of Champion, the festival director.

Holbrook said the festival brought in about $200,000, which is about half of what was spent to carry out the two-day event. Paid attendance was about 5,000 people.

Holbrook said a first-time event generally loses money. Between loans and other sources, the committee is able to handle the loss, he said.

Holbrook, who also runs the Internet radio station KNET180radio.com, is optimistic that the festival will recoup the first-year losses and reach a break-even point by the end of next year’s concert. Holbrook also works for Coca-Cola.

Work has begun on that event, which will be moved back a week to attract more families with school-age kids and feature better bands, Holbrook said. It is set for Aug. 15 and 16. Last summer’s festival was Aug. 24 and 25, which may have been too close to the start of school for some people, Holbrook said.

Michael W. Smith, one of the most successful Christian male artists in the business, has committed to return next year. Smith, who will release his 20th album next week, has the highest attendance at concerts and highest volume of record sales in the industry, Holbrook said. He got his start nearly 25 years ago playing keyboards for female artist Amy Grant.

Though this year’s concert featured the well-known band Jars of Clay, Holbrook has a commitment from another popular band, Mercy Me, for next year. Other well-known performers included last summer were Point of Grace and Norma Jean.

Holbrook’s wife, Davina, assistant festival director, has been negotiating with the Trumbull County Fair Board to use the fairgrounds again next year, but first a financial disagreement has to be worked out. If negotiations break down, organizers will find another nearby location, she said.

One issue with the fair board is a $10,000 security deposit that organizers didn’t pay to the fair board to cover damages to the fairgrounds, Davina Holbrook said. Organizers did pay the $31,500 rental amount, she noted, and made about $5,000 in improvements to the grounds.

The festival was designed to be family-friendly. It had a protected area for children age 3 to 10 that featured such activities as clown performances and face painting. A youth stage provided entertainment geared to the 10-and-up crowd.

Tickets last year were $55 at the gate for adults, $25 for children 6 to 11, free for those age 5 and under. The cost included the option of camping for free on the grounds, something that many attendees didn’t understand, Davina Holbrook said. Around 30 percent of festival-goers camped.

The Holbrooks are members of an evangelical church in Howland, Believers Christian Fellowship, and most of the speakers came from an evangelical perspective, Davina Holbrook said. But Collide ’07 followed the same nondenominational philosophy as most Christian concerts held across the country.

There were 20 local churches participating in the festival, and people of many religions attended, she said.

runyan@vindy.com