“CONTACT US”

Have you ever been on a website and found that you had a question or comment? I know I have. So, it always bugs me when the “CONTACT US” page is either non-existent or impossible to find! How can you have a website (and I am talking about festivals, events and attractions) and not have a readily accessible “CONTACT” page. I will give you an example. This past winter I wanted to visit a Santa Claus parade. I went onto their website (very cute and hard to manipulate, but that is another blog) to find out more information about the parade. After reading the website I had a number of questions I wanted to ask. I started to look through the site to find their “CONTACT” page. NOTHING! I know where to look to find obscure “CONTACT” pages, but I could find nothing in this case. I even tried to send an e-mail to info@theirsite.ca but no luck. The message was sent back as undeliverable. So much for ingenuity! The organizing committee obviously did not want to communicate with its patrons! WHY you might ask! You would think that they would want feedback... suggestions! Wouldn’t they want to help people who had questions? You would think so, but not this event! The sad part is that they are not alone. Continuing on this topic of “CONTACT US”, why don’t all website have an e-mail address? Afterall they are using the internet, so someone must use e-mail. In this day and age, who wants write a letter and wait weeks for a reply? Or, who wants to make a telephone call, get an answering machine and then wait for a call back? I know I don’t! E-mail is such an effective and efficient way of communicating. The worst group for this lack of a contact e-mail is the fall fairs. As a group they don’t seem to want to communicate through e-mail! At first I thought it might be because it was run by rural people who might have slow internet connections, but technology is zooming ahead in leaps and bounds, so I don’t think this is a factor. Besides more and more rural people are becoming very savvy when it comes to technology and communications. Gone are the days of party lines and outhouses, today it’s satellites and high definition TV. So what the answer then? I’m not sure. I am just telling you my observations as a person constantly looking at festival, event and attraction websites. If someone does have the answer, please let me know! In the meantime, if you are a festival or event organizer or you develop websites for them, make sure you include an easy to find “CONTACT US” page and that it includes an contact e-mail address!

Community Involvement…

Most festivals and events are community based. As such they give whole communities the chance to come together and show off their town to visitors. Festivals and events not only make residents proud, they are just good business! Think of the economic impact. Festival visitors eat in community restaurants, stay in community accommodations, enjoy community attractions and purchase goods in community retail stores. If visitors like the festival community they come back and bring their friends and the cycle begin again. And, if they really like the community, they come back to live there. Community supported festivals and events have the domino effect! So, how does an organizing committee ensure maximum community involvement and thus the benefits of that involvement? Here are a few thoughts based on 5 Ontario community based festivals.

International Plowing Match 2007 (Leeds-Grenville) This was a one time event that pulled together a number of communities and groups into one cohesive unit. Although there were no towns close by, the IPM organizing committee was able to attract volunteers and financial support from all the communities in Leeds-Grenville! It was a Herculean task that took over 3 years to achieve, but the end result was nothing short of spectacular! All the communities involved were enriched by the experience.

Winona Peach Festival The food section of this festival is almost completely manned and operated by various community groups, church committees, sports associations and service clubs. The food that they serve and the presentation of their respective booths far surpasses most commercial food served at other events, and, the beauty of this community involvement is that the money stays in the community to help the community!

Cobourg Waterfront Festival The is really a number of festivals and events within a larger community festival. Four community groups have banned together to host one of Canada’s most successful Canada Day weekend festivals. The four groups involved are the Cobourg Lions Club, the Cobourg Rotary Club, the Northumberland Central Chamber of Commerce and the Town of Cobourg’s Canada Day committee. The effect of this coalition is that it attracts 70,000 odd visitors to Cobourg each July 1st and raises 100’s of thousands of dollars that are invested back into the community.

Kleinburg Binder Twine Festival Each fall the entire downtown business section closes its streets for 1 day to celebrate the fall harvest. The unique feature of this festival is that out-of-town vendors and local merchants co-exist for this one day! To walk down the main street and see the line of white tents flanked by colorfully presented retail stores shows the true meaning of community involvement and cooperation!

Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest The K-W Oktoberfest is the ultimate example of a community coming together to celebrate its people and their heritage! I don’t think that there is any one or business that doesn’t have at least some involvement with the Oktoberfest festivities. During the event, I think residents of the whole community, Kitchener, Waterloo and all the surrounding hamlets and villages, put on their Alpine Hats and Lederhosen and have a great time with all the attractions!

“We are all richer (not monetarily) when community residents join together to celebrate their community and its heritage.”

Things That Make You Ask WHY…

We had the opportunity to be an exhibitor at a large consumer show in Toronto, so I decided to check out the pricing. I was surprised how reasonably priced the booth was. Several years ago Judi and I had exhibited at the same show and the booth prices were almost the same. I also checked out the other costs associated with have a booth at the show. Such cost as installing electricity, renting furniture and obtaining a parking pass. The cost of the electricity was comparable to what we had paid before. The parking was comparable and this time we could park indoors. We had never rented furniture before, so I had nothing to compare prices with, but the show package seemed reasonable. With the pricing confirmed, we decided to go ahead with having a booth. On set up day I packed the car and came to Toronto with my 14 year old nephew. Judi wasn’t feeling well so I asked my nephew to help with set up. When we got to the show the security guard stopped us and asked my nephew how old he was. When he found out my nephew was only, he told us he had to be 16 to be allowed in. This was the first thing that made me “ask WHY”. The guard told us that it was the "city’s rule" and it was because there were tow operators in the building. I can understand now allowing little kids in the building, but a 14 year old is not a little kid (my nephew is almost taller than me and likely smarter). It seems to me that the government is using a cannon to kill a fly! Eventually we were allowed in and we set up the booth. The next day, bright and early, we arrived at the show. This is when the next series of “ask Why” started. It began when we were about to order ordered food. Two bottles of pop were going to cost us about $9.00 and a hamburger the same. Why do the food prices need to be so high? Is it because the food vendors have a captive audience and can charge as much as they like because people need to eat and are willing pay the high prices or, is because the facility owner charges the food vendors so much that they have to charge that much to make a decent profit. Perhaps it’s a combination of both. Whatever the answer it still makes you “ask WHY”. The most shocking “WHY” came when I tried to access the Internet. I just wanted to check my e-mails and do some work on my website during downtimes in the show. When I tried to log on, I got a message giving me to phone to arrange access. Instead of phoning, I walked to the facility office in the complex to arrange for access. I asked the girl in the office what I needed to do. She told me that there was a charge for access. I asked “how much” and she told me “750”. I said naively “$7.50”. She said “No sir that would be $750.00”. I could not believe what I had just so I asked her to repeat what she had said. The girl, a little embarrassed now, repeated the amount “$750.00”. I asked her “how they could justify such a price”. She shrugged her shoulders and said “I am sorry sir but that is the cost”. That was the end of our conversation. Needless to say I didn’t purchase access. So this brings my to my final “ask WHY”. How can they possibly justify charging this much? High speed wireless can be purchased for one year for less than half that price. I can understand charging that amount or more to a large corporation who needs a complicated installation, but all they needed to do for me, and others like me, is give me access through a username and password. Hotels do this for their customers all the time and don’t charge for it. Ultimately, it just makes you ask why!

Festivals Within Attractions…

Last year we visited a festival that was held within a large well known attraction. The attraction, itself was great, but the festival it was trying to feel well short of expectations. Judi and I thought, given the prestige and type of attraction, that the festival would be fun and interesting. Unfortunately it was far from it. After entering the attractions grounds, we started to look to see where the festival portion was being held. As we passed through the gates, there was a large festival sign greeting us. However, there were no directional signs to tell us which way to go. After looking around for a short time, we asked a passing by volunteer where the festival was being held. He pointed to a foot path and said “just follow the path and you will come to it”. What he failed to point out was that there were several paths that split off from the path he pointed to. After several attempts to find the festival area, we came across it by chance. We had passed it once before, but there were no signs and “festival” grounds were very small with little apparent activity. It was no wonder that we had missed it the first time past. The “festival” volunteers were trying hard to make the most of the event, but there were too few activities to make it interesting. While we were there, very few people came to the site. I believe that if an attraction is going to hold a festival or event within its grounds, it should put its best “foot” forward. Unfortunately, that is not what happened here. Festivals and events will bring people to an attraction. If the event is interesting and well run they will come back and bring their friends. However, the converse is true. If the festival or event is uninteresting and poorly run, people will stop coming to the attraction and will tell their friend about their experience. If an attraction is going to hold separate events, they must treat them as a “total attraction experience” not just as an “afterthought”!