City of Temple plans to bring back Tanglefoot Festival despite projected loss of nearly $1-million

TEMPLE, Texas (KWTX) - Temple city leaders are calling the first ever Tanglefoot Music Festival a huge success despite the city reportedly losing more than $900,000.

It was the city’s most ambitious event, yet, and it came with a $3 million price tag. While local businesses and vendors told KWTX they benefited from the festival, the city is reporting a projected loss of nearly $1-million.

Musicians and vendors came to town from across the state and the country.

“We were one of the one’s that were local from just down the street and so we were excited to be involved,” said Ronnie Schoepf, the owner of Schoepf’s BBQ in Belton.

Schoepf was one of 16 food vendors selected to participate. He says it was a huge success for him, personally, and he feels the city benefited greatly too.

“We did some networking with a lot of other BBQ joints but also getting to meet a lot of other people who were trying us for the first time and it was a great opportunity. We really appreciate the city for being given a chance to do something this big and the Tanglefoot folks,” Schoepf explains.

Closer to the action, The Hub clothing boutique was right in the path of the festival. “We had a lot of extra foot traffic that’s probably the most we’ve had in awhile,” says Isabel Moerbe, a sales associate at The Hub.

Moerbe explained that on an average day they make between $100 to $200. On back-to-back days during the festival, the shop generated nearly $1,000 in sales.

“The whole weekend of Tanglefoot we had 20-30 people in here constantly just looking around a buying stuff and I think that did really good for us,” Moerbe says.

A City of Temple spokesperson says the festival was funded by the Hotel Occupancy Tax Fund. Those tax dollars are typically paid for by guests when they come from out of town and stay at a local hotel.

Despite the $916,000 loss for the city, which is a projection and not yet finalized, city officials told KWTX they believe the festival was a huge success and plan to bring it back next year.

The numbers, including how much was made and how much was lost, who attended from out of town, and how many tickets were bought, will not be available until Nov. 13 at the earliest.

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