Western Welcome Week sees slow sponsorships

BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

With Western Welcome Week just over a month away, sponsors have been slower to sign up to support the event than they have been in recent years.

But as the event approaches, Executive Director Cindy Hathaway maintains hope that community support will show up as it always has.

e weeklong celebration is one of Littleton’s oldest and most wellloved traditions, which includes a pancake breakfast, silent auction, grand parade, duck race and many other events.

e 95th Western Welcome Week will take place Aug. 11 through 20 in locations throughout Littleton.

Why have sponsorships been slow?

e Western Welcome Week team is aiming this year to gather approximately $60,000 from sponsorships, Hathaway said. As of late June, they were over halfway to their goal, with more than $35,000 in secured sponsorships.

She said that most years, the organization hits their sponsorship goal in July.

Hathaway, who has faced some health challenges since last year’s celebration, said she thinks part of the challenge in nding sponsor- ships has been due to rumors that the event is not happening. She said she has explained to many longtime sponsors that the event is still on, despite the health challenges she faced.

“I’m not the only one of Western Welcome Week,” she said. “Granted, I am the executive director and I’m the only paid employee, but we have a whole board. And they’ve been working and have really stepped up and helped out this year with my illness.”

In addition, she said, each year the organization faces the fact that there is an increasing number of causes for companies to put their money toward.

“ ere’s only so many dollars that can go around,” she said. “We’ve had a couple sponsors that have lowered their sponsorship because they also want to sponsor some other things. And that’s understandable, but it’s di cult when everybody is vying for those same dollars.”

Even with lower sponsorships at this point, Hathaway said she does not think the team is far from reaching its goal.

“Sometimes I get that phone call, out of the blue, ‘I’m XYZ business and I want to be a grand sponsor,’” she said. “You never know, that could happen. And so I always tell the board, ‘Don’t get real nervous at this point. Let’s wait and see.’”

Hathaway added that paid events also sometimes bring in more revenue than anticipated, such as the silent auction and the ticketed Taste of Western Welcome Week and pancake breakfast. In addition to sponsorships, these funds can help the organization reach its ultimate goal, she said.

Goodbye reworks, hello laser show e most signi cant change is the replacement of the traditional reworks show with a laser show in Sterne Park.

Western Welcome Week fans may notice some changes when looking at the schedule of events for this year’s celebration.

Hathaway said there are several reasons for this change.

“I would say the biggest one on our end is the cost (of reworks),” she said. “It just continues to increase and since COVID, it’s more than doubled. And trying to get those kinds of sponsors to come in is very di cult.” at said, she knows it will still be a loss for some.

Knowing that some community members will be upset with the change, Hathaway noted that there are some bene ts to a laser show over reworks. She said organizers have received complaints in the past about reworks being too loud and late and bothering pets.

“I’ve been involved doing Western Welcome Week now for 22 years and to not have the reworks is tough, but understandable,” she said. “I would hope that the community would support it.”

She added that there are exciting new aspects to the laser show, which will be put on by a visual e ects company called Dynamic FX.

“I’m excited because it’s new, it’s di erent,” she said about the show, adding that it’s also about 20 minutes longer than the old reworks show. “It’s choreographed to music and they have hundreds of color combinations.”

Other events is will also be the rst year in seven years without the O’Toole’s Garden Center Open House, which usually contributed to Western Welcome Week with a car show and cookout. e absence of this event is due to the 2022 closure of Littleton’s O’Toole’s Garden Center, which saddened many in the community.

Antique automobile bu s can still get their ll of cool cars at the 14th Littleton Elks Car Show, a Western Welcome Week event taking place on Aug. 13.

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