Tourism Bureau Meeting Minutes Spiegeltent @ Wolf Creek Brewery October 8, 2019, 12:00 p.m.

Attendees Nidia Vargas, Jennifer Love (Courtyard); Memory Rudolph, Rashel Zayayou, Taylor Irving (Embassy Suites); Maria Christopher (Heritage Valley); Jo Anne Hilario, Karina Walker (Holiday Inn Express); Imee Delos Santos, Shea Hanson (Hyatt); Sergio D’Agustini (Reyes Winery); Tami Stephens (Senator Wilk’s Office); Debbie Dugger, Ginger Hoolahan (); Cherlyn Anderson (Taste Guide); LaDreeya Taylor, Akansha Singal (Gentle Barn); Sara Lunkusky, Laina McFerren (Wolf Creek Restaurant and Brewery); Jorge Lopez (J&M Events); Christopher Page, Evan Thomason, Garrett Wedel, Joe Redmond, Lourdes Vallin, Marilyn Sourgose, Pat Downing, Stephanie Givans (City of Santa Clarita)

WELCOME Marilyn welcomed the group and thanked Peter Goossens for hosting the meeting in the spiegeltent and Wolf Creek for catering.

TOURISM OFFICE UPDATES  Santa Clarita mentions on Visit California – Visit California markets California as a destination to the world. Several of our Tourism Bureau members have been mentioned in their pitches to media as well as blogs and social media posts (see attached samples: Beercations ‐ Wolf Creek/Oktoberfest and 25 October Events: Six Flags Fright Fest and Hart of the West POW WOW). Sign up for a FREE business listing, pitch your ideas to them directly, or through us. We want to be on their radar. When you sign up for an account, please include “Santa Clarita” somewhere in your description. industry.visitcalifornia.com  Visitor Guide – listings and photos: Please review your listing in the visitor guide and let us know if you want to change anything.  We need photos!Special Events List – Vegan Exchange & Oktoberfest at Wolf Creek, Santa Clarita underwater hockey. The MAIN will be hosting the HorrorHaus Film Festival and Rocky Horror Picture Show.  Santa Clarita Oktoberfest and other Spiegeltent happenings – Peter Goossens

MEMBER & GUEST UPDATES Peter Goossens (Spiegeltent) – Welcome, ladies and gentlemen! Don’t know who has been here before, you can see if my story is the same: this is called a spiegeltent, spiegel means mirror in German. These were popular in the 1900s and used as traveling dance halls. This one is built in two and a half days. It has 2,000 pieces and none of them are numbered. A time lapse was shot of the build this year ‐ really excited to see it. There are only 31 spiegeltents left in the world and only one that travels in the U.S. (this one). This one is 72 years old, built after the war, from fourth‐generation spiegeltent builders. In 1947 there were enough nice materials to build it. Oktoberfest is on the 18th and 19th of October. There are a couple of changes: VIP gets in an hour early (at 6PM). Hours are 7‐11PM on both days. Tickets are on sale right now and we have a two‐for‐one deal. Each ticket comes with a free beer. Entertainment: cover band will be back and adding a German band. Will have Alaskan piggy races benefitting the Kelsey Kling foundation. Family‐friendly event ‐ Beers, Brats and Beetles: Vintage VW show on October 21st. The tent will be staying at Wolf Creek Brewery for five months. A lot of private events have been booked. The circus will be back for two weeks, last year every day was sold out. It’s a brand new show, but with the same name – Cracked Nuts. It will be here the week before Christmas, then between Christmas and the New Year. Cover Mania in January: cover bands will compete against each other. Six songs for each band, half votes from audience, and half from judges. Will keep you posted on more events. Come see us if you want to book the spiegeltent. If you post Oktoberfest on social media, your website or email people about us, send a copy to me and get two free tickets to Oktoberfest! [email protected]

Westfield Valencia Town Center: There is a pop‐up pumpkin patch in the mall on level one, near H&M, provided by Gilchrist Farms. Pick out the perfect pumpkin, handmade goat’s milk soap, sunflowers, corn stalks, and more! Select stores will be distributing candy 5‐7PM, on . Give Thanks Thursday Grand Opening Celebration, will be celebrating the completion of the 2019 Interior Transformation Project on Thursday, November 21 from 6‐8PM.

Debbee Dugger () – Fright Fest is going strong. If you haven’t already visited you need to come to “Unleashed” when all the ghouls, zombies and monsters come out. Two weeks after Fright Fest we go into , hopeful for the new ride soon.

Ginger Hoolahan (Six Flags Magic Mountain) – Focusing on international markets, like Mexico. LA Tourism helps bring in influencers and recently, brought some in for three days in LA. They were very impressed with our park ‐ they didn’t want to leave after the tour was over. They said Fright Fest blew them away compared to Universal ‐ overall they were really impressed with our event. We’re working close with Australia and Canada and hoping that it will bring more and more people!

Karina Winkler (Holiday Inn Express): 36 rooms are currently out but should be available aweek after the 18th. Lobby and breakfast area. Thank you to other hotels.

Cherlyn Anderson (Tastebuds) – Currently on the second edition, will be distributed to hotels, great way to support local businesses.

Tami Stephens (Senator Wilk’s Office) – Here for you – let me know what our office can do for you.

Sara Lunkusky (Wolf Creek Restaurant) – Holiday season, we’re getting booked up. Working on a new Brewer’s Menu (seasonal menu) ‐ we are doing diner classics, like club sandwiches, meatloaf, etc.

Laina McFerren (Wolf Creek Brewery): We’ve partnered with Vegan Exchange, and will be having a mini food fest every Thursday, planned through February. Beer‐wise, it’s the season of Pumpkin Weizen, and for the first time we have 16 oz. four‐packs. Coming soon our other seasonal beers like the Outlaw IPA and Winter Wonderland.

Sergio D’Agustini (Reyes Winery) – I do the chemical testing and pairing at Reyes. I’m extremely grateful to be here in this cool tent. We have a special schedule for the holiday season (see attached). October 19th is Ladies Night Out from 5‐8 PM, but that doesn’t mean men aren’t invited. Early that same day will be our monthly Hike and Brunch. On October 26th, we will be having our vertical tasting of merlot, oldest to newest.

Maria Christopher (Heritage Valley Tourism Bureau & Rancho Camulos Museum) – Rancho Camulos will be having a fundraiser, on October 19th. It’ll be trivia night with a twist, hosted by Leon Worden. It’ll be a fun evening with music. The museum is open for tours. Fillmore and Western Railway has their Pumpkinliner and Zombie Train this month and are preparing for the holiday season. The Polar Express train will be bringing in a lot of people. In addition, we’ve got October activities in Santa Paula, including a pumpkin patch. Come see us to enjoy the valley!

Shea Hanson (Hyatt) – We are gearing up for the holiday season. We have a lot of filming going on. Mariella is no longer with Hyatt, she moved to a completely new industry.

Imee Delos Santos (Hyatt) – Not much to announce, just what Shea has said. We have Wi‐Fi access for people to use. Reminder that we serve sushi at Greater Pacific.

Jeff Casali (Six Flags) – We are launching the new coasters very soon, ‘spaghetti bowl’ is amazing! It’s going to be a fun ride, and open late this year. Next year, we won’t have a new ride, we’re going to invest more money in Fright Fest. For Fright Fest, we hire people from the show Face/Off. We have lots of live actors, so leave the kids at home and come see us! To avoid the bigger crowds come on a Friday or Sunday, not Saturday. Holiday in the Park is fun, full of lights and snow, great time of year to be at the park!

Nidia Vargas (Courtyard by Marriot) – We are focusing on holiday stuff, last two weeks have been crazy. We have a new sales manager, Jennifer ‐ excited to have her help!

Jennifer Love (Courtyard by Marriot) – It’s my second day in hotel industry. Before this I was in restaurant industry and before that I was with Six Flags’ VIP program.

Taylor Irving (Embassy Suites) – We are getting ready for the holiday season and we just finished our budget season. We are also working on revamping the menu for the restaurant. Thank you for having me!

Jorge Lopez (J&M Events) – Our company provides help for the planning aspect of holiday events and activities. If you are looking for inspiration on themes and how to fit things in a certain area, we help you figure that out. On Wednesday, October 30th from 5:30‐8PM we will be having a ‘Fun Day’ at the Hyatt. Come and play, there will be casino tables, a photo booth – it’ll be a playground for adults and you can find some ideas for clients. It will be an overall display of our services.

LaDreeya Taylor (Gentle barn) – For those of you who don’t know, we are located on Sierra Highway. We are an animal sanctuary for abused and neglected farm animals. We just had our 20th Anniversary Celebration. We have pictures of the event on social media. We will be having our Halloween Bash on October 27th. You’ll be able to buy and decorate pumpkins, plant seeds, and make wishes with a fairy! We are always open to the public on Sundays, and during the week we are available for private events.

Akansha Singl (Gentle Barn) I work with donations, if you have any questions contact us!

Pat Downing (City of Santa Clarita, Arts & Events) – Not getting ready for Christmas preparing for the marathon.

Christopher Page (City of Santa Clarita) – There are over 8,000 runners, if you would like to create an ad for the virtual race bags, reach out to me. cpage@santa‐clarita.com (661) 286‐4030

Evan: Amgen Tour reached out to me and they’re not coming out this year. They always have a different route each year and we’ve only missed them twice since 2007. We are reprinting bike maps. If you need visitor guides let us know, we are working on the new one, but the current ones are still available.

NEXT MEETING Tuesday, November 5 @ noon – Hilton Garden Inn

FUTURE MEETINGS  December 3 @ 5:30 p.m. (evening mixer) – Six Flags Magic Mountain  Tuesday, January 7 @ noon – location TBD