Seeking advice re: town festival

[agedhorse]

 

Originally Posted by abzurd

OFF TOPIC ALERT - BTW Mark, I just placed an order this morning. My only non EWI purchase for cables in the last 8 years was a 25 ft 4 channel XLR patch snake from Seismic Audio. I bought last June so it didn't even make a year and 2 channels have failed.

 

Off topic additional information... act came through with one of their TRS patch snakes... not very old at all and the sleeves were coming loose from the housings, the strain reliefs were not properly assembled and the whole thing stunk like a POS. Wasted my time troubleshooting some problems.

[agedhorse]

I think for a rural community festival like this, there might be a lot more mileage with free admission and a place where folks can donate some money, pitch pocket change etc. It's a by the community for the community event and in effect it's more like a giant backyard BBQ or block party rather than a public festival. I would strive to keep it laid back, relaxed atmosphere and fun enough that it happens again the next year.

[abzurd]

 

Originally Posted by Pro Sound Guy

Put the beer by the music

 

You would actually think this would be a no brainer, but I've seen the mistake made (beer on other side of event). I really hate it too when we do weddings and there is either a bar outside or in another room. Kills the whole vibe as all the guys want to do it hang out by the bar, wherever it is.

[Axisplayer]

Porta john close enough to stage for emergencies. Nothing quite like that urge to go and the facility is on the other side of the event.....how long do I have until they finish this song/set/show?

[lifeloverwg]

So Mark, are you doing this for the sake of the children?

We play two very small town festivals regularly. Both take place in Torrey, Utah and both took a while to get going, but both survive by drawing attendance from the Salt Lake City population which is a 4 hour drive away. Torrey Utah does have the advantage of being right next to a National Park though and being just plain stunningly beautiful. It also has a higher amount of motels and accommodations available than your average town with a population of 170.
In the end, both of these festivals have survived because they each have an individual in the community that is committed to having them take place and they put a lot more work into them then they get back in direct monetary gain. However they both have interests in other business ventures in the community, so they probably benefit some from that as well. My main impression though is that they both do it because it makes their community a better place to live. And for the children.....

[LewnWorx]

Since there probably won't be radios for everyone, figure out logical groups (ticketing/parking, artist support/production, security, etc). Assign these channels in advance, then for the staff's lanyards on the back print the person in charge of each group and the assigned radio channel for the group. That way any staff can find somebody with a radio and know how to reach somebody to handle the problems as they arise.

Assign a spare golf cart to production for gofer duties. Trust me, that will be the busiest cart of the event.

Make sure the artists are clear as to where to enter, where to park, and who the contact people are when they arrive. Assign a greeter with a radio at the entrance point, as stuff will invariably come up.

Maps on grounds with the 'you are here" box on em.

Coolers with water for staff at strategic locations, and someone assigned to restock them.

Easy ups behind the stage for bands to tune, change strings, etc.

Most of the other stuff has been mentioned. Good luck. They're a huge PITA to manage. Even the smaller festies I work typically take weeks of planning by upwards of 20 folks to pull off successfully.

[BillESC]

My Rotary Club has put on the Bay Seafood Festival the last 21 years and it has grown a bit. The next one is September 7th. and we will sell 2000 tickets at $ 55.00 each.This is an all you can eat and drink festival with two bands.

[W. M. Hellinger]

Originally Posted by abzurd

Looking at Farmington on a map are you trying to get a headliner with enough pull to get folks from Spokane? I'm just not seeing much population around otherwise.

Thank you. This is what I was hoping for:

1) Questioning any and everything that I think I have in place, and:
2) Bring to my attention those details that I haven't thought of.

In answer to your two questions above:

1) The headliner I've hired is arguably one of the top 3 party bands/festival draw acts between the Cascades and Rockies. Absolute ringers (I figure anything worth doing is generally worth doing right.)

2) Pulling from the Spokane metro area: That's somewhat "easy". Our town's location and anbience is one of those places that those urbanites seem to look forward to driving "to" rather than away from... if any reason is seeming apparent to drive (or ride) here beyond "it's just another day"... and even at that: "it's just another day"... we get quite a bit of foot traffic through the town... problem is, they generally go "through the town". We're hoping we can give those urbanites a reason to actually stop here and take it in.

Originally Posted by abzurd

2 things I'd do before investing too much into things would be:

1 - Do some research on other festivals and civic events in some nearby small towns and see what they usually draw for a crowd. If you can't find any or have had several "come and go" over the years, that's a red flag. I'm assuming you may have already done that as part of the justification for the event.

2 - Make darn sure nobody else in the region is having a festival, fair, etc on the days of your event as you'll need all the draw you can get.

Town festivals seemingly do very well in this area. I've been working local town festivals for most of the past 30+ years... and my perspective from stage or behind a mix console suggested to me that "why wouldn't every town in this area do this?" Hence, that part of my inspiration for kicking off a similar festival in my home town. Why not throw a party where a lot of folks come and enjoy themselves, and those putting up the bucks to make it happen generally get their nut back, and some (or a lot) extra is generated and is generally donated to a good/very needing cause... and generally goes a long ways in these small communities? Why not?

Originally Posted by abzurd

2 - Make darn sure nobody else in the region is having a festival, fair, etc on the days of your event as you'll need all the draw you can get.

It's a dead weekend in the regional area... I checked... which was part of the reason why the lightblub went off in my head to spearhead this idea: Why not? Nobody else in the area has anything going on, and it's historically one of the most perfect weekends (weather wise) of the whole year. Why not?

[W. M. Hellinger]

 

Originally Posted by lifeloverwg

So Mark, are you doing this for the sake of the children?

 

Truthfully? No. I'm doing it because I

[lifeloverwg]

 

Originally Posted by W. M. Hellinger

Truthfully? No. I'm doing it because I

[W. M. Hellinger]

 

Originally Posted by lifeloverwg

My main impression though is that they both do it because it makes their community a better place to live. And for the children.....

 

My thoughts exactly. And it is for the children as much as the adults. I dearly want to show the local young-uns that "we adults" can include the young-uns and can have fun, and we don't always have to go out of the area to do so... and there's nothing but nothing in "this" for meth-heads (which is a problem in this area).

[BillESC]

1. Make sure you have insurance in place.

2. How to you plan to advertise to Spokane, other out laying areas?

[W. M. Hellinger]

Originally Posted by BillESC

1. Make sure you have insurance in place.

Yes, apparently this sort of activity is covered under the town's general umbrella policy (probably because "all" the local small towns in the region do similar events... and we're fixing to do that which everyone else seemingly does)... that coverage is scheduled for fine print reading at the next committee meeting.

Originally Posted by BillESC

How to you plan to advertise to Spokane, other out laying areas?

We don't beyond *word of mouth and the local PSA advertising*. Just *that* we're concerned could attract more attendees than we can comfortably accomodate. We'll see after the first year if we need to ratchet *that* up a notch or otherwise.

[abzurd]

I'll be in your neck of the woods, relatively speaking, the weekend prior. The wife and I are going Glacier the 10th - 16th. A scant 5 hours from Kalispell

[dennis a]

 

Originally Posted by W. M. Hellinger

Yes, apparently this sort of activity is covered under the town's general umbrella policy (probably because "all" the local small towns in the region do similar events... and we're fixing to do that which everyone else seemingly does)... that coverage is scheduled for fine print reading at the next committee meeting..

 

The fine print I would be looking for specifically...does the sale of alcohol affect the coverage?

[trevcda]

I would think you would want to have a representative of the insurance agency at that meeting to absolutely verify coverage for all aspects of an event like this. This is one instance where asking permission before rather than forgiveness afterwards would be a much smarter move. An incident by one litigious individual, that is deemed outside the scope of the town's insurance, can be pretty hard on a small town's bottome line.

And I know Mark's worked many events and probably knows this, but for anybody else reading this for advice- backstage ammenities are important. A bus tub full of water on ice that is regularly replentished, arrangements for food, a covered, private area with access to an outlet, to tune, relax, warm up, etc. Regional acts will apreciate the effort and it's probabaly on a larger acts rider. I was playing for a group who was hired to do a cities Sunday concert in the park series. Someone inquired about water and the stage manager showed up a few minutes later with a nasty looking bucket of water and some cups. I usually travel with an ice chest stocked with bottled water (and few better options at the bottom) and brought it out for the band to use. The SM asked if he could have a water from the ice chest and got pointed the now warm bucket of water with a few flies struggling to stay above the surface.

Which brings us to READ YOUR ACTS RIDERS! Treat it as a check list, not a paragraph of ridiculous requests. There's generally a reason for each and every item on there. For instance, in addition to the usual water and towels, mine always had batteries and cigarettes on it, only because rolling in for a show we didn't always have time to go searching for a store or the means of getting there. Other riders I've worked with get specific with dining requests (think vegan and other dietary considerations), lodging (no your futon will not be good enough) and other things. If it's out of your grasp, contact the tour manager. Buy outs and substituions can often be arranged.

[lonotes]

Make sure that you have the support of the local business community. I've worked as a vendor in festivals and fairs for the last 20 years, and you can't imagine the outright hostility we are met with on a fairly regular basis from the local business people. Any disruption in their daily routine just sets some people right off. The most common justification that I've heard is "we can't make any money during the festival". Well, if you've closed your doors for the duration, that might explain it. But yet, many of the festivals I've worked, more than half of the businesses in the festival area are closed. Now, I can understand places like insurance offices and title search firms closing down. They're certainly not going to gain much from the traffic. But restaurants and convenience stores as well as bakeries and music stores and pawn shops close for the same excuse too. Now I'll admit to not being the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, but how in the bloody hell can you have 80-100k people walking down the sidewalk in front of your restaurant over the course of a single weekend, and not make money? Even by accident. And believe it or not, I have actually heard complaints about doing too much business. One festival that I worked, I heard the workers in the towns only convenience store complaining that they usually only had to stock the beer cooler once each week, but they had already restocked it three times that week and it was only Saturday afternoon. On Monday morning, after waiting in line for over an hour at the same store for gasoline (Yep, only gas station in town) the clerk behind the register was pissing and moaning about how busy they were that morning and what a pain in the ass it was for her. Also, make sure that people are aware of the benefit that you are attempting to provide for the town. Another common complaint that I hear is "you people come into town and suck up all of the money, then you leave". I actually heard a business owner confront the LIC with this argument as she was walking past the fire station with the owner of the carnival. She patiently let the man ramble until he ran out of steam, and then pointed to the newest fire truck in the station. She said to the man, "do you see that brand new fire truck?" then she pointed to the carnival owner, and said "he bought that for us. Without the money we get from him for this festival, we wouldn't have that." It's important that the public, and especially the business community is with you on this.

[W. M. Hellinger]

Originally Posted by agedhorse

It's a by the community for the community event and in effect it's more like a giant backyard BBQ or block party rather than a public festival.

Correct.

Originally Posted by agedhorse

I think for a rural community festival like this, there might be a lot more mileage with free admission and a place where folks can donate some money, pitch pocket change etc.

Yes, the event will be "free admission".

We excpect to generate some "profits" (no idea how much) with an auction of donated goods and services by area business and organizations. For example: There's an area quilting club... which may donate a handmade quilt or two to the auction. The town festival committee volunteers will be operating the consession stands... which should stand to turn a little profit. Our expenses should be fairly low (relatively speaking)... and so-far seemingly most/almost all of those up-front costs are being covered by "friends of the Harvest Festival" (there's a contingency of folks here locally who really want to see this happen, and have the ways and means to make things happen).

[W. M. Hellinger]

 

Originally Posted by lonotes

Make sure that you have the support of the local business community. I've worked as a vendor in festivals and fairs for the last 20 years, and you can't imagine the outright hostility we are met with on a fairly regular basis from the local business people. Any disruption in their daily routine just sets some people right off. The most common justification that I've heard is "we can't make any money during the festival".

 

The downtown retail businesses located in the vacinity of the event are: The post office and the bank, both of which will be closed during the festival (Saturday). There are other businesses that service the town, but their bases of operations are "out of town" (the utility companies and farm equipment dealerships for example).

[lonotes]

 

Originally Posted by W. M. Hellinger

The downtown retail businesses located in the vacinity of the event are: The post office and the bank, both of which will be closed during the festival (Saturday). There are other businesses that service the town, but their bases of operations are "out of town" (the utility companies and farm equipment dealerships for example).

 

In the case of the bank and the post office, I'll assume that they're correct in stating "we can't make any money during the festival".

[Axisplayer]

At some of our local festivals, banks and other third party financial companies put out portable ATM machines that charge a $2.50 fee for using them. People can get the cash to spend and the banks make a good bit of money from it. Returns probably depend on how many things at the event require money from the customers. If they aren't draining their pockets the ATMs won't make much money....

[Audiopyle Sound]

Will you have a dance floor?

[W. M. Hellinger]

Originally Posted by Audiopyle Sound

Will you have a dance floor?

Well... we'll have a dance street. We're blocking off Main Street... er-um: we're blocking off the two blocks of Main Street that's paved that is.

Here's a picture I just took (excuse to go for a scooter ride) of the portion of Main Street that we intend to block-off for the festival. I took this picture from where the stage is intended to be. The park is on the left (approx. 1 sq. city block in size), city hall is off camera on the right.



BTW: The vehicles shown in the picture on Main Street is a fairly good representation of our 8:00am rush-hour traffic congestion.

[W. M. Hellinger]

I just returned from our second FHF committee meeting. I took all of the relevant suggestions (being most of the suggestions offered) from the forum with me... very helpful stuff.

Thank you.

[BillESC]

Happy to help.