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A little more than a year ago, the Savannah Waterfront Association touted the hires of senior staff Jim Downs and Carrie Bligh and their “exceptional event planning expertise” as just what River Street needed to take its game to “a whole new level of success, exposure and acclaim,” according to board president Bill Dickinson.
As the group’s new executive director, Downs came to Savannah from ESPN Outdoors, where he was senior director of events, planning such high visibility programming as the Bassmaster Series and Bassmaster Classic. He formerly served as director of sports and competitions for the ESPN X Games and ESPN Winter X Games, where he developed and executed events for dozens of summer and winter action sports.
Bligh, named senior director of operations, had been director of event operations for the Kansas City Royals, where she supervised more than 600 game-day event staff and oversaw game-day operations and security. In her role with the Royals, she served as the security and stadium events coordinator in 2012 when Kansas City hosted the 83rd annual major league baseball all-star game.
In terms of top-notch event-planning, it seemed the waterfront association had, in fact, hit the big time.
But late last year, Downs quietly resigned. Bligh, after juggling both positions for several months, was named executive director earlier this year.
Unlike the fanfare that accompanied the initial hires, neither Downs’ departure nor Bligh’s promotion was announced.
Downs, reached this week, declined to comment, instead referring questions to Dickinson.
Dickinson, who remains president of the waterfront association board, said the organization was sorry to lose Downs, saying he was not asked to resign.
“We were all disappointed but respected Jim’s decision that the job wasn’t a fit for him,” he said.
Dickinson said he and the board have total confidence in Bligh.
“Carrie is one of the best I’ve ever hired in any capacity, Dickinson said.
“She’s very strong.”
In fact, Dickinson said, Bligh was the last candidate to interview for the executive director’s position in early 2013.
“We hadn’t intended to hire two people,” he said. “We knew we wanted Jim, but when Carrie came in and just blew us out of the water during her interview, the board wanted to find a way to hire her as well.
“We’re certainly glad we did. She has hit the ground running and hasn’t missed a beat.”
In her new job for only a few months, Bligh is just getting into the busiest time of the year on the waterfront.
One of her first executive decisions was to replace her old position with a sponsorship manager, responsible for bringing in sponsors and engaging a wider range of the community in what the riverfront has to offer.
“Last year was something of a test period, to see what was working and what wasn’t,” Bligh said. “This year, we’ve shaken things up a bit to give our audience more variety.”
“For example, all of our events are themed this year. Instead of just First Friday on the River, each month has a certain focus, with lots of different things going on within that focus.”
Some themes will be familiar — the traditional Seafood Festival in May, the second annual Blues, Jazz & BBQ in June, the River Street Fourth of July Celebration and Oktoberfest, for example. But others are definitely outside the box — like September’s Bacon Fest, with local restaurants serving up their bacon specialties from booths up and down the river.
Bligh is especially enthused about November’s Harvest Fest, celebrating fall with a farmer’s market, country music, local and regional craft beer tastings and arts and crafts.
“With each of these, we’ll try to have events and offerings that will appeal to every age group, from toddlers to seniors,” she said.
“Our goal is to provide enough variety that everyone wants to come down to the river.”
ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION
The Savannah Waterfront Association is a nonprofit group organization comprised of residents, property owners, proprietors and other interested parties whose common purposes are to provide public festivals and events and promote interest in the Savannah riverfront.
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