Some days you're the windshield, some days you're the bug.

  Last week I posted about the small town, 1 day festival we did and grossed over $2,000.  I said then we were doing a 3 day Country Music Festival the next weekend and I would let everyone know how it went.  The weather cooperated.  It was hot but had a slight breeze and no rain.  The headliners all showed up and the sponsor had estimated around 25,000 attendance.  The main stage opened at 2:00pm and they played till 11:00pm each day.  My wife and I opened up at noon along with 4 people we had hired and were required to stay open until midnight.  There were about 12 other vendors but only 1 selling Hamburgers and none selling Buffalo Burgers.  It was 3 terribly long hot days and everyone was exhausted by Saturday night.
 
Everything went fine except for 2 things.  There were no people and the ones that did show up, didn’t eat..  After the event was over, the sponsor stopped by and apologized.  She admitted the attendance had only been about 3,000 total for all 3 days.  When Charlie Daniels performed on Friday night there might have been 500 in the stands but not over.  Ronnie Milsap on Saturday night was the same.  On Thursday, for a 12 hr day, we grossed $474.00.  Friday increased to $508.00 and Saturday skyrocketed to $620.00.  By 6:00pm Friday, I told our 4 helpers to go on home and not to bother coming in Saturday.  My wife and I finished up Friday and ran it Saturday by ourselves.
 
Now as to the bottom line.  After the $500 entry fee, food costs, ice, labor and other expenses we ended up only losing $75.00 for the 3 days we put in.  None of the vendors made any money.  Since I had plenty of time to visit, I talked to most of them and many had worked the show for the last several years.  (this was it’s 6^th year)  They all said previous years had been 4 or 5 times what it was this year.  Never the 25,000 the sponsor said but at least 12 to15k and they had made money.
 
I’m afraid it must be the economy because the weather was good and the talent was good but no one seemed to have any money.  The passes were $90.00 which was good for all 3 days and that isn’t terribly high.  The main reason I say they had no money was because in 3 days, we never took in a bill larger than a $20.  No $50’s or $100’s.  One thing is for certain, last weekend made me really appreciate the small town festivals where there is no admission and no (or small) vendor fee.  This weekend we are working a 2 day festival in a town of about 20,000 people so we will see what happens.  I hope this time we are the windshield, not the bug.
 
Mike S.

Believe it is the economy. Gas going up, mortages going up, don't know. They say things are shaking out, but I see more trouble ahead.
And by the way you are giving my thoughts away. I only do small and smaller festivals. Found out for us and the numbers work very well. When I started, had a mind set of how big an event can I get in, now it's 12K and 8 vendors, way to many.
Did one this last weekend they list attendance at 500, ended up being 4500. And I was the only food. Many a drink was sold. 96 and humid.
In fact had to restock water.

Weird, I had an event the same thing happened this past weekend.   Sending you a pm Curby..

dang mike. seems like everything should have been perfect. Charlie Daniels Band? how in the heck could that have gone wrong? if i showed up at that concert and there was no food I'd eat Charlie Daniels himself with or without BBQ sauce.

just makes me weep for the great state of Texas. time was a Texan could eat his way from here to Nebraska and back without stopping for air.

The only thing I can figure is maybe the economy is having a bigger effect than I had thought.  However, it doesn't seem to be hurting the small town events because we have done several repeat events this year in the smaller towns and they have all had better sales than last year, sometimes double.

It was certainly disapointing because we were looking to 3 days of $2,000 or more each day and ended up with $500 a day.  With the gross we had it made the show fee over 30% and you sure can't make a profit paying 30% off the top to the event sponsor.  However, as I told my wife, we can't dwell on yesterday.  Just suck it up and go on.

Mike S.

konnie


The only thing I can figure is maybe the economy is having a bigger effect than I had thought.  However, it doesn't seem to be hurting the small town events because we have done several repeat events this year in the smaller towns and they have all had better sales than last year, sometimes double.

It was certainly disapointing because we were looking to 3 days of $2,000 or more each day and ended up with $500 a day.  With the gross we had it made the show fee over 30% and you sure can't make a profit paying 30% off the top to the event sponsor.  However, as I told my wife, we can't dwell on yesterday.  Just suck it up and go on.

Mike S.

High vendor fees always put me ill at ease. There's never any guarantee. I wonder how many promoters would go for a % vs a vendor fee - or at least the promoter should have cut you a deal on the fee as the turn out was minimal at best. At the State Fair of Texas, the do tickets for everything - partly due to the need to eliminate the exchange (and risk) of cash but I'm pretty sure there is a percentage of sales involved as well. Their way of keeping track of what's sold.

Mike, I hope this helps
”It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” -- Theodore Roosevelt

I also think most people are harvesting wheat right now and wouldn't have been able to go.  Was it still the normal drunk fest?  I can't imagine even 3k drunks not eating their butts off.  The buzz really didn't exist this year as it has in past years.

charlie daniels and ronnie milsap? yeah thats good.

the same for NINETY BUCKS? Thats good music but you need more relevancy than that to bring that kind of money!

Sounds like a $30 one night event to me.

Hope the next event kicks for you!

dom

Those are big show names, I wounder how much advertising was done by the sponsor.  

Mike, I`ve never seen a promoter that doesn`t wear them glasses that magnify their vision 5 fold. 2 people look like 10. 10 people, hell, we`ll need 14 food vendors! I think the $90 ticket fee might be the problem, like dtoror1 said, sounds to me more like a $30 nite. Charlie was down in these neck of the woods several years ago, free concert for the public, I sold out early, got to watch him. He`s good, but not $90 good. And yes, I like the small town events, people look forward to whatever happens, and spend their money there. I wouldn`t dare to do a state fair where I`d make $20,000 or more in a weeks time for all the tea in China............slap my face! $20,000????  Ummm, lets think this over. Hope your future events will be better, I`m sure they will.

Thanks for all the replies and I'm not negative about the business at all.  I am honestly a very positive person.  Two years ago I had lung cancer and beat it so now I never worry about what happened yesterday, it's gone and by Sunday night I was planning for the weekend coming up.  I'm a lot more interested in tomorrow than yesterday and thankful to be around to worry about it.

I do a review of every show we do to see if there is anything we are doing wrong and need to change but I still love what we're doing.  Some of you spoke about the entertainers.  It wasn't just Charlie Daniels and Ronnie Milsap.  In addition to them they had Helen Cornelius, Jim Ed Brown, Jimmy Fortune, TG Shepard, Moe Bandy, Leroy VanDyke, Chase Foster and others.

We are doing a Sat/Sun repeat show this weekend that grossed $1,300 last year so we will see if it is better this year.  I want to thank everyone for the supportive posts and yes, I'm still hangin' in there.  While tearing down on Sunday I was talking to a vendor for Roasted Corn.  He said he and his wife were both 68.  I told him we are 64 and still enjoy what we are doing.  He made a comment I think we all need to remember.

He Said "We have been doing this for 30 years and we still enjoy it and have made a lot of money.  However, I have to admit we enjoy it more when we tear down with our pockets full than when they are empty."   I laughed and told him I know what he means.  Thanks to all and I hope every one of you has better sales the next time you set up than the last time.  LOL

Mike S.  

many good points made by all. i was talking to Chicago Mark about this some time ago and i asked him how we would do given financial chaos in the USA. he said it should be smooth cruising for us. he said "we're the depression sandwich"

what i take from this is we made it through last time and we'll make it through this time.

but it's gonna take a dogger mentality. just enough is enough for us. ask Konnie up there. she beat lung cancer. and sis, i want to tell you hows i respect you for that. but as doggers, yeah, i have to admit, things aren't going all that bad.

the people i tried to give investment advice to and they didn't take it when they had the chance? OMFG they got creamed. on paper.

so some of these guys run up to me yelling and screaming like their head is on fire and their ass is buttered and say "I JUST LOST 1.5 MILLION IN PAPER and i say you dang fool, you never had it because you never liquidated your position. it was only money in your head.

kids, the only money that's worth a dang is this world is when you spend it or give it away. and any Wall Street pro will tell you the same.

so honest, here i am the biggest idiot in the world. know what makes me the biggest idiot? before you  all fall down over yourselves and we take a public opinion poll let me save you some trouble.

i have absolutely no material ambition whatsoever. whatever the trappings of wealth are in this world i got no use for. so paradoxically, i just started playing the market. and all this wealth started showing up in UPS trucks. and in know it might seem small to some of you but i had never seen a 100 Oz. bar or silver in my life. and it didn't stop there.

and honest to Gods boys, i have absolutely no idea what i'm gonna do with this stuff. i'm already as rich as a man can be.  and the riches in my heart, they seem so temporary and fleeting.

if i end up with a pile of money  and no family then you know the Secret Of Oz. for what profiteth a man to gain the whole world and loose his soul?

Edit:  Obviosuly this was not Stampede as tonight is the first night.

If this was Country Stampede out at Tuttle Creek then I am surprised that no one showed up.  That is generally a huge event.  I used to go all the time when I was in college and there were always 40k plus out there between the campground and the concert area.  I'm really surprised that the turnout was so crappy.

No, this was not the Country Stampede at Tuttle Creek.  It was the Winfield Country Roundup at Winfield, KS about 30 miles south of Wichita.

Mike S.

Oh, I was confused too.  Anyone know what the vendor fee is for Stampede?

Not a restaurant pro, just interested in all things marketing. So with that said; tech is hurting you guys along with the economy. Cell phones with video and the numerous variations of video viewers along with the myriad of offerings on the web which, undoubtedly, include your concert venue are right there in your potential customers pocket. Why pay admission fees and put up with a crowd to watch something with bad audio and poor visibility when they've got it all in their purse or pocket, have already viewed it 200X while listening thru 20 to 20 earbuds grafted to their ears? Even the itibiddy small towns have a Wally near by and tech is right there cheap, along with cheap dogs and cold drinks. 
 
Good Luck to all you folks.
 
Things are changing...believe it.
 
Heaven help us.

I'm cutting or not considering events due to lower turn out and I'm working on developing a street side business. I just did a 3 times a year event, in April, we did fantastic, June, it was waaaaaaay to hot, 112 in the shade, so nobody came. I doing the 4th of July in a primo town that makes it a big deal, then the rest of the summer I'm just doing the street thing.
I did a "super event" with 5 events going on in a 3 block area and nobody showed, later I found out that it was typical for that town, so I'll never do events in that town. 2 weeks later I did a car show in a much smaller town, with rain and did 4 times the business in just 4 hours. It's a real "crap shoot" out there these days. With doing a daily street business I hope to make doing events just some gravy on the side and not depend on them as much with the risks.