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Readers swamped our offices with a record number of requests for tickets to the annual holiday concert by the Air Force’s renowned Heartland of America Band.
As a result, we had to send out about 5,000 letters to readers saying, sorry, we ran out of tickets. Ouch!
“It is a free gift from us to our readers. A holiday treat,” said Joel Long, director of public relations. “We feel terrible that not everyone who sent in a request could be taken care of.’’
The band and newspaper cover all of the costs of the concert. Along with our annual Fourth of July fireworks extravaganza, the concert is one of the main ways we like to thank our readers for making us part of their lives. This is our 23rd year as sponsor of the holiday concert.
Last week we received about 200 phone calls from readers who had gotten letters with the disappointing news. Many of them had complaints or questions about how the tickets were distributed.
Here’s how it’s done:
The public had to order tickets by using a coupon that appeared in the Sunday, Nov. 1, newspaper.
Each order was limited to four tickets. A self-addressed, stamped envelope had to be enclosed.
There are five concert dates, Dec. 10 through Dec. 13, at the Holland Performing Arts Center.
There are about 1,950 general admission tickets for each of the five shows. About 1,350 go to the public. Some 450 are reserved for active duty military in the area and military dignitaries while 100 or so go to employees of The World-Herald.
On Monday morning, Nov. 2, the U.S. mail began to arrive. We got nine tubs of mailed requests in just a few days. The World-Herald was able to fulfill just 2½ tubs.
The process was first-come, first-served. The volume was so large that only those whose requests arrived Monday were certain to get tickets. Some arriving Tuesday were lucky as well. After Tuesday afternoon, though, the requests wound up in the “sorry” pile — including those from newspaper employees and members of the military.
Demand for the show has grown gradually over the years. But this year saw a genuine spike in requests, Long said, possibly because more people were looking for a free celebration in a tough economy.
It is too late to add a show or find a bigger concert hall, given all of the scheduling and preparation involved.
A bigger venue could be a solution in the future. But Long said the Holland has been an excellent partner since it opened in 2005.
He also noted something that all of us who have attended events at the Holland Center know already: There is no better place to listen to a show. Anywhere. And if you are a musician, there is no better place to perform.
“It’s like playing in Yankee Stadium,” Long said.
For now, if you were turned away, we want you to know we are truly sorry you have to miss out this year.
We’ll figure out before next year how to serve you better.
“We’ll be visiting our options,” Long said.
Contact the executive editor:
444-1277, mike.reilly@owh.com
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