MOVING TO THE MIDWEST
For nearly ten years, when I was age 28 to 38, I made my living buying and touring name attractions; producing shows and negotiating custom sponsor’s agreements to create market exposure for other entities along with the shows we were touring. In the years that I was in that business Garrett Attractions and NRC, we toured together with our partners in other markets to over three hundred attractions.
From left to right, Patrick James Garrett, Kerry Chase Garrett, Kathleen Juanita Phillips Garrett, G.H. Burke Garrett IV, Hillary Lynn Garrett.
I did the Garrett Attraction’s ‘Midwest startup’ in 1972 with my own money which, as it turned out, was unfortunate. Shortly after I arrived in Minneapolis the Watergate scandal began to unfold and was quickly followed by the oil embargo, price and wage controls and the recession of ’73-’74. My underlying contracts were favorable and I was given the shows that were touring on favorable terms but it was, for the first time, wrong time-wrong place for me and I lost all my money. I moved back to Seattle in 1975. Our family (Mom, Pop and four kids, above) took a three month road trip through the South and in to Mexico before we came home. Rather than face bankruptcy I sold most of my investments and paid off my debts. My thinking, at the time, was that I would stay in the concert business.
By the time Bill and I sold Northwest Releasing Corporation to Jerry Lonn in the summer of 1972 I had over-seen a wide spectrum of concerts and had plenty of confidence. At 33 I was sure that I was one of the most promising young managers in the business. I was aggressive, bushy-tailed and on top of my game. I asked the agencies and managers – American Theater Productions, Columbia artists, William Morris Agency, etc. where they needed me most. They said Albuquerque and Santa Fe or the Midwest. After involved negotiations with the purchaser, Jerry Dennen (who was representing Jerry Lonn), for which I was on point and drafted the agreement, I ended up in Minneapolis/Saint Paul, purchased a lovely home on 36 acres near Welches, Minnesota (The former Vasa orphanage, which had been recently remodeled) and launched Garrett Attractions in the Midwest. My first season there included artists such as (Cherry pick names and go to scrolling link that features the season brochures).
After I got there it wasn’t long before the US economy fell into the serious recession of 1973-74 which led to price/wage controls, soaring interest rates, inflation and the Watergate crisis. For the first time, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and I lost all my money. At the time I thought I would stay in the concert business. My pride wouldn’t allow me to take bankruptcy so I absorbed large losses, sold all of my assets and moved back to the west coast. Although I had good investments and had done well financially prior to the recession, all I had left was $10,000 in hundred dollar crispies and my free-and-clear cabin near the Southwest entrance to Mount Rainier National Park.
After a two month road trip through the south and down into Mexico I moved my to my cabin in Ashford, Washington, bought a Mobile Home to accommodate my children, rented an office space on the third floor of the Union Trust Building on First Avenue in Seattle and started a new consulting company.
Although I was Mr. Big in the concert business just a few years before, when you’re no longer center stage and you’ve lost your working capital It can be very difficult to get back on your feet. Also at this time in my life, I was engaged by the daily morning newspaper, the Seattle PI, to manage various events such as the home show at the Seattle Coliseum, pre retirement panning fair and others.