BAY CITY, MI – In the shadows of the Appledore IV and the rising Uptown Bay City development, Shirley Roberts, event coordinator for Bay City’s Tall Ship Celebration, said she had some good news: Organizers have already made big strides in making the 2016 event happen, securing Dow Corning as the event’s top sponsor.
The sponsorship, announced at a Monday, Sept. 29, ceremony at the Uptown Bay City development, gives Tall Ships Celebration officials a chance to start putting the event together right away.
“Having the presenting sponsor secured allows us to start aggressively planning the event,” said Roberts, who is also president of BaySail, which operates the Appledore IV. “It’s key to our planning efforts to have the presenting sponsor secured this early.”
A Dow Corning official said the sponsorship is valued at $50,000.
In the near future, Roberts said organizers will begin soliciting more sponsors and communicating with ships to invite them to stop in Bay City, with marketing and advertising for the event beginning in mid-2015. The ships will be in Bay City from Thursday, July 14, through Sunday, July 17, 2016.
“It seems like a long ways away, but it really isn’t for an event the size of Tall Ship Celebration,” Roberts said, adding that it takes about 18 months to plan the event.
The Tall Ship Celebration last visited the Saginaw River and downtown Bay City in July 2013, bringing 11 ships, 75,000 visitors and an estimated $8 million impact on the local economy. Part of a tour of ships organized by Tall Ships America, the 2013 stop marked the fifth time the ships have visited Bay City since 2001, and resulted in the city winning its third Port of the Year award — an honor that automatically places the winning city on the next tour.
Roberts said that Dow Corning was previously the presenting sponsor in the 2010 and 2013 celebrations, and also offered a smaller sponsorship in 2006.
“When we heard the announcement that it was being held in 2016, we were absolutely thrilled,” said Kristy Folkwein, a senior vice president and the CIO of global business services for Dow Corning. She called Uptown Bay City offices the “perfect backdrop” for the event — one she said will host visitors from throughout the region as well as highlight the city’s ongoing economic development.
“As Bay City prepares to welcome sailing ships from around the world, Dow Corning is proud to offer its support of the award-winning maritime festival,” she said.
Roberts said the group is happy to speak with interested businesses on sponsoring the event, and noted that they may contact her at 989-895-5193.
“We’re still in the process of finalizing our sponsorship packages for other levels of sponsorship,” she said. “We generally have opportunities ranging from $500 to $40,000.”
The site of Monday’s ceremony was only a few yards way from the new Dow Corning offices at Uptown that opened in August. Roberts said the location could serve as a docking site for the 2016 event.
“It couldn’t be a more perfect place for our announcement,” she said.
—Sam Easter is a general assignment reporter for The Bay City Times. He can be reached at seaster@mlive.com.
《Dow Corning officials announce $50,000 sponsorship for 2016 Tall Ship Celebration》：
BAY CITY, MI – In the shadows of the Appledore IV and the rising Uptown Bay City development, Shirley Roberts, event coordinator for Bay City’s Tall Ship Celebration, said she had some good news: Organizers have already made big strides in making the 2016 event happen, securing Dow Corning as the event’s top sponsor.
The sponsorship, announced at a Monday, Sept. 29, ceremony at the Uptown Bay City development, gives Tall Ships Celebration officials a chance to start putting the event together right away.
“Having the presenting sponsor secured allows us to start aggressively planning the event,” said Roberts, who is also president of BaySail, which operates the Appledore IV. “It’s key to our planning efforts to have the presenting sponsor secured this early.”
A Dow Corning official said the sponsorship is valued at $50,000.
In the near future, Roberts said organizers will begin soliciting more sponsors and communicating with ships to invite them to stop in Bay City, with marketing and advertising for the event beginning in mid-2015. The ships will be in Bay City from Thursday, July 14, through Sunday, July 17, 2016.
“It seems like a long ways away, but it really isn’t for an event the size of Tall Ship Celebration,” Roberts said, adding that it takes about 18 months to plan the event.
The Tall Ship Celebration last visited the Saginaw River and downtown Bay City in July 2013, bringing 11 ships, 75,000 visitors and an estimated $8 million impact on the local economy. Part of a tour of ships organized by Tall Ships America, the 2013 stop marked the fifth time the ships have visited Bay City since 2001, and resulted in the city winning its third Port of the Year award — an honor that automatically places the winning city on the next tour.
Roberts said that Dow Corning was previously the presenting sponsor in the 2010 and 2013 celebrations, and also offered a smaller sponsorship in 2006.
“When we heard the announcement that it was being held in 2016, we were absolutely thrilled,” said Kristy Folkwein, a senior vice president and the CIO of global business services for Dow Corning. She called Uptown Bay City offices the “perfect backdrop” for the event — one she said will host visitors from throughout the region as well as highlight the city’s ongoing economic development.
“As Bay City prepares to welcome sailing ships from around the world, Dow Corning is proud to offer its support of the award-winning maritime festival,” she said.
Roberts said the group is happy to speak with interested businesses on sponsoring the event, and noted that they may contact her at 989-895-5193.
“We’re still in the process of finalizing our sponsorship packages for other levels of sponsorship,” she said. “We generally have opportunities ranging from $500 to $40,000.”
The site of Monday’s ceremony was only a few yards way from the new Dow Corning offices at Uptown that opened in August. Roberts said the location could serve as a docking site for the 2016 event.
“It couldn’t be a more perfect place for our announcement,” she said.
—Sam Easter is a general assignment reporter for The Bay City Times. He can be reached at seaster@mlive.com.