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Wranglers net less than expected for Cowtown

BY BECCY TANNER AND BRENT D. WISTROM

The Wichita Eagle

City officials predict improvement

City officials lauded an agreement that brought the Diamond W Wranglers to Old Cowtown Museum last fall as a high-profile boost that could help turn around the struggling museum.

They estimated the cowboy musicians could generate up to $64,800 a year for Cowtown.

So far, in six and a half months, the Wranglers have sold 7,518 tickets, which translates to $15,036 for Cowtown, according to figures obtained from the city through an open records request.

City officials say the group's performance thus far isn't an indication of how it will do in the future. They point to the crowds who paid to see Wranglers when they performed in past years as the Prairie Rose Wranglers in Benton.

"It takes awhile for people to find you," said City Council member Sue Schlapp, who helped arrange the agreement that brought the Wranglers to Cowtown last fall.

News of the ticket sales comes as the city is debating whether to spend several million dollars to build a bigger theater at Cowtown.

That 400- to 600-seat theater at Cowtown is still needed, Schlapp said -- not only for the Wranglers but to provide meeting and entertainment space for the city along the river.

"We know the Wranglers had to turn away some of the bigger corporations (during the holidays) because the visitors' center wasn't a big enough venue... It will take next year for things to get going and another year after that before everybody understands what can happen at Cowtown. It takes time."

Attendance numbers

The Wranglers thus far have played in the Cowtown visitor's center, which can seat 186 people.

From Sept. 20 through Dec. 22, they played 51 times at Cowtown. Based on city guest numbers, the group averaged 128 ticket sales for those performances.

It fared best during December, when it sold 3,058 tickets, according to city figures. That would be an average of 146 visitors over 21 performances.

A city report last August, before the City Council signed a contract with the band, said the Wranglers brought in nearly 50,000 people a year when they performed at the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper in Benton.

The Wranglers say their peak year came when they topped 47,291 visitors in 2004, the year the Women's International Bowling Congress came to Wichita. The group's next best year was in 2003 when 45,291 people came to hear them at the Prairie Rose, said Orin Friesen, the band's bass player.

The Wranglers' audiences began decreasing after 2004, largely because the creator of the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon, Thomas Etheredge, stopped focusing on the Prairie Rose and turned his attention to the Wild West World theme park, Friesen said.

"When Thomas did Wild West World, he didn't pay attention to the Prairie Rose," Friesen said. "There was no advertising or push."

Last year, when Etheredge's Wild West World and Prairie Rose went bankrupt, the Wranglers were left without a venue, a phone number or a known location where people could come and hear them perform.

The Wranglers, who played to two sold-out audiences at Carnegie Hall and toured in China earlier this decade, have had sell-outs at Cowtown, especially around the Christmas holidays, Friesen said. He could not provide the number of sell-outs.

They traditionally perform Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, ramping up to seven nights a week during the holidays.

After December, the band expected to perform less, Friesen said. The museum was closed for the winter. And one of the performers went on a honeymoon. The band has averaged three to four shows a month. It has nine this month and will be back in full production in May. The museum reopens May 9.

At Cowtown, the band must work around dates that already were booked for other events. For example, the visitors' center is open only one Saturday in June for the band, Friesen said. Because of that, the Wranglers will tour Nashville in May and Colorado in June.

John D'Angelo, arts and culture director for the city, said he would expect the band to eventually draw about 30,000 people a year at Cowtown.

The city gets $2 of each $30 ticket sold by the Wranglers under the current contract.

Given that Wichita has a lot more potential consumers than Benton, 30,000 may be a conservative estimate if the city builds a 400-seat theater, said City Council member Sharon Fearey.

"You never want to go into something and promise the world and then only deliver Pluto," she said.

To build or not?

Council members are expected to vote May 6 on whether to build the theater. Fearey has proposed the money to build it be drawn from funding for railroad and city vehicle upgrades and from cultural arts and tourism funds.

At one point, the building was estimated to cost up to $4.6 million. The city has received some proposals in the $2 million to $3 million range, D'Angelo said.

Some council members have voiced concern about the building.

"I don't care if it's $50,000," council member Jim Skelton said. "I don't think it's the right thing to do. What do you want? A Cowtown theater or more street money?"

Fearey and Schlapp have pushed for a quick decision on the building, saying the Wranglers need the venue for this year's holiday season.

But they also say the building would not be built solely for the Wranglers.

"We're not building a theater for the Wranglers," Fearey said. "We're building a theater now because we have this opportunity, but we feel there is an need for this size of event space in the city, especially if we can take advantage of that river view."

A consultant's study two years ago said Cowtown needed an entertainment venue along with restaurant facilities to attract more visitors.

"I envision this building as a space," Schlapp said. "It's great for the Wranglers when they are there, but also for any other entertainment. I see business lunches, seminars and wedding receptions being used there. People have said there is an 18-month wait list for a space if you want to have a wedding on the river. This would be an opportunity for a great view of the river."

Other uses might include period productions in partnership with Cowtown and the music, history and theater departments from Wichita State University, Fearey said.

D'Angelo said the building could also be used for other types of concerts -- such as bluegrass, blues and jazz -- when the Wranglers aren't performing.

Wichita tourism officials offered advice when the city determined the size needed for the building.

"I think it is going to be a great asset to not only Old Cowtown but the museum district," said John Rolfe, president and chief executive of the Greater Wichita Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"It will allow some unique opportunities for us to have groups in the city," Rolfe said, "for locals and convention groups who want to have off-site meetings and a venue to have a dinner and take in attraction and have fun things to do. It will be a significant improvement."

As for the Wranglers, Friesen said it's unfair to put the sole spotlight for Cowtown's future on the cowboy band.

"We can play anyplace," he said. "When the Prairie Rose closed, Cowtown wanted us. The city wanted us. Even the Wichita Eagle seemed to want us. It all seemed to fit. It doesn't matter to us where we play. We wanted to help Cowtown."

Reach Beccy Tanner at 316-268-6336 or btanner@wichitaeagle.com.