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Chicago Tribune
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
SSCVA ups Pierogi Fest sponsorship amid dustup with Hammond
The South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority is giving Whiting's Pierogi Fest an extra helping of sponsorship dollars this year, but the gesture likely won't smooth over bad feelings between the SSCVA and the City of Hammond. The SSCVA board at its Wednesday meeting voted 10-0 to give Pierogi Fest a $10,000 sponsorship after finding an extra $5,000 in its budget. The SSCVA in April voted to give the wildly popular festival $5,000 while giving Festival of the Lakes $15,000, the Post-Tribune previously reported. During discussion before the vote, Board Member Bernie Grisolia said that Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. had given back the $15,000 for Festival of the Lakes and wants to see it given to Pierogi Fest. McDermott did that because 'there were hurt feelings between Whiting and Hammond' over the money, Grisolia said. 'If we take the $15,000 back, we'll be giving Pierogi Fest $25,000,' SSCVA Board President Andy Qunell said. 'Are we not sponsors for Festival of the Lakes, then?' asked Board Member Chris Cash, who's the general manager for the Ramada Conference Center in North Hammond. 'I don't want people to think we're not supporting Festival of the Lakes.' Qunell then moved to approve the $10,000 for Pierogi Fest and said Hammond should still accept some of the money and that he would call McDermott even though the SSCVA's relationship with him is 'strained right now.' SSCVA Treasurer Matt Malony added that Qunell should make clear it the SSCVA never intended to slight Whiting. McDermott, however, told the Post-Tribune on Wednesday that Qunell's effort would be a 'loaded proposition.' 'This whole thing was botched, completely mishandled from the beginning,' McDermott said. 'I love Whiting, and we never wanted to take any sort of money away from them, so (SSCVA) can keep the money. 'We pay $2.5 million to the CVA each year — that's 50% of their budget — and they want to give us $15,000? That's a pretty crappy return.' This year's smaller SSCVA sponsorships for the two prompted President and CEO Phil Taillon in April to consider changing the process by which festivals asked for sponsorships, the Post-Tribune reported. Having previously paid $20,000 for a high-level Festival of the Lakes sponsorship, the organization's vote to give $10,000 to it this year and $5,000 to Pierogi Fest was directly tied to the SSCVA's lawsuit between it and former President and CEO Speros Batistatos. Grisolia at that meeting asked whether the board would consider giving Festival of the Lakes $15,000 since $10,000 is 'kind of an insult.' Chief Financial Officer Nicole Wolverton concurred with Taillon that the money isn't there right now. In other business, CFO Nicole Wolverton said the SSCVA collected $398,000 of Innkeeper's tax for March, about $33,000 less than last year. So far, the SSCVA has collected $1.6 million, or $100,000 less year-to-date. Some of the lower revenues, at least on Hammond's end, could be attributed to a function BP Whiting hosted where many of their contractors were staying in hotels, Cash said; as such, revenues are 'hard to make up' at the start of the year. But Taillon wasn't too concerned yet. 'Tourism is down all over, so to be where we're at right now isn't a bad place,' he said.
Chicago Tribune
19-04-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Convention authority reduces funding for two big festivals because of fees from lawsuit with former CEO
The South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority will reduce funding help for two of the area's biggest festivals because of its ongoing lawsuit with its former CEO. This year's smaller SSCVA sponsorships for two of Northwest Indiana's biggest festivals – Festival of the Lakes in Hammond and Pierogi Fest in Whiting – prompted President and CEO Phil Taillon to consider changing the application process, he told the CVA board during its Thursday afternoon meeting. Having previously paid $20,000 for a high-level Festival of the Lakes sponsorship, the organization will be able to give only $10,000 to it this year and $5,000 to Pierogi Fest, he said. The lesser sponsorship amounts, Taillon said, are directly tied to the SSCVA's lawsuit between it and former President and CEO Speros Batistatos. 'We've had some additional expenses with the lawsuit, attorney fees we're dealing with,' he said. 'It's capacity building, but we're going to have one year where things are normal and another where we can't give as much. But I'm OK – I'm basing the decreases on past events.' Board member Bernie Grisolia asked whether the board would consider giving Festival of the Lakes $15,000 since $10,000 is 'kind of an insult.' Chief Financial Officer Nicole Wolverton concurred with Taillon that the money isn't there right now. '(The sponsorship amount) has been on the budget,' she said. '(The legal bills) are hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been making me nervous.' Taillon said he envisions the new process as having the 19 Lake County municipalities submitting their events for which they want sponsorship by a proposed time each year so the CVA can plan the funding all at once. Because the events are scattered throughout the year, however, he conceded handling the process that way 'won't work perfectly.' 'So you're saying there's only a $20,000 budget?' board member Matt Schuffert asked, to which Taillon said they were talking only about Festival of the Lakes and Pierogi Fest. 'This lawsuit is costing us so much money. Hopefully next year, we'll be past it.' The board then voted unanimously to put Merrillville Board Member Dena Patena in charge of a committee to create a sponsorship process. Schuffert then asked about funding for the Gary Air Show. Chief of Events and Facilities Kristin Taylor said that the air show is different because the CVA runs it while the city of Gary provides money, in-kind donations or both. This year, the city will provide an in-kind donation of security; last year, it provided security as well as a $50,000 donation, she said. With the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds – and its $100,000 price tag — coming back to the event this year, the CVA will need more than the $580,000 it raised in sponsorships and donations last year for 2025, Taylor said. So far, the money isn't coming in as quickly as they hoped. 'It stinks to say, but I think it being the 'Gary Air Show' is deterring it,' Taylor said. The South Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau has spent almost a quarter of a million dollars in its ongoing legal battle with Batistatos — and that only covers one of the law firms involved, the Post-Tribune previously reported. An analysis of some of the legal bills the tourism agency has racked up in the litigation reveals that it's so far paid $237,835.80 between 2021 and November to Indianapolis-based Barnes and Thornburg, which is representing the SSCVA as an entity. For the month of February, the CVA paid Barnes & Thornburg $100.50 in 'February legal services' and Hammond-based attorney firm Westland & Bennett $2,805, according to the CVA's April claims register. Westland & Bennett Principal Dave Westland is representing Board President Andy Qunell, Board Members Brent Brashier, Matt Maloney, Schuffert and former Board member Tom Dabertin individually in the suit. Batistatos sued the SSCVA on August 29, 2022 — a month after it fired him — alleging it violated the law in the handling of his contract renegotiations due to his age as well as misspent federal Payroll Protection Plan funds in violation of the CARES Act, a claim the board disputes. The SSCVA budgeted $150,000 in its legal line item for 2025, though it's able to make appropriations from other funds in its $6,614,250 2025 budget. The entity is not a publicly funded agency, but is funded through casino and hotel tax revenues, according to its website. In other business, the CVA awarded unanimously several contracts for facility repairs, including a $29,889 contract to Hammond-based Gluth Brothers for a new roof; a $11,950 contract to Crown Point-based Bellsom Electronics to replace the center's outdoor flood lighting; a $22,680 contract to Cover-Rite Flooring in Crown Point for new carpeting in the upstairs offices; and $431,800 contract with Tri Electronics in Hammond for AV system upgrades to the center's exhibition hall, theater and boardroom. The projects will be paid for out of a $2 million bond the CVA took out when former CVA President Dave Uran was at the helm.
