JACKSON – Township resident Ray Cattonar has been a big part of Jackson Day in recent years and he spoke with excitement about next fall’s event when he came before the microphone at a recent Township Council meeting.
Jackson Day is coming up on September 14 with a rain date of September 21 in Johnson Park.
Cattonar, who is a key member of the Jackson Day Committee reported that food vendor fees had been raised by 25%. “The fee was $200 and we moved it to $250.” Additionally, the vendor fees were increased by about 66%.
“Last year we had 24 food vendors and 80-something regular vendors. We hope to go to 125 regular vendors. So, we will not only have a 66% increase, the additional vendors will generate additional revenue,” he added.
He noted with some confusion that “101.5 FM radio (Townsquare Media) was not selected (for advertising purposes) without discussion and then it went to the BOSS (Press Communications) which is 107.5 FM which is barely a radio station, for the same fee. None of us were notified to why that happened. I still don’t have any answers to be honest.”
Cattonar said the substituted station “has no social media presence. I did some research. They are at the bottom of the barrel. I have no idea why that happened or why I was not aware that it had happened. Town Square Media right now is working with the Army and they could become the top sponsor for the event.”
This young lady was testing her strength at one of the many games of chance that were at last year’s Jackson Day. (Photo by Bob Vosseller)
“That would be a nice influx of capital because I’m guessing that would be in excess of $10,000. I do most of the raising for the sponsors. I broke two records two years in a row. I anticipate on breaking another record this year,” he said.
Cattonar said, “this year we have been very cost conscious, as we were last year but we are able to provide new shows at a lesser cost than the previous shows. We are doing an ATV dirt bike show. We are actually going to put a race track in the park. It will end up being cheaper than doing a motorcycle stunt show (which occurred last year). We are going to save a couple of thousand dollars on it.”
“We have a parachuter coming in for free,” Cattonar said with excitement. “We are doing a monster truck (show) that we will actually share revenue with. We don’t pay them anything. They average about $6,000 a day and we will enjoy 30% back from that so we’ll make $1,800 there.”
“It was amazing last year,” Council President Jennifer Kuhn remarked.
“This year will be crazily better,” Cattonar promised. He noted the possibility of a Blackhawk helicopter coming in and landing at the site as well as a state police helicopter “at no cost to us. I love the shows where we have no cost.”
“Us too,” Kuhn added.
Cattonar noted the recent loss of the legendary Kingda Ka rollercoaster at Six Flags Great Adventure which is based in the township. “Negotiating with Six Flags we are going to be able to bring the front car of that to Jackson Day and make a display.”
“I’d like to charge $5 for a photo opportunity. My low-end estimates are that we would make $5,000 to $15,000 to help actually support our event,” he added.
He explained that he was working with Six Flags to get some costumed characters on the site of Jackson Day at Johnson Park. Six Flags owns the license to Warner Brother cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig as well as DC Comics characters such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.
Cattonar said a popular attraction that debuted last year, a drone show, will be back. “I incorporate the high school students to design it and to give them something really interesting to do for social media.”
“Due to my relationship with the owner of the drone show he is getting a minimum of $22,500 to do the show. We are paying the same $15,000 he got last year,” Cattonar said.
Cattonar added, “we will also have a small tribute to the military. We have a rebranding of our high school so I’d like to highlight that and I’ve given them carte blanche to do the rest of the show.”
He noted that attendance at Jackson Day has grown from 5,000 in 2023 to 11,000 last year “and I’m looking closer to 17,000 to 18,000 this year. Momentum is building.”
Cattonar was asked by Vice Council President Mordechai Burnstein who called him “Mr. Jackson Day” if he received a stipend from the township for his many hours of work for Jackson Day.
The resident replied, “I get nothing. I am a volunteer. It costs me $150 every Jackson Day and I’d like to get reimbursed for that, for ink and paper.”
Kuhn directed him to send anything he needed printed for Jackson Day to the clerk’s office so it could be printed and copied on the township’s color printer.
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