Festival in the Park being cancelled???

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Permalink Reply by BEN SPOTTS on August 14, 2008 at 5:57pm

THE FESTIVAL IN THE PARK WAS GETTING TO BE A JOKE IN THE MATTER THAT LESS SALES BOOTH WERE BEING SET UP EACH YEAR. MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT IT WAS BECAUSE THEIR COULD NO TWO BOOTHS SELLING THE SAME ITEMS, SUCH AS ONLY ONE BOOTH COULD SELL CANDLE OR ONLY ONE BOOTH COULD SELL T-SHIRTS...ETC ECT......HOW PITYFUL CAN YOU GET.

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Permalink Reply by MusicMan on September 8, 2008 at 1:46pm

I cannot answer to the specifics of Fort Morgan's decision to cancel their summer event, but I can answer to the general issue. I have experience here in Colorado in working on planning committees, putting on city events in towns ranging from 4000 to over 100,000 in population.RE: one booth per product offering. For smaller towns, this is not uncommon, and is often propagated by the vendors themselves. Many vendors will not even consider participating unless they have product exclusivity. There are many other considerations as well, including estimated attendance.Small town events in Colorado, aside from metro Denver, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, and Grand Junction, tend to draw fewer than 3000 people. Many food vendors, for example (esp. corporate food vendors) will not even consider events of that size large enough to be a part of. Cost is an important function of their decisions. County health department fees as well as vendor fees can be too big an investment compared with potential return.On the non-food side of the equation, especially in small towns, it boils down to competition for product offerings. I recently was involved in an event that produced about 2500 people, and over half the vendors who participated did not sell enough products to cover their costs of being there.Another consideration these past couple of years has been funding. Much of the money that comes in to produce these events comes in from donations outside of city government - and for many years, land developers put up some of the biggest contributions. Larger businesses/corporations plan their donations typically in Sept, so if the city does not submit their proposals on time, those donations are usually non-existent, or very small.Small donations from citizens and the smallest of businesses simply cannot cover the costs of many small town events today. The price tag for an event that might draw 2000-3000 people can easily escalate to beyond $75,000.00 ... including entertainment, production, tents, licensing, insurance, power, infrastructure, ground fees, security, and other associated costs.

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