The Use of an Event Portfolio in Regional Community and Tourism Development: Creating Synergy between Sport and Cultural Events

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The Use of an Event Portfolio inRegional Community and TourismDevelopment: Creating Synergybetween Sport and Cultural EventsVassilios Ziakas a & Carla A. Costa ba Department of Management and Marketing, School of BusinessAdministration , European University Cyprus , 6 Diogenes Street,Engomi, PO Box 22006, 1516 Nicosia, Cyprusb Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism , University ofIllinois at Urbana-Champaign , USAPublished online: 17 Jun 2011.

To cite this article: Vassilios Ziakas & Carla A. Costa (2011) The Use of an Event Portfolio inRegional Community and Tourism Development: Creating Synergy between Sport and CulturalEvents, Journal of Sport & Tourism, 16:2, 149-175, DOI: 10.1080/14775085.2011.568091

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The Use of an Event Portfolio inRegional Community and TourismDevelopment: Creating Synergybetween Sport and Cultural EventsVassilios Ziakas & Carla A. Costa

Although host communities have begun to capitalize on a portfolio of recurring events to

achieve a range of benefits, there is scant research and empirical evidence about the

phenomenon of event portfolio. In addressing this knowledge gap, this study employed

ethnographic methods to examine the rationales and drivers for the use of an event

portfolio in regional development. Fieldwork was conducted in the rural community of

Fort Stockton in USA – Texas. The findings indicate that the event portfolio is a

socially embedded configuration in local life that facilitates the development of a holistic

approach. It consists of sport and cultural events that strive to address community issues

pertaining to social, tourism, and economic development. Event implementations are

facilitated by the use of an integrated set of resources and the adoption of established

practices. The relationship between sport and cultural events is innately symbiotic

sharing common objectives, resources, and markets. The study argues that a holistic

approach in event portfolio planning can integrate economic, sport, and tourism, as well

as social development purposes and foster synergies between sport and cultural events.

To do so, event tourism research needs to start building knowledge on the neglected area

of event portfolios and understand this complex phenomenon.

Keywords: Event Portfolio; Regional Development; Synergy; Event Leverage; Holistic

Approach; Event Tourism

Sport events have been widely employed as a tool in the economic development

strategies of cities and regions (Chalip & McGuirty, 2004; Gratton & Henry, 2001;

Jones, 2005; Van den Berg et al., 2000). In this context, the use of sport events has

Vassilios Ziakas is at the Department of Management and Marketing, School of Business Administration,European University Cyprus, 6 Diogenes Street, Engomi, PO Box 22006, 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus. Carla A. Costais at the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.Corresponding author: Vassilios Ziakas: e-mail: [email protected]

Journal of Sport & TourismVol. 16, No. 2, May 2011, pp. 149–175

ISSN 1477-5085 (print)/ISSN 1029-5399 (online) # 2011 Taylor & FrancisDOI: 10.1080/14775085.2011.568091

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predominantly been focused on the potential of single large-scale events (i.e. one-off

mega or hallmark events of international/national magnitude and scale) to generate

tourism visitation (Bramwell, 1997; Getz, 2005; Hall, 1992; Kang & Perdue, 1994),

enhance a destination’s image through media exposure (Brown et al., 2004; Jago

et al., 2003; Ritchie & Smith, 1991), and foster trade as well as commercial develop-

ment (Chalip & Leyns, 2002; O’Brien 2006; O’Brien & Gardiner, 2006). Accordingly,

one-off large-scale events have been incorporated in urban regeneration strategies

(Carlsen & Taylor, 2003; Garcia, 2004; Gratton & Henry, 2001; Hiller, 2000; Roche,

2000), which sometimes also aim to influence social renewal in terms of fostering

social networks and alleviating social exclusion (Jones & Stokes, 2003; Misener &

Mason, 2006).

Yet, the use of one-off large-scale sport events as part of a regeneration strategy for

cities has generated unmet expectations and recognition of the negative effects has

been pointed out in the academic literature (Gibson, 2007; Higham, 1999; Ritchie,

1999; Weed, 2009). For example, the public subsidies that are provided to enable

sport events to take place are justified in part on feelings of civic boosterism (Hiller,

2000) and on expectations for generating economic impact (Burbank et al., 2002),

which many times, however, is not achieved. Most importantly, a number of research-

ers argue that economic claims are legitimizing political rhetoric to promote the status

of local elites (Sack & Johnson, 1996; Whitson & Macintosh, 1996). Furthermore, it is

common the impacts of events to be unevenly distributed (Hiller, 1998) partly because

many of the stakeholders lack the capacity to capitalize on events’ opportunities

(Chalip & Leyns, 2002; Putsis, 1998; Spilling, 1996). In addition, the preparation

and implementation of large-scale events may have haphazard environmental effects

(Prasad, 1999; Searle, 2002) or unintended social consequences (Fredline & Faulkner,

2001; Hall & Hodges, 1996; Roche, 1994) for the cities that stage them and in many

cases their increasing scale increases also the potential to create negative effects

(Higham, 1999; Olds, 1998; Shapcott, 1998).

As a consequence of the mixed results associated with the use of single large-scale

and one-off events, researchers and planners have begun to question whether host

communities would be better off having a series of recurring small-scale events. An

emerging number of authors suggest that small-scale events can play a vital role in

fostering a community’s enthusiasm for events and building its capacity to host

larger events (Chalip, 2004; Jago et al., 2003). Higham (1999) argued that small-

scale sport events might result in more positive effects for host communities

because they usually operate within existing infrastructures, require minimal invest-

ments of public funds, and are more manageable in terms of crowding and congestion

compared with the hallmark events. Furthermore, Higham and Hinch (2002) in a

study of the rugby season in New Zealand demonstrated the potential of adapting

the rugby season in off-tourism periods in order to minimize the effects of seasonality.

Similarly, Gibson et al. (2003) emphasized the potential of small-scale events for

tourism development by demonstrating in a study of college football that fans travel-

ing to attend their teams engage in traditional tourism behavior and spending. Most

importantly, in order to take advantage of the events’ potential for regional

150 V. Ziakas & C. A. Costa

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development and maximize their benefits, there has been a shift in focus from impact

to leverage. In other words, instead of assessing the impact that a certain event had on

the local economy (post-facto), a host community could strategically leverage events it

order to attain intended economic or social outcomes (a priori) (Chalip, 2004, 2006;

O’Brien, 2007; O’Brien & Chalip, 2008).

In line with the above developments, the opportunity that emerges, as an alternative

to strategies based on single and one-off large-scale events, is for a host community to

jointly cross-leverage the array of its different sport and cultural events for multiple

purposes. On this basis, scholars suggest that a host community can develop or

enhance a portfolio of events that take place at different times of the year and that

appeal to consumers across the range of psychographic profiles to which the destina-

tion seeks to appeal (Chalip, 2004; Getz, 2008; Schreiber & Lenson, 1994). This can be

achieved if event organizers and planners strategically create an event portfolio by

assembling a series of recurring and interrelated events in terms of resources,

theming, and markets.

But what can be the immediate benefits of an event portfolio versus single or one-

off large-scale events? First of all, a single event (independently of its scale) is temporal

and consequently has only a passing effect on the desirable purposes it is mandated to

serve. On the other hand, if a community hosts events throughout the year and finds

means to create synergy among them, then the impact of events can be sustained as

long as each event in the portfolio complements or reinforces the benefits bestowed

by other events. Second, the variety of different events in a portfolio can target and

reach diverse market segments, hence increasing the size of a host community’s

events market. Third, events of different types in a portfolio can respond to different

community issues (e.g. improving quality-of-life, building identity, promoting a

healthy lifestyle, etc.) and reach varied segments of the population by appealing to

people’s different interests. In addition, different events when bundled in a portfolio

can act as hooks for one another and hence bring together segments of the population

that might not otherwise meet. Overall, an event portfolio if incorporated in the devel-

opment policies of cities and regions can yield a range of social and economic benefits.

Despite the pertinence and potential that the use of an event portfolio holds for

regional development strategies there are no studies yet investigating this phenom-

enon. Consequently, there is no empirical evidence demonstrating the rationales

and drivers for assembling different events in a portfolio with the purpose to use

them as a means for regional development. This study, therefore, seeks to address

this gap in the sport event tourism literature by examining the relationship between

sport and cultural events within the context of an event portfolio and its implications

for tourism and community development.

The Potential of Event Portfolios in Regional Development

A portfolio of events does not have any value as a strategic tool if it is a coincidental

potpourri of miscellaneous events. Its practical essence lies in the provision that the

portfolio constitutes a strategic patterning of events and their interrelations, which

Journal of Sport & Tourism 151

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are being fostered by the cultivation of their operational and thematic relatedness. In

particular, relatedness refers to the ways that events complement one another. This

may occur through capitalization on capacity of an array of events to engender

markets, transfer of knowledge in organizing events effectively and efficiently,

utilization of theming that is symbiotically connected among different events to maxi-

mize their impact, and mobilization of shared resources and volunteer pools that can

facilitate event implementations. Strategic planning is required to prevent the inherent

risks of events’ relatedness such as exhausting local resources, hosting monotonously

repetitive event elements or exceeding demand for events. In terms of a portfolio’s

composition, sport events are not the only events to be included. Cultural events

are also vital components that need to be synergized with sport events in order to

create an event portfolio. In this context, the different types of events need to be

seen holistically and not in fragmented approaches that have a singular focus either

on sport or cultural events.

Although sport and event management scholars started to address the potential of

event portfolios, the focus has been mostly marketing-driven. For example, in terms of

destination marketing, Chalip and Costa (2005) argue that the strategic incorporation

of sport events into destination branding requires that each event be cross-leveraged

with others in the destination’s event portfolio. In this sense, it seems that the value

of an event portfolio is not measured only by the media its events create, but

rather, by the portfolio’s capacity to build its brand for residents and visitors alike

(Chalip, 2005). Likewise, Getz (2005, 2008) suggested the pyramid model to describe

a strategic, event tourism portfolio approach that destinations should follow. Accord-

ing to this model, a balanced portfolio approach is based on the functionality of differ-

ent events (i.e. mega, hallmark, regional and local events) and the premise that each

can achieve certain economic and tourism goals. On this basis, various measures of

an event’s value are suggested (e.g. growth potential, market share, quality, image

enhancement, community support, economic benefits, sustainability, etc.). In short,

an event portfolio strategy can substantially enrich a destination’s tourism product,

enhance its image and redress seasonality by offering events of different types and

scales throughout the year (on-and off-season) aimed at attracting visitation.

Undoubtedly, the above specialized applications of an event portfolio’s potential are

useful, but there is a need for a comprehensive framework to study the utility of event

portfolios. Such a framework would provide the common ground for guiding practical

research in particular areas such as marketing, policy, leverage, community and econ-

omic development as well as tourism aspects of event portfolios. The range of appli-

cations can be as diverse as the purposes that different events are employed to serve in

a host community and a synergistic approach can help planners to effectively develop

event portfolios as a versatile tool in regional development.

Consequently, a foundational step in the study of event portfolios is the develop-

ment of a comprehensive framework that can ground joint strategies, synergies and

collaboration among different event stakeholders within a portfolio. One way to

move forward is by focusing on the diverse contexts and array of purposes that differ-

ent events are mandated to serve. Events can be used for achieving economic, tourism


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or social outcomes and can subsequently become tools for strategies in the policy

domains of economic regeneration, community revitalization, or sport and tourism

development. In other words, the study of event portfolios may seek to identify strat-

egies and tactics for event implementations in diverse contexts that mandate different

purposes for events. This bears the potential for integrating strategies and tactics

when events aim to serve multiple purposes.

The development of strategies to capitalize on event portfolios may seek to build

peripheral small-scale events to the core of larger ones. This can complement and

enhance current regional strategies for events. In most of these strategies the attain-

ment of economic, cultural and social objectives such as fostering tourism

(Brennan-Horley et al., 2007; Getz, 2005; Roche, 2000; Weed, 2008), building commu-

nity identity (De Bres & Davis, 2001; Derrett, 2003; McCabe, 2006; Ramshaw & Hinch,

2006) and contributing to social regeneration (Carlsen & Taylor, 2003; Garcia, 2004;

Gratton & Henry, 2001; Jones & Stokes, 2003) has been sought to be achieved

mainly through seminal single events and festivals. At the regional level, in small or

rural communities, albeit many times such events and festivals are successful, their

benefits are usually ephemeral and lack programmatic planning (Getz, 2002;

Higham & Ritchie, 2001; Lade & Jackson, 2004) that can connect these events with

other smaller events that a community hosts. A comprehensive effort that seeks to

coordinate the planning, organization and implementation of different events in

terms of objectives, themes, and utilization of resources along the course of a year

may not only maximize and sustain the impact of events but also may foster collabor-

ation among different stakeholders. Most importantly, such an effort may seek to

integrate the portfolio of events with the overall mix of regional products and services

in order to achieve multiple purposes.

The concerted effort to develop strategically an event portfolio may serve as

the common space for diverse event stakeholders and the policy community to formu-

late and implement strategies for events. The different event types and their multiple

purposes including social, tourism, economic or sport development may be viewed

under a comprehensive framework. Within this context, a host community looking

to effectively and efficiently use its event portfolio may employ an integrated approach

by deliberately creating or enhancing synergies between sport and cultural events and

incorporating them into the local structures and agenda for sustainable regional devel-

opment. However, the involvement of multiple stakeholders who have different or

conflicting needs, interests and expectations (Getz et al., 2007; Parent, 2008) creates

challenges for event portfolio planning and management.

The main challenge is to assemble a web of fragmented event stakeholders and to

foster collaboration toward devising common strategies for a series of different

events. For example, the fragmentation of sport and tourism sectors challenges the

development of synergies for sport tourism development (Devine et al., 2010; Weed,

2001, 2003). Furthermore, the number of risk factors and issues affecting an event

portfolio can be dramatically increased as the number of events grows and many

stakeholders are involved. In such a case, the antithetical values that different events

often represent and the influence of political and/or commercial interests may


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exacerbate antagonism among stakeholders or compromise the authentic character of

events (Chalip, 2006; Sack & Johnson, 1996; Whitson & Macintosh, 1996).

The involvement of several actors with individual interests raises the organizational

complexity not only of event portfolios but also of single events. This has led research-

ers studying single events to start identifying event stakeholders’ roles and classifying

them into categories (Hede, 2008; Merrilees et al., 2005). Specifically, Getz et al. (2007)

developed a typology of event stakeholders differentiating between internal and

external groups. Internal event stakeholders are those directly involved in event organ-

ization such as owners, managers, employees, and volunteers. External stakeholders

include the following subgroups: ‘allies and collaborators’ (e.g. tourism agencies

and professional associations), ‘regulators’ (e.g. local authorities and government

agencies), ‘co-producers’ (other organizations that participate in the event), ‘facilita-

tors’ (non-participating resource providers), ‘suppliers and venues’, and the ‘audience

and the impacted’ (including the community). This framework illustrates the multi-

plicity of event stakeholders and the delicate balance that exists among the scope of

involvement and subsequent interests of different stakeholders groups. If the

purpose is to manage an event portfolio effectively, then the stakeholders and their

needs have to be identified on the local level and appropriate stakeholder management

strategies should be devised to facilitate their satisfaction and collaboration.

As it has been shown in the literature focusing on single events, the complexity of

interactions among event stakeholders increases with the size of the event and thus

event managers have to adopt a number of strategies to manage the dynamic event

stakeholder relationships such as developing collaboration links, greater degree of

stakeholder involvement, lobbying, avoiding conflict, marketing initiatives, and

financial arrangements (Andersson & Getz, 2008). Also, to foster relationships of

event stakeholders, conflict and consensus need to be managed as political processes

in ways that induce cooperation (Karlsen & Stenbacka Nordstrom, 2009; Larson &

Wikstrom, 2001). In this respect, an event portfolio may offer an enduring space for

the network of stakeholders to develop long-standing relationships and synergies

working systematically for a series of events as long as there are planning processes

put in place for resolving conflict and reaching consensus. In other words, although

the involvement of multiple stakeholders can seriously constrain event portfolio plan-

ning and management, this does not mean that the development of event portfolios is

unrealistic. On the contrary, host communities should seek to cultivate the event

portfolio’s common space and conditions that facilitate the convergence of different

stakeholders capitalizing on the strategic opportunities that portfolios offer to

cross-leverage events for multiple developmental purposes.

In order to identify the best means to organize an event portfolio and create syner-

gies among different events, it is heuristically useful to examine the diverse roles and

common elements of events in relation to the contextual socio-political and econ-

omic dynamics of a host community. The contextual dynamics support the planning

and organization of events and may implicate different parameters for the implemen-

tation of strategies and tactics. Such insights can start from studying event portfolios

in the context of rural versus urban communities. This study focuses on the case of a


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rural community that capitalizes on an array of events for economic and social

development.

Method

This study was the groundwork of a larger project that investigated the nature and

implementation of an event portfolio in Fort Stockton, Texas. This inquiry was the

first attempt seeking to conceptualize and understand the phenomenon of event port-

folio and further identify as well as unravel the complexity of issues affecting event

portfolios. This paper builds on two previous studies. One analyzed the functional

basis of event interrelationships that make Fort Stockton’s event portfolio (Ziakas,

2010). The other explicated the inter-organizational relationships of Fort Stockton’s

events network that enable collaboration for hosting events (Ziakas & Costa,

2010a). This paper further examines the event portfolio by focusing on the rationales

and drivers for using it in regional development and fostering relationships between

sport and cultural events.

Setting

The rural community of Fort Stockton in South-West Texas was chosen as the site for

ethnographic fieldwork because it hosts an extensive range of events throughout the

year striving to achieve an array of particular outcomes. Despite the innate disadvan-

tages of a small and remote community located in the middle of South-Western desert

of Texas and having a declining population of about 7800 people (70% Hispanics, 30%

Anglos), Fort Stockton is an eventful community that capitalizes on hosting recurring

events in order to improve the quality-of-life in the area. Poverty is a severe problem

that the region faces. According to the US census in 2000 the 25.1% of the region’s

population lived under the poverty level. The existing employment opportunities in

Fort Stockton with predominantly low-wage jobs do not help alleviate socio-economic

inequalities, and subsequently there are people who are leaving town. Thus, Fort

Stockton represents a unique context for investigating the proliferation of events in

this community and the common ground that facilitates planners to create synergies

among different events.

Overview of the Event Portfolio

Fort Stockton hosts an extensive array of events throughout the course of the year.

These include a number of prominent events and a plethora of smaller events. The

prominent events include the Big Bend and Road Runner open road races (two

well-known open automobile races in the USA), the Sheep–Dog Trials (an annual

national event where contestants compete in sheep–dog handling), and the Water

Carnival (the most important local cultural festival). Indicative smaller events

include the Pioneer Days (an event reviving the history of the town), the Summer

Off the Patio (a series of concerts featuring country music), the Blue Moon concert


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series featuring different kinds of popular music, a Flag Retirement ceremony, a

Livestock show, as well as high school football games, horse shows, rodeo, softball

and baseball, basketball, and golf tournaments. Table 1 lists a summary of the major

events’ descriptions and joint characteristics.

Technically, local event organizers do not view their town’s events as an event port-

folio. Instead they view the array of events as a way to achieve common objectives that

address community issues. This legitimizes the event roles and embeds event

implementations in a web of interrelations that epitomize the nature and character

of an ‘informal’ portfolio of events, which appears not to be there as a formalized

structure but rather as an endogenous phenomenon and socially constructed configur-

ation. Accordingly, the group of events is analyzed in this study starting from their

intended roles in order to discern the event portfolio characteristics, interrelations,

and processes that facilitate or constrain implementation.

Research Design and Data Collection

A single-case study was used because it can richly describe the existence of the

phenomenon under study and thus provide a persuasive argument about causal

forces (Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007; Siggelkow, 2007). Given the lack of empirical

study on event portfolios, the methodological approach for the examination of the

research questions was essentially exploratory. Ethnographic methods were employed

to understand how the host community perceives sport and cultural events, the

meanings and roles that the events carry for the community and the ways that this

community is striving to use the events as a means for economic and social develop-

ment. Fieldwork was conducted over a period of two years.

The methods of data collection included participant observation, and semi-

structured as well as informal interviews. Data were collected from multiple sources

to increase the reliability and validity of the method (Yin, 2009). Primary data from

participant observation on event preparation and implementation was kept in a

research journal throughout the overall data collection process (Emerson et al.,

1995). In particular, the research journal contained observations and fieldnotes

from the meetings of event organizing committees and implementation of events.

Secondary data were collected including marketing collateral of events (n ¼ 11),

private and public sector reports on events’ organization (n ¼ 6), media releases

for events (n ¼ 8) and articles from the local newspaper (n ¼ 12).

The sample of semi-structured interviews consisted of event organizers (N ¼ 7),

volunteers (N ¼ 6), and local officials (N ¼ 5). In addition, informal interviews (N

¼ 15) were conducted with event participants, event organizers, volunteers and

business stakeholders. The purpose of interviewing people from these groups was to

examine whether the perceptions of event roles, organization and outcomes were

the same or disparate among the aforementioned groups of people. The selection of

interviewees was made on the basis of the particular events that were examined and

the respective public officials who were supporting those events. The semi-structured

interviews lasted between 40 and 60 min and were tape-recorded in order to be fully


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Table 1. Overview of event portfolio – indicative events

Event Organizer Main purpose Major elements Target markets Timeline Joint characteristics

High school football(recurring homegames)

AthleticDepartment

Sportcompetition

Game, marching band music Local fans, families,visiting teams andfans

Football season School facilities,family appeal

Big Bend and RoadRunner Open RoadRaces

TourismDepartment

Sport tourism Race, welcome parties, carshow, parade, banquet

Open road racers End of April,beginning ofOctober

Park facilities,volunteers

Water Carnival Water CarnivalAssociation

Communitycelebration

Synchronized swimming andchoreographed dance/theatrical acts, beautypageant, parade

Locals, families,VFRs/schoolreunions,neighboring visitors

Third weekendof July

Park facilities,volunteers, sports,family appeal

Motorcycle RoadRunner Rally

Motorcycle RoadRunnerCommittee

Recreation Bike games, vendors, livemusic

Local and neighboringriders

Beginning ofAugust


Harvest Fest TourismDepartment

Communitycelebration

Vendors, live music, sports,farmer’s market, wineemporium, car show

Locals, families,neighboringcommunities

Last Saturdayof August

Park facilities,volunteers, sports,family appeal

Labor Day WeekendFiesta

Labor DayCommittee

Recreation Vendors, live music, car show,games, sports

Local Hispanics,families

Labor Day Park facilities,volunteers, sports,family appeal

16 De SeptiembreFiesta

HispanicChamber

Culturalcelebration

Parade, live music, games Local Hispanics,families

16 September Park facilities,volunteers, familyappeal

Pioneer Days Historic FortStockton

Education andhistory

Reenactment, games Schools, local families Beginning ofSeptember

Park facilities,volunteers, familyappeal

Sheep–Dog Trials TourismDepartment

Sport tourism Competition of handlingsheep–dogs

Sheep–dog handlers(USA/abroad)

Third week ofJanuary


(Continued)

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Table 1. Continued

Event Organizer Main purpose Major elements Target markets Timeline Joint characteristics

Christmas at the OldFort

Historic FortStockton

Culturalcelebration

Christmas festivities Locals, families Christmas Volunteers, familyappeal

Easter Egg Hunt Chamber ofCommerce

Culturalcelebration

Easter celebration Locals, families Easter Volunteers, familyappeal

Shining Star of TexasMotorcycle Rally

Shining Star ofTexasMotorcycleCommittee

Recreation Bean run, bike games, bikeshow, vendors, live music

Motorcycle riders 4–6 May Park facilities,volunteers

USTA Fort StocktonZAT Tournament

RecreationDepartment

Sport tourism Matches, vendors Texas junior tennisplayers

Beginning ofApril

School facilities,volunteers

Texas Little League D-36 Championship

RecreationDepartment

Sport tourism Game, vendors Texas junior baseballteams

Beginning ofJuly

School facilities,volunteers

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transcribed. The informal interviews took place as circumstances allowed and lasted

on average 10–15 min. In order to avoid being obtrusive the interviews were not

tape-recorded and thus extensive notes were taken.

Data Analysis

A standard protocol for qualitative data analysis was employed (Spradley, 1980; Weiss,

1994). Specifically, the interview transcripts, fieldnotes, and documents were reviewed

in order to identify themes relating to the nature, organization and scope of the event

portfolio in the development of Fort Stockton. As it is shown in Table 2, three major

themes were identified: (1) roles of sport and cultural events, (2) events in tourism

development, and (3) events in community development. Accordingly, the data

were subjected to fine-grained, line-by-line analysis on the basis of these thematic cat-

egories that had been identified as of particular interest (Emerson et al., 1995). This

entailed examining the data and highlighting those parts that discussed the major

themes. The fieldnotes were coded first and then were cross-examined with the

responses from interviewees. This helped to compare whether the fieldnotes agreed

with the respondents’ perceptions (Coffey, 1999). Furthermore, the answers of inter-

viewees were examined along with the secondary data. Some of the secondary data

such as documents (i.e. event and historical reports) were particularly useful for deli-

neating the characteristics of the themes that were emerging. Data that were not

relevant to these emerging themes were coded and sorted into different categories,

hence suggesting other themes or categories to be explored. This kind of continuous

coding and categorizing the data assisted in comprehending and substantiating the

findings that emerged.

Results

The results are organized based on the emergent themes. First, we discuss the roles of

sport and cultural events in Fort Stockton. Second, we examine the contribution of

events to Fort Stockton’s tourism development. Finally, we analyze the contribution

of events to Fort Stockton’s community development.

Table 2. Coding scheme

ThemesRoles of sport and

cultural eventsEvents in tourism

developmentEvents in community

development

Sub-themes (a) Purposes ofprominent versussmaller events

(a) Integrating events withthe tourism productmix

(a) Celebration andsociability

(b) Ad hoc planning(b) Role of sport events (b) Addressing weaknesses (c) Unintended

consequences andstrategic beginnings

(c) Quality-of-life (c) Contingency funding(d) Destination image


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The Roles of Sport and Cultural Events in Fort Stockton

(a) Purposes of prominent versus smaller events. Fort Stockton residents seem to agree

on the role of events. The purpose of prominent events is economic and tourism

development, while the purpose of small events is to address the town’s lack of leisure

amenities and the community’s apathy. Given the low-income level of the residents,

most of the small events are free to the public providing affordable entertainment and

a space for people to interact with each other. A resident said that the major role of the

events in Fort Stockton is to ‘give people a sense of community. They are opportunities

to become involved and to spend more time to getting to know our neighbors’. A local

official added:

[The purpose] is to bring the community together; the more people that are activelyinvolved in this kind of events the more people will work together and share the samespace together. If we don’t have events, then people will not come together and thewhole community falls apart.

The distinction between prominent and smaller events and the different roles they

have appears to be well crystallized in local officials’ minds. A local official pointed out:

When we have something like the Road Race or the Water Carnival, where people arecoming in from out of town, the hotels and restaurants are busy, the gas stations arebusy, so this affects us economically. Small events like the 4th of July event mightattract some people from nearby areas for the day, but they won’t spend the night here,they won’t spend much money, so these events are mainly for the community to gettogether.

Another local official categorized the community’s events as follows:

There are two types of events. One is to bring in people from outside of the town to spendmoney and the other is to provide entertainment for those inside the community. Bothare very important. The concerts, sport activities and extracurricular activities are inthe school system; in the whole community, the school system provides a lot of entertain-ment through extracurricular activities that the community is involved in. The more thatit’s going on, the more people that are involved the more vital the community is. So themore events you have the more interaction you have in the community and the commu-nity is more vibrant. So it’s very important. It brings the community together.

Another local official pointed out the economic and social purposes of events that

are grounded on (and in turn project) the local organization’s efforts to collaborate:

I think that [the purpose of events] is a bit of: (1) bringing the community together,having things for the community to do as a group, and I think that makes more commu-nity; (2) lots of the things that people do help hotels and restaurants make business; and(3) I think it is the camaraderie around the people who participate and do things togetherbecause I think Fort Stockton is blessed that all the organizations work together and havelots to do, which makes us a strong community and we are proud of it.

The prominent events aim to attract visitors from outside the community and yield

economic benefits through their spending in local hotels and restaurants. Fort

Stockton has been very resourceful. It has utilized the public roads for car races, the

availability of sheep and land for the Sheep–Dog Trials and the elements of history


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and tradition for the cultural celebratory event of the Water Carnival. Sport has also

been a strategic community asset either by being staged on its own or as an event

element in cultural events helping to attract visitors to participate or attend the

prominent and smaller events.

As an event organizer explained, prominent events contribute beyond merely

economic benefits:

The Big Bend Road Race’s major role is to bring business to Fort Stockton, it’s a tourismthing. There are a lot of racers who come out here every year for it, so it’s an economic boostto the community – hotels, food, shopping, etc. [During] Water Carnival there are a lot ofschool reunions, so there are a lot of people coming back to Fort Stockton; it’s an economicthing. Both events also provide an outlet for leisure and entertainment [for locals]; a lot ofpeople take part in it, so it really builds up our community with the volunteer opportu-nities; a kind of an integral part of keeping everyone involved in the community.

In addition to the economic benefits, there is a strong emphasis to unify the

community, and events are a major catalyst toward this end. Although ethnic relations

in town have been reconciled, there are still cultural differences between Anglos and

Hispanics that preclude, in some cases, mutual understanding and cooperation.

Furthermore, the lack of education and the large number of people living in

poverty accentuate the social problems. In response to these problems, there is an

intention to use events as a means to bring the community together and facilitate

social interaction among residents.

(b) Role of sport events. Sport events occupy a salient position among the commu-

nity’s other types of events in Fort Stockton’s portfolio. As one resident pointed out:

I think that our events are more recreational; in January our big event here is a huge LiveStock show, in February we have sporting events with the schools and the basketballteams, in March we start with the baseball season in schools, in April we have the BigBend Road Race event, so it’s mainly sports and recreational, we don’t put that mucheducational, cultural etc. In the Harvest Fest they have a softball tournament associatedwith it and after they have a bike ride to the vineyards.

Another resident responded regarding the appeal of sport and cultural events to the

local people:

People probably go more to sporting events, because the sporting events here are mainlychildren participating, so the parents go to watch their kids, and I would say that this isprobably more important here than the cultural events. If the high school football team iswinning even more people will go to the games.

The opportunity that sport events provide for parents to attend their children’s par-

ticipation and engage in social activities with other parents fosters the family character.

This is a characteristic of a small rural community, where family networks constitute

the nucleus of social life. Thus, the extensive appeal of sport events is functionally

explained by the need for creating opportunities, wherein families shape the tight-

knit fabric of a rural community. The family character in turn is taken in consideration

when planning cultural events. Event organizers make sure they incorporate activities

that appeal to all family members and include sport events or sport activities. From


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this perspective, sport and cultural events are innately symbiotic in Fort Stockton’s

event portfolio and their parallels foster the development of an integrated approach

in which events share common objectives, resources, and markets.

(c) Quality-of-life. Events are embedded in the town’s effort to improve the quality-

of-life. In locals’ own words: ‘to make Fort Stockton a place where we want to raise

kids’; ‘a place where it is easy to experience community togetherness’ and ‘a place

where we feel a sense of community and where there are plenty of things to do as a

family with other families’. This is formally reflected by the efforts of the Community

Development division of the Chamber of Commerce, which focuses on organizing or

sponsoring local events. In addition, the Chamber intentionally uses events as a mar-

keting tool to promote Fort Stockton as a small vibrant town, where people have a

choice to participate in leisure activities. Similarly, as the School District promotes

the facilities of the school system and quality of education in the area, it features

the Recreation Department and the sport programs and events that are organized

for the youth. Overall, the School and events contribute to the perception that Fort

Stockton is ‘a nice place to live and raise children’ as local people proclaim. This

aims to prevent out-of-town migration and attract new people to town.

Furthermore, by providing events in town as affordable entertainment opportu-

nities that enhance its quality-of-life can keep the local people from going to the

closest cities and spend their income there. Hence, this is a way to maintain the

income of the residents in town. An event organizer articulated this rationale:

We always try to keep most people here in Fort Stockton by providing events locally.That’s why we have different concerts with the Chamber and the Museum so there aredifferent things for the community to do. Yes, we are a small town, we don’t have amall, we would love to have one, but you don’t have to be bored here because we haveso many things going on. And that’s what we always try to do: to provide events for resi-dents to stay here in Fort Stockton.

Events and Tourism Development

(a) Integrating events with the tourism product mix. Community officials believe that

events are the driving force for yielding tourism revenues in the community and

therefore use its events as attractions for tourists, even though they know that their

town will never be a destination for tourists. For this reason, they link events to local

attractions, products and services in an attempt to attract nearby visitation or passing-

by tourists. Their main tools are printed programs of events, fliers and brochures that

are available at events. They contain information about attractions and local services

such as hotels and restaurants. A local official explained how they integrate events with

the community’s tourism product mix:

The events are a good tactic for tourism. We are not a destination spot, we are not a placethat someone drives to come to; the primary goal of our special events is for people to stayan extra day or make people be here an extra five hours and spend additional dollars in thecommunity. That’s basically what I see as the development of tourism. [Nobody] willcome here to spend a week; that is just not gonna happen. We are a great jump off


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point to the Big Bend National Park and we are in the middle of the major US East–WestFreeway and we try to take advantage of that.

As the above quote illustrates, the main issue is to find ways to lengthen the one-

night visitors’ stay in Fort Stockton by providing opportunities that could entice

visitors to stay in town, spend money and perhaps visit again or ‘spread the word’

to other travelers. Currently, Fort Stockton utilizes the assets of cultural tradition,

history, natural environment and sporting facilities to organize sport and cultural

events that are appealing to both residents and visitors. Thus, Fort Stockton has

become a national sport tourism destination for aficionados of open road races and

sheep–dog contests. Furthermore, the major cultural events blend sport activities

into their programs promoting Fort Stockton as an active and vivacious community.

(b) Addressing weaknesses. In the context of Fort Stockton’s event portfolio, the delib-

erations and synergies demonstrate an escalating potential for tourism development.

However, there is no consistent and accurate estimation of the contribution from

each of the events in the portfolio. City officials and event organizers focus on covering

the expenses of events and attracting attendance to their events, which are expected to

derive revenues for the community. It must also be noted that apart from the apparent

effort of integrating events with the community’s product and service mix, there are

no strategies in place for systematic event leverage in the context of the portfolio in

order to maximize the economic benefits of events. Yet, the planning for event

tourism development seems to move gradually toward this direction. The goals are

based on the following grounds, as pointed out by City Council members:

The one constant in the economy of Fort Stockton, even during the oil bust, has alwaysbeen our ability to fill our hotels everyday [with passing-by travelers]. We are not a des-tination, we are a location between destinations for travelers. So we need to get travelers tostay another day, or even a few more hours and a way to achieve that is through events andthe promotion of our attractions. Therefore, we should train all front line personnel tosend people to the Visitors’ Center at the Chamber of Commerce, where they would beable to get information about all the things to do. (Fort Stockton Pioneer, 2006)

In response to the above call for action, the City Council’s Convention and Visitors

Bureau (CVB) has begun addressing the problem of insufficient training for employees

who provide tourism services. For example, it was reported that during a league tour-

nament held in Fort Stockton, the visiting teams’ parents inquired at their hotels about

local attractions in Fort Stockton and the surrounding area; yet the hotel clerks were

unable to give them times, locations or other information about the local museums,

shops, and restaurants. On this basis, there was a suggestion for training the employees

who regularly meet the traveling public so that they are knowledgeable about local

attractions and able to inform the visitors about them. This could represent a first

step toward event leverage, since the CVB has now identified a weakness of its

human capital that inhibits the attainment and magnification of event outcomes. It

also implies the intention and potential for employing in the future tactics to lengthen

visitors’ stays and entice their spending through cross-leveraging tourism attractions

and events.


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In this regard, concerns are also raised over the skills of employees at tourism attrac-

tions (i.e. museums) to provide appropriate service to visitors, as well as problems of

service delivery in local shops, restaurants and hotels, which decrease the quality of

Fort Stockton’s tourism product, and subsequently constrain any leveraging efforts. It

is a foundational shift, however, that the CVB started addressing the need for educating

and improving the human capital of local tourism-related services, which can facilitate in

the future the effective and efficient implementation of event leverage strategies.

(c) Contingency funding. As an example, in 2007, the CVB approved a contingency

fund of $45,948 to help finance events that arise during the year, mainly if they

have the potential to increase tourism revenues. This action illustrates the intention

of the City of Fort Stockton to use events for tourism development. Anyone in the

community can apply for funding from CVB to organize events that will bring

tourism revenue. Contingency funds are critical for event sport tourism, representing

a beneficial synergy between the CVB and the Recreation Department that makes use

of them. In particular, when the Recreation Department plans to host a new event in

Fort Stockton, it requests funding from the CVB in order to cover the expenses of the

event. The CVB approves the request on the basis that the upcoming event would

bring tourism revenues to the community that would exceed the cost of the event.

Therefore, the contingency funds constitute an asset that facilitates the organization

of sport events and allows flexibility in hosting new events.

(d) Destination image. From the standpoint of tourism marketing, Fort Stockton

uses events for promoting itself. In most of the events, which have different target

audiences, the Big Bend national park is noted in the events’ marketing collateral.

The underlying reason is that Fort Stockton attempts to take advantage of its close

proximity to Big Bend and create positive associations in the minds of event visitors.

This aims to change the image of the town, which was promoted until recently as part

of the Wild West.

The most important sport event that attracts visitors from across the USA is the Big

Bend Open Road Race. The considerable appeal of the event to aficionados of open

road races in the USA presented a good opportunity for Fort Stockton to explicitly

associate the town with Big Bend by naming the race as the Big Bend Open Road

Race. In this fashion, Fort Stockton uses this event as a sport tourism attraction to

promote itself in the tourism market. Similarly, a new motorcycle rally event, which

is included in the CVB’s calendar of events, was named the Shining Star of Texas pro-

moting thus the official logo and desired image of Fort Stockton (Fort Stockton

Pioneer, 2007). This is consistent with the town’s effort to build an image closely

associated with the identity of Texas.

Yet, these examples are not part of a strategy to leverage events in advertising and

promotions to build a destination image. They rather constitute ad hoc responses of

taking advantage of the publicity created by the events and their appeal to visitors

in order to make Fort Stockton well-known and reach tourist markets. The potential

for leverage exists as these examples demonstrate; what is needed is the formulation of

a strategy pursuant to building Fort Stockton’s destination image.


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Events and Community Development

(a) Celebration and sociability. From a community development standpoint, the

community’s major annual celebration that celebrates the local affluence of water

(in a desert area) represents a focal avenue for the building and expression of

common ideals, values and a sense of community. The celebratory character of

the Water Carnival draws heavily on historical and cultural elements that are

‘dramatized’ and enacted in the form of a staged musical performance encompass-

ing theatrical, dancing and synchronized swimming acts accompanied by beauty

pageants and a grand parade (Ziakas & Costa, 2010b).

The enthusiasm of all citizens is evident when they talk about the Water Carnival.

They consider it as the most important celebration that unifies the community.

Former residents who migrated away return to Fort Stockton to attend the Water

Carnival. It is a meeting point for old friends and school reunions are scheduled.

This celebration becomes a symbolic social space, where people make a statement

about Fort Stockton. They demonstrate that it is a friendly and vivacious place. In

this regard, the rest of the smaller events in Fort Stockton such as the sport events

offered by the School and the Recreation Department come to complete, maintain,

and enhance the expression of cultural practices and community unification during

the course of the year. Even though Fort Stockton faces socio-economic challenges,

the events provide the town with an aura of celebratory euphoria and sociability deli-

vering recreational opportunities for local people to engage in social interaction

enhancing thus the town’s social capital.

Furthermore, Fort Stockton hosts a plethora of concerts during the year. The music

varies from country to popular rock music. During the summer there is the ‘Summer

off the Patio’ series of concerts organized by the Annie Riggs Museum, which features

acoustic country music. Another series of concerts is organized by the Chamber, which

features rock and roll music in one of the town’s parks. Therefore, these events provide

a recurring entertainment option for the citizens of Fort Stockton. They are targeted at

either families or senior citizens and are free of charge. Although some types of music

appeal to particular segments of the population, the variety of existing concerts covers

all tastes. Thus, the concerts come to complement Fort Stockton’s major events pro-

viding people, on a regular basis, opportunities to relate to each other, be entertained,

and build relationships.

(b) Ad hoc planning. Although the intent and certain practices enhance the social role

of events, it appears that there are no strategies in place for the systematic social lever-

age of the event portfolio. Rather, each event based on its own innate characteristics

enables the attainment of social benefits, which is further facilitated by the commonly

used available resources and the mimetic transfer of established practices among

events taking place due to the small size of the community. For example, the continued

participation of many locals as volunteers (starting at a very young age) in the Water

Carnival helps in that they learn skills and acquire knowledge about event organiz-

ation, while the Harvest Fest and Big Bend Open Road Race were replicated in the

creation of new events.


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In particular, social interaction is enabled in most of the events by the spatial

configuration of the parks in which there are tables around food vendors for people

to sit, eat, and talk. Furthermore, social interaction is enabled by event-related social

events that are organized around the focal events. For example, during the Water

Carnival, public meetings and speeches about the town’s developments take place.

Also, school reunions are scheduled during the Water Carnival that provide the oppor-

tunity to reconnect the social networks of the community. During the open road races,

there are parties in the park and a car show, which create social mixers for participants

and attendees and enable them to meet and socialize.

Moreover, the Water Carnival and the open road races include in their programs

parades, which amplify a sense of celebration. The theming of these events accompa-

nies the sense of ongoing celebration with event-related signs and decorations in

public spaces and businesses. Event publicity for the races and the Water Carnival

uses narratives published in the local newspaper to portray the desires of the commu-

nity as a friendly community with a small-town charm and unique characteristics,

which responds to the existential needs of residents. Yet, narratives are not being

used for other events. Overall, the current practices and event implementations

constitute a base with a potential for the formulation and implementation of joint

(and coordinated) social strategies to cross-leverage the series of events in the portfolio

for meaningful community development.

(c) Unintended consequences and strategic beginnings. In general, an important aspect

of using events in community development policies is the identification and preven-

tion of negative social impacts caused by events. In all interviews and discussions with

people in Fort Stockton, even when probed, no one referred to any unintended con-

sequences caused by events that may constrain community development. A common

response was the following, as someone articulated: ‘Not that I’ve seen. Pretty much

the outcomes are as were expected. I don’t see any negatives associated with any of

the events’. This attitude is grounded on a determination of community leaders to

focus on positive aspects of the community. As one official said: ‘We gotta be positive;

anytime we say something negative about the community, it’s bad’.

Consequently, it appears that there is rhetoric by most people, including public offi-

cials and local residents declaring their positive feelings about events and their desire

to host more events that will bring new people to town and develop its economy. Thus,

there is not an explicit controversy over the hosting of particular events and any exist-

ing tensions are covered under the proclaimed benefits the events are intended to

derive, which legitimize the development of the event portfolio. The main criterion

for the continuation of the events is the success in terms of appealing to and attracting

the participation and attendance of local people and visitors, which is perceived to

derive a range of economic and social outcomes.

The perceived success of events and the positive attitude toward them create a

two-fold source of implications; one constructive and the other problematic. On the

one hand, it does not help to identify and resolve tensions created by or revealed

through events. On the other hand, it facilitates the effort for staging new events in


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order to achieve particular purposes. It seems that in the context of the event portfolio,

this effort for event production is enabled by capitalizing on the knowledge and experi-

ence that already exists in organizing events in the portfolio. A common practice is the

utilization of the same resources, such as facilities and volunteer pools. However, the

lack of attention to identify and resolve any unintended consequences may potentially

magnify the tensions within the portfolio (e.g. over-utilization of the available

volunteer pool).

It seems that there is a complex interplay of implicit and explicit intentions that

maintain the above antithesis. A strategic approach could help ground event planning

and implementation, as well as the organization of the portfolio without fomenting

internal tensions that may hinder community development. For example, an event

that appears to have a clear strategy is the International Basketball Tournament

with teams coming from Mexico. This tournament represents a deliberate effort by

Fort Stockton’s officials to host a sport event in order to build better relationships

with towns in Mexico. Such a relationship may enhance the civic esteem of the Hispa-

nic population and may yield economic revenues.

In this case, the Chamber of Commerce sponsored the International Basketball

Tournament as the first annual Border Hoop Fest. The tournament matched up

teams from Cuahtemoc, Delecias, Ojinaga and Chihuahua, Mexico with teams from

Midland and Fort Stockton to compete for the championship of Border Hoop Fest

2005. All Fort Stockton residents were encouraged to attend and there was considerable

publicity about this event by the Chamber, which attempted to extend ties and establish

relationships with towns in Mexico. As officially stated, this tournament was intended

as a step to open up dialogs between Fort Stockton and Mexican communities that

may become NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) trading partners (Fort

Stockton Pioneer, 2005). The decision to create relationships with towns in Mexico

through hosting a basketball tournament took advantage of the town’s sporting facilities

and its capacity (know-how) to organize sport events. This demonstrates the potential

for leveraging that Fort Stockton’s event portfolio holds.

Synopsis: Events’ Common Ground

Local event production maintains three major joint characteristics: (1) the family

character of events, (2) the importance of sports, and (3) collaboration among differ-

ent city departments for staging events. All the events in the portfolio are the result of

cooperative endeavors (Ziakas & Costa, 2010a) and resource sharing (i.e. facilities or

volunteers), targeted toward families and to a larger or lesser degree feature sport

activities.

Overall, Fort Stockton takes advantage of the town’s facilities and natural resources

to host a series of recurring events. There is a proliferation of events in the community

that comprise an extended ‘informal’ portfolio. Multiple events are employed to serve

a variety of purposes, such as to develop local economy through tourism, improve the

quality-of-life through offering recreational opportunities, build a positive image of

the town, celebrate local identity and foster social interaction. Fort Stockton


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demonstrates competence in event organization and production, as well as mobiliz-

ation of its integrated set of resources to support the use of events for the accomplish-

ment of an array of social and economic purposes. In this context, sport is integrated

in the structure and logic of the event portfolio, which utilizes sporting facilities and

activities in events in synergy with other elements. This facilitates the planning of event

implementations for achieving tourism and community development.

However, what seems to be missing is the employment of joint leverage strategies

and tactics among the events in the portfolio (i.e. cross-leverage), which can help to

attain and magnify the intended event outcomes. Nevertheless, the current infrastruc-

ture supporting events and their hitherto planning driven by a holistic perspective on

the events’ role in regional development represents a robust ground for the cultivation

of joint and coordinated strategies to leverage the series of events in the portfolio for

tourism, economic and community development.

Discussion

Fort Stockton’s event portfolio is an informal, but socially embedded configuration in

local life that facilitates the adoption of an organically holistic planning approach. It

consists of sport and cultural events that share common objectives and resources striv-

ing to address community issues. It features a few prominent events and a plethora of

smaller ones that are means for both economic and community development. In this

regard, events in Fort Stockton’s portfolio have a dual role: to attract visitors and entice

their spending, hence contributing to the economic development of the community

and provide recreational opportunities for the local people to engage in social inter-

action and thereby enhance the town’s social capital.

However, there are no strategies put in place for the systematic leverage of the event

portfolio. There is no employment of cross-leverage tactics among the events in the

portfolio, which can help to attain and magnify the intended outcomes of events.

Rather the planning and implementation of events constitute intuitive ad hoc efforts.

Each event based on its own innate characteristics enables the attainment of benefits,

which is facilitated by the use of an integrated set of resources and the adoption of

established practices among events. The prevalence of these customary processes in

event organization helped in the proliferation of events establishing a local mode of

operational effectiveness that transfers normative skills and knowledge as volunteers

and organizers move from event to event. This mechanism substitutes a truly integrated

portfolio strategy and explains, to a degree, why Fort Stockton has not yet employed a

comprehensive event strategy that perhaps seems not necessary by locals.

In this context, the relationship of sport and cultural events in the portfolio is

innately symbiotic sharing common objectives, resources, and markets. In addition

to symbolic and affective identifications, sport events provide an opportunity for

parents to attend their children’s performances and engage in social interaction foster-

ing the family networks of a tight-knit rural community. The family character is then

taken into consideration in cultural events that include sport activities in order to

increase their appeal to potential audiences. Furthermore, the inclusion of sport


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facilitates the enactment of expressive practices that value physical effort, skillfulness

and aesthetic harmony. The sport events organized by the School and the Recreation

Department complement the cultural events organized by the Chamber and the

museums providing on a regular basis, opportunities for people to relate to each

other, be entertained and build relationships. In turn, all the events in the portfolio

provide an aura of celebratory euphoria and community inter-connectedness.

The findings of this study, therefore, indicate that Fort Stockton’s event portfolio

functions primarily as a means of providing leisure opportunities that enhance the

quality-of-life of its residents and build its self-proclaimed image as a vibrant commu-

nity. At the same time, this community uses the sport and cultural events of its port-

folio intentionally for tourism and economic development. In this regard, planners

integrate events with the community’s overall product and service mix. Fort Stockton

has established itself as a rural sport tourism destination hosting two of the main open

road races in the USA and the Sheep–Dog Trials. In addition, the Recreation

Department and the School District host a plethora of softball, basketball, football,

volleyball, golf, and rodeo events that attract nearby visitors.

In general, it is at the community’s hand to cultivate and promote synergies

between sport and cultural events (Garcia, 2001). As the findings of this study demon-

strate, Fort Stockton’s rationales for using events in tourism and community develop-

ment determine their roles. The roles of events are pertinent to public discourse

seeking to address the community issues identified by the policy priorities of the

town. This grounding internal logic cultivates the common ground that fosters the

joint characteristics of events and integrates them into the structures of the commu-

nity. It appears, therefore, that the drivers for developing an integrated portfolio

approach and creating synergies between sport and cultural events are grounded on

the salient community issues that events are employed to serve.

Thus, it can be said that the line of demarcation between sport and cultural events

is, perhaps, drawn more distinctly within the academic literature rather than in host

communities, which view both as having positive effects. From this standpoint, the

degree to which host communities throughout the world have already been employing

a holistic integrated approach may be more extensive than what the existing academic

literature has addressed. Hence, research attention needs to extend the study of events

on the planning, management, and leveraging of event portfolios.

Given the complex nature of event portfolios and involvement of multiple stake-

holders, collaboration and coordination are critical for effectively managing a portfo-

lio and attaining event outcomes. Thus, the absence of an overarching event portfolio

strategy may limit a host community’s capacity to fully exploit the potential of its

portfolio. A strategic integrated approach can cultivate synergies among different

events based on shared utilization of resources and event augmentations (Green,

2001) that will synthesize event themes, elements, and activities. Moreover, it can

set common objectives, coordinate strategies, facilitate communication of social

networks and build relationships among different stakeholders.

A comprehensive framework is essential for using events in a portfolio to foster

community networks and social capital (Borgmann, 1992; Putnam, 2001; Rohe,


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2004). Within the context of an event portfolio, the periodic performances in events

can foster the creation of symbolic social spaces that enable metaphoric discourse

over contentious matters (Cohen, 1998; Errington, 1990; Manning, 1981; Rasnake,

1986) and bring people or segments of a host community together that otherwise

might not even communicate with each other. This community-building potential

of event portfolios reflects the role of events as focal leisure practices that create

shared meanings and foster collective action (Arai & Pedlar, 2003; Blackshaw &

Long, 2005). In this respect, anthropological work conceptualizes events as metaphoric

commentaries and symbolic dramatic stories that convey versions of the social order as

it is understood by their participants (Geertz, 1973; Handelman, 1990; Turner, 1974,

1982). This understanding of events can help planners and host communities to

develop a comprehensive portfolio strategy by providing opportunities (through

events) for the expression of different versions of social reality that respond to

matters of people’s lives. In other words, an event portfolio should be harmonized

with the different issues that concern stakeholders and address these issues through

the implementation of joint event strategies.

The development of a comprehensive portfolio framework is not a simple task,

since economic and social interests are often antithetical. Yet, there is an extent to

which synergies can be created to integrate both perspectives. For example, the

social outcomes of sport events may be furthered when the arts are used to comp-

lement sport, and when commercial elements support social leverage (Chalip,

2006). Similarly, the sports and the arts performances can be blended with social-

focused elements designed to support both economic and social objectives. The

variety of different contexts and events, however, challenges the development of a

comprehensive approach by which seemingly antithetical components (e.g. commer-

cialization versus social focus, sport spectacle versus arts’ intellectuality, etc.) can be

combined. Clearly, research attention is needed to explore the ways that social objec-

tives can integrate sport and cultural events, as well as event commercialization and

social development.

The case of Fort Stockton’s event portfolio constitutes an example illustrating that

the common ground for building a community’s capacity to host and capitalize on a

series of recurring events is the development of a grounding internal logic that perme-

ates the portfolio and allows for assembling events, as well as establishing connections

among different event stakeholders. On this basis, collaboration among stakeholders

can be achieved through a network of embedded inter-organizational relationships

(Provan & Milward, 1995; Scott et al., 2008; Uzzi, 1997). As it has been shown in

the literature, collaboration can be fostered by setting collective goals, sharing joint

resources, agreeing on principal values, determining working and accountability pro-

cesses and coordinating activities at the local level (Bramwell & Sharman, 1999; Hall,

1999; Jamal & Getz, 1995). However, for this to happen effectively, it is essential that

the event portfolio joint strategies balance the economic and social effects of events in

terms of fair distribution of benefits (Campell, 1996) and harmonious dispersal of

economic, social, and environmental impacts (Campell, 1996; Quinn, 2006; Sharpley,

2009; Smith, 2009).


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Concluding Remarks and Directions for Future Research

The findings of this study illustrate the need for a strategic and holistic focus on event

portfolios if we want to shed light on the attainment, magnification, and sustainability

of the outcomes that derive from a series of events. In other words, it is important to

start seeking a strategic integration of events with other policy domains that support

sustainable development and can incorporate event outcomes in such policies (Getz,

2009; Jones, 2005). Rather than studying events as ephemeral and dispensable

components in community structures, the study of event portfolios should seek to

identify the factors that facilitate or impede the processes of embedding events in

socio-economic and policy structures. This requires a multi-disciplinary approach

in the ways we think and study events.

However, the more common focus on single events continues to maintain the

predominant view of sport and cultural events as disparate and not as related to

each other hosted by the same community. Hence, little is known about the relation-

ships of sport events with other genres, about how to develop synergies between sport

and cultural events (Garcia, 2001), about the missing links that impede the incorpor-

ation of an event portfolio into development policies and how the field of sport

tourism can capitalize on the potential of event portfolios. Toward addressing the

above knowledge gaps, this study examined the event portfolio of a rural community.

This examination is a starting point for bringing attention into the nexus of issues,

rationales and processes that drive host communities to cultivate synergies among

different events in order to shape and use an event portfolio in their development

agenda.

From this perspective, future studies should advance knowledge in the ways that a

host community may use an event portfolio to serve multiple purposes. This study

argues that a holistic approach in event portfolio planning can integrate economic

and social development, as well as foster relationships between sport and cultural

events. Toward this end, the missing links that can integrate events in development

policies/strategies and build knowledge toward the ways an event portfolio can be

embedded in a host community’s structures and processes need to be identified.

Therefore, this line of inquiry may help us develop synergies between sport and

cultural events in the context of an event portfolio and strategically use them for com-

munity and tourism development. On a broader level, this line of thinking could assist

host communities in incorporating events into their institutional frameworks and use

them for sustainable regional development.

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Documents

The Use of an Event Portfolio in Regional Community and Tourism Development: Creating Synergy between Sport and Cultural Events