Celebration's 'voice,' others let go

"The Celebration is not immune to economic downturn," said Meadows. "This is a cost-cutting method we're going to use."

"I appreciate the opportunities I've been afforded at The Celebration," wrote Walters in an e-mail to the Times-Gazette, "and will cherish the great memories and friendships I've made there and continue to have. I'm hopeful that one door closing will open another."

Meadows stressed the point that the terminations were for economic reasons only.

"Chip is a good friend of mine," he said. "Sometimes people are terminated because they did a lousy job or there's a personality conflict, but in this case, that's not so."

For the past two years, said Meadows, the Celebration has not seen the big profits it did before. Some of that was due to the 2006 year that ended without a champion, but there were other factors.

"With the high price of fuel, we just weren't getting as many visitors," he said. "Reduced box seat sales and reduced reserved seat sales -- that's what contributed to the decrease in revenue."

Meadows, who was named executive director earlier this year, said he didn't want to make any drastic changes.

"When I came in, it was my intent to do nothing different than what had been done in the past," Meadows said. "I wanted to keep the staff we had."

He wanted to get through one show season cycle -- the Spring Fun Show, the Mule Show, and the Celebration -- before he made any significant changes.

"Some things are necessary for future stability," he said. "We're not any different from Sanford or a lot of those other companies."

The budget cuts aren't restricted to employees, either.

"We're looking at every area," said Meadows. "We're going to be doing more work in-house."

Some of the projects previously outsourced that may now be done by Celebration staff, such as groundskeeping, trash removal and cleaning.

"Some of these things that affect our bottom line insure stability for the Celebration for the future," he said.

Walters also provides color commentary for MTSU sporting events. His duties as public relations director will be split up amongst existing staff, with Jimmy Burton, the Calsonic Arena marketing manager, doing much of it. As far as who will be the next "Voice of the Celebration," Meadows hopes to make an announcement soon.