Alabama man takes reins of major festival

The new Festival of States director has experience with similar events. He brings youth and vision to St. Petersburg.

By LENNIE BENNETT

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 5, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Lane Hosmer has been named executive director of the Festival of States, replacing Malcolm King, who is retiring. Hosmer, 29, is now director of community relations for Alabama Live, the largest Web site in the state.

More germane to his new job is his experience as past director of Panoply, a performing and visual arts festival with a budget of $500,000, and as former developer of the Concert in the Park series for the Huntsville Arts Council.

Hosmer will oversee an 80-year tradition that has evolved from a parade to boost tourism to a two-week flurry of events (next year from March 23 through April 8). The day parade throughout downtown St. Petersburg, on April 7, is still the centerpiece.

Hosmer will also oversee the Suncoasters, the group of almost 300 volunteer civic leaders who plan and run festival events.

In recent years, the Festival of States, which last year had a budget of over $300,000, has struggled with declining attendance and sponsor dollars. A challenge has been attracting out-of-state bands, one of the big parade draws, to participate. Last year's parade had only one.

But both Hosmer, interviewed by telephone from Alabama, and Jim Newman, president of the Suncoasters, are optimistic about the Festival of States' future.

"I think there's a regeneration downtown," Newman said. "And I think the festival can be part of it. We searched for a year for a new director. We think Lane can help us regenerate the festival."

"We're looking to make significant changes," Hosmer said. He declined to be specific but said that he thinks "the Festival (of States) identity is very amorphous. The first thing I want to do is a demographic survey, which I don't think has ever been done, to tell us who comes and what they want."

His experience with festivals is that "they all had in common the feeling that they were throwing a big party over several days. There should be a series of great events that have something in common."

Newman said three out-of-state bands have already committed to the next parade. "The parade is still the biggest thing we do," he said. The event's largest sponsor besides the Suncoasters, who through dues contribute about $90,000 toward the festival's cost, is the city of St. Petersburg. Newman said that officials have agreed to contribute $50,000 in cash for the 2001 Festival of States, as they did in 2000, and about $71,000 in in-kind services.

He does not expect to pay a big-name band to march, as the Suncoasters did two years ago when Florida A&M's marching band participated for a fee.

This will be Malcom King's second retirement. After retiring as an executive with GTE, he agreed in 1994 to serve as executive director of the festival for a year, after financial setbacks almost forced its cancellation. Six years later, Newman and other Suncoasters credit him with bringing financial stability to the organization. King, who has remained on the job until Hosmer's arrival on July 10, is eager to see the reins pass to new hands.

"I think he'll bring some great new ideas to the Festival of States," King said. "And we need them."

"We are not going to let the festival whither," Newman said.

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