Crossing the Line...
At what point do festival or event organizers “cross the line” putting profits (dollars) ahead of value for their attendees? I believe that some organizers eventually loose sight of the things that made their event successful. Most festivals and events in the beginning try to offer more to encourage people to visit their event, but what happens when the event becomes really successful over an extended period? Don’t get me wrong, I am all for events making a reasonable profit. After all, many events these days are managed and organized by non-profit groups and most of the money is put back into the community. For the most part profit allows organizers to gauge the success of their event. Nobody likes to work for nothing!

That being said, when do festivals cross the line. I don’t think that there is a definitive answer, but I think this happens when organizers forget what made the event successful and start making poor judgment changes all for the sake of increased profits. This could include canceling popular activities or attractions or reducing advertising budgets. Obviously reducing or eliminating unnecessary items is prudent, but if profit is the only motivator and the event becomes less attractive as a result, I think this is wrong. A reasonable balance must be met.

Here is an example of what I mean. I know of one festival that keeps raising its admission fees each year, even though their costs have not increased and they have not added value to their event. The increased fees were only a means to increase their profits. When do they stop? They wanted to prove to their community what great fundraisers they were, but what about patrons. The people who come back year after year to support their event? By only increasing admission fees and not providing anything new, aren’t they cheating those very people? And even worse, won’t this attitude eventually come back to haunt them? If this happens, everyone losses, the community, the organizations receiving funds, patrons, vendors, suppliers and ultimately even the organizers themselves! Raising money for the community is a very worthwhile endeavor, but not at the expense of integrity!