Lights, camera, action! It's Downhome Productions' 20th

Mark West learned a lot about hard work growing up on a farm. It’s one of the reasons that his company, Downhome Productions, will celebrate 20 years in business next month.
It also helped him build the event production company from the ground up into a $2 million business at its peak, creating stages for Wal-Mart corporate meetings, several U.S. presidents and an appearance by the recently deceased Pope John Paul II.

Setting the stage
West started the company shortly after graduating from Southwest Missouri State University, where he began as a music major but later discovered his love for shows.
There, he was groomed under Dick McGruder, doing light, sound and stage work at Hammons Student Center.
“(McGruder) put his arm around me and led me to believe that I could do this,” West said of his college mentor. “That’s kind of where the interest came from.”
Upon graduation, West took a job with a previous employer, Swiss Villa Amphitheatre in Lampe, where he had worked as a stagehand and production manager. That soon led to the company’s launch.
“There had been some renovation done to the theater, which meant they could no longer use the lighting system they installed when they built the place,” West said. “In the spring of 1985, Hal Meadows, who was the general manager of Swiss Villa at the time, made the comment one day at lunch and said, ‘Why don’t you buy some lights and rent them to me?’ That’s what started it all.”

Big gigs
Soon after West opened his first office out of his Springfield home, Mick Warnock, a producer of Wal-Mart’s annual shareholder meetings, got in touch with him.
“At the time, Wal-Mart was a lot smaller than it is now. In February 1986, he hired me and some of my lighting equipment,” said West. “We wound up doing the Wal-Mart meetings for 16 years and those grew into huge meetings.”
During that run, Downhome Productions’ revenues peaked at $2 million. The Wal-Mart gig ended in 2002, when the retailer opted for a Dallas company.
While Downhome Productions is still climbing back to those revenue levels – it had $850,000 in revenues last year – the Wal-Mart work prepared the company for other large meetings.
Crews have traveled as far as Miami, Mexico City and Canada. The largest single set the company has provided was for an Amway meeting at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.
Today, there are more than 100 clients on the roster, from the White House to the smallest church.
While company officials say each client is treated the same, the feeling of accomplishment for high-profile events is unmatched. Take Pope John Paul II’s 1999 St. Louis visit.
“It was on every channel in the world,” said Tony Carter, production manager. “There’s something very special about watching the pope or the leader of your country going up on a stage you set up and under lights you provided.”
The White House connection began in 1986, when West learned through McGruder that President Ronald Reagan was appearing at Hammons Student Center.
“Initially they said they were going to use the sound and light that was in the venue,” West said. “When the White House communications guys came in, they basically told them they wanted to bring in another PA and lighting system. One night Dick came over to my house on Normal Street and said that he had given them my card and told them I was the only game in town.”
That turned into other jobs with Reagan, as well as setting up for appearances by George H.W. Bush, three appearances by George W. Bush and events for Bill Clinton, John Edwards and other politicos.
TV work also finds a place on West’s résumé. Through various industry connections, he has worked for the Family Channel, PBS, and CBS specials in Branson.

Bringing it home
Locally, Downhome Productions has worked with Bass Pro Shops events since 1988, the first year of the Springfield company’s World’s Fishing Fair. The companies continue to work together, though the World’s Fishing Fair isn’t as large now that Bass Pro has other locations throughout the country.
Other longtime local relationships are with Silver Dollar City and the Springfield-Greene County Park Board, started by Downhome Productions’ involvement with Firefall in 1983. By 1994, the company provided full production, with lighting, sound and staging. Firefall has the biggest crowd of any event the company does, with annual crowds in excess of 60,000.
“I’ve known Mark for a long time. He sets up all our events,” Director of Parks Dan Kinney said, naming concerts in Jordan Valley Park, including the Blake Shelton show April 2, and events at Cooper Sports Complex. “We tell him what we need and it will be there on time, first-class and taken down at the right time.”
Additionally, Downhome Productions works on community events such as The Muscular Dystrophy Association and Children’s Miracle Network telethons and American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life at a discount.

Hectic times
The first weekend in April Downhome Productions had crews seemingly everywhere. They set up for Shelton, the Young Christians Weekend at Silver Dollar City, an Family Career and Community Leaders of America event in Columbia, the Ozarks Technical Community College Founders Day Dinner and the Boys and Girls Clubs Steak & Steak dinner.
Five full-time employees run the show, and West has a list of 125 free-lance workers he can call on. Services cost anywhere from $15 to rent a light to $100,000 to set up a large event.
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