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Ceremonial officials say revenue outlook good

Young girls in traditional dress carry the American flag for the beginning of the 87th Inter-Tribal Indaian Ceremonial night parade Aug. 7 in downtown Gallup— © 2008 Gallup Independent / Cable Hoover

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — Final figures are still a few days away, but Ceremonial officials have received some preliminary figures that indicate revenues at this year’s Gallup Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonial are up from last year.

Louis Bonaguidi, chairman of the Ceremonial board, said revenue for the exhibit hall was about $96,000 at this year’s event. That’s up from last year’s $79,000 total in 2007. The association gets 30 percent of that as a fee.

“That sounds good but we have to be sure that are expenses are paid,” he said, adding that he hasn’t seen figures yet for expenses for this year’s event.

Admission was also up with the Ceremonial taking in $55,000 on Saturday, said Bonaguidi, which is an all-time high for one day. But if you factor in inflation, it may not be as good as in some other years, he added.

Although he hadn’t seen figures for Friday’s performance, he said it has to be better than the one held last year when it started raining heavily at 6 p.m. and didn’t stop until 8:30 p.m.

Sale of souvenirs and parking were down, but Bonaguidi said with parking, that was to be expected since parking fees went down, from $6 a car to $5.

“We have gotten some good feedback,” he said, with a lot of people praising not only the shows but other aspects of the Ceremonial, such as the two parades, as well.

He’s hoping that final figures are ready by Tuesday when the Ceremonial’s director, Jeri Poletto, gets back from Santa Fe.
At that time, the association is looking at the possibility of calling a news conference to announce plans regarding moving it headquarters to another location.

The association has been looking at the possibility for the past couple of years of purchasing or building a new headquarters, and Bonaguidi said the association is in the final stages of purchasing a building, using some funds it has received for that purpose from the New Mexico State Legislature.