Empty box seats and overall low attendance plagued the Steeplechase at Callaway Gardens this weekend on November 5, 2022.
The annual horse racing event has served as a fundraiser for local arts organizations for 38 consecutive years. Based on the vacant seating readily visible throughout the day, the Muckraker would estimate that the event received only half the turnout expected.
The low turnout may be partially explained by a smaller public support for the event’s beneficiaries, as several local arts organizations have been the center of numerous scandals in recents months. The public may have chosen not to attend after seeing who benefits from the event’s fundraising.
A midday post made by The Columbusite to their instagram story further demonstrates the event’s poor attendance:
In a Facebook post made on October 25, 2022, Steeplechase at Callaway can embarrassingly be seen attempting to sell terrace box tickets only two weeks prior to the event.
According to the Steeplechase website, the event has generated a combined total of $4 million for local arts-related organizations over the past 38 combined years — an average of roughly $105,000 per year.
The following organizations were beneficiaries of this year’s event:
Controversy over the nature of the event has sparked heated conversations in recent years, raising questions as to why the above-named arts organizations chose to benefit from the horse racing event.
Two years ago during the 2020 Steeplechase, two horses were killed on the raceway in front of attendees. During the fourth race of the day, a five-year-old horse named Zanzi Win had fallen hard and was not able to get up. Zanzi was euthanized on the course as the crowd watched on. In the very next race of the day, a four-year-old horse named Just A Whim fell at the last fence of the race and could not get up. Just A Whim was also euthanized on the course as onlookers watched.
In total, no less than eight horses have been killed during Steeplechase events throughout the years.
Nonetheless, RiverCenter for the Performing Arts — among others — have gone on to collect the funds raised from the event on their behalf.
According to the Steeplechase website, “beneficiaries are extremely involved in race operations.” This means the beneficiary organizations know full-and-well that the event can — and has — resulted in the animals’ deaths.
This year’s scant attendance may reflect a larger public understanding of that reality, among other scandals surrounding the event’s beneficiaries.
The RiverCenter has been at the center of numerous scandals in recent months. No less than seven RiverCenter employees have walked off the job, citing a hostile work environment fostered by the organization’s executive director, Norman S. Easterbrook. Many of those former employees quit without even lining up another job first; they simply could not stand working at the RiverCenter any longer.
The RiverCenter is also currently under a federal investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) due to formal complaints being repeatedly filed against the organization by its employees.
The alleged poor leadership and hostile conditions at the RiverCenter — and other similarly-aligned organizations — have caused many Columbusites to run for the hills, leaving behind the apparent nepotism, hostility, and unprofessional small-town “good old boy club” for greener pastures elsewhere.
The Springer Opera House, another beneficiary of Steeplechase, has also been the center of several scandals in recent months. Most memorable perhaps is how the Springer cancelled a performance by the Hodgetwins in July. After a leaked email proved the political nature of the cancellation, Springer producer Paul Pierce back-pedaled his comments and then deleted his personal facebook account.
The Springer also posted a racially-discriminating job listing in early August, refusing to take auditions for anyone other than an “African American or Hispanic male” to play the role of Bob Wallace in the Irving Berlin production of “A White Christmas.”
The more that local arts organizations act ridiculously in the eyes of the public, the less the public appears to support them.
While this simple observable reality appears obvious to the Muckraker and many of our readers, perhaps we can take the higher ground and spell it out for those who seem to be struggling to understand:
If thou go woke, thou shalt go broke.
According to the poor Steeplechase attendance, it appears the “high society” event is no different.
Should the political division pushed unto Columbus society by local arts organizations continue, those local arts organizations will continue to be forced to compete for the same fewer and fewer dollars from the same smaller and smaller donor pool.
Given the event’s list of sponsors, it may be in their collective best interest to consider our preceding paragraph carefully. The event was sponsored by the following organizations:
Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials and “the good old boy club” like them or not.
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