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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPost Event Review10 Post Event Review: Vail Farmer’s Market and Art Show Event Dates: Sundays from June 2 to September 19 (14 Sundays) with one extra Sept 26th Event Promoter: Meadow Drive Partnership Event Contact: Angela Mueller/Martin Stewart (970)) 476-1281 Mueller.a@comcast.net Intro: The Vail Farmers’ Market and Art Show was a huge success for its ninth year! The parking garage was full 12 Sundays. The event ran from June 20– September 26, every Sunday. The Vail Market is the largest Market in Colorado, with up to 130 tents, musical entertainment, and activities for children like the mechanical bull, bouncy house, free balloons, caricatures, train rides and more. The market has created a sense of community in Vail, where the locals can come and have lunch and purchase their produce and crafts and tourists can come and enjoy the outdoors while they shop in Vail. 1.) Overview-Event Strengths and Weaknesses: a) Strengths: i. Brings in 9,000-12,000 people into Vail every Sunday of the summer. This would not happen if there was not a Market. The huge crowds provide a large crowd base for any other events on Sunday in Vail. ii. The event markets all events happening in Vail. This gives the entire town of Vail a critical mass of advertising. The Market helped local businesses advertise by providing information on events occurring in the Valley. iii. Increased business for the town of Vail from June 20th to September 26th 2010. iv. The past two years we have brought in a National Sponsor: This year it was Hyundai and Food Network Magazine. We have given the town recognition on a national level. The Hyundai/Food Network Magazine sponsorship showed our outstanding culinary community. v. The Vail Farmers’ Market gained more sponsorship from local businesses this year. We are hopeful that as the recession recedes we will have more local sponsorships coming in. vi. Added value to the guest experience in Vail. Gave visiting tourists a reason to stay in Vail instead of traveling to another town for entertainment. Colorado visitors have a reason to come back another weekend after visiting. vii. This year our marketing of the Vail Farmers’ Market and Art show included many other Vail events such as Hot Summer Nights Free Concerts Tuesdays Yo Yo Ma Recital Dallas Symphony Orchestra June 30-July 7 Lacrosse Shootout La Tour Brunch on Sundays Sonnenalp Jazz @the Market Philadelphia Orchestra July 9-17 New York Philharmonic July 23 -30th Vail Invitational Soccer Vail International Dance Festival Jazz @Vail Square Summer Harvest Dinners and Tony Gulizia at Kelly Liken Rocky Mountain Antique Festival Wine Wednesdays at Swiss Chalet Wine University at Larkspur Vail Restaurant Month Vail Soul Music Festival Cabaret Nights at the Marketplace on Meadow drive Vail Arts Festival Vail Street Sale Gourmet on Gore Vail Jazz Festival Rotary Duck Race Oktoberfest The Vail Farmers Market increased participation in all summer events by reaching folks who had never been reached before. Our ads encouraged folks to come to Vail for multiple days for multiple events and to stay overnight in Vail hotels. We saw an increase of people at the Markets at thirteen of the 15 days. viii. We have created a venue where the locals are able to come and purchase their produce and specialty items and the tourists can come and enjoy the day with the entertainment and shopping. We saw this each Sunday; locals coming back and the visitors staying all day. ix. The advertising that we have received from the Vail Daily, the Radio Stations, has put our market out there for all of Colorado to see. We had several stories that have been done about the farmers/Kelly Liken. The Vail Daily/Colorado Mountain News Media was our presenting sponsor gave us $200,000 of in kind ads, which put the Vail Farmers Market & Art Show and all other Vail events out to Colorado residents from Grand Junction to Aspen to Ft. Collins. We have a partnership with Vail Restaurant Month and this has given us exposure in their ads in the Denver Post. b) Weakness i. We added an additional day to help the Vail Restaurant Month kickoff and give our farmers another chance to sell their produce. The positive was that we saw many people in town. The negative is that our budget could not support doing 15 markets. The extension of the market had us charge our vendors an extra amount for the weekend. We had been seeking a corporate partnership. We worked with Hyundai/Food Network Magazine this year and are working on a continuing agreement with them for next year. We are developing a program to establish a partnership with a corporate sponsor. ii. We sent out sponsorship packages to local companies in Vail area. This year we saw a slight increase for local sponsorships. We are hopeful that our sponsorships will continue to grow. iii. The weather can be a weakness and strength. The weather was brilliant this year and even on our rain day the parking garage was full. 2) Event Budget and use of Allocated Funds Please see the attached Budget for 2010. The funds/fees we received last year were only enough to pay for 13 markets. We utilized the CSE funding to support the marketing efforts to draw more visitors to Vail. 3.) Marketing Efforts The following efforts were made to promote the Vail Farmers’ Market and Art Show. a. Vail Daily had six full page ads run weekly during the market season b. The Summit Daily c. The Aspen Times d. The Glenwood Post e. The Ft Collins Now f. The Greeley Tribune g. The Sky Hi Daily News h. The Grand Junction Daily News i. There were ten Mountain Radio Stations running ads during the Market Season: (Per week ads) a. KZYR – 8 each day Thur-Sunday plus one hour “Live at the Market” every Sunday morning b. KRYSTAL-17 Frisco c. KSKE-24 Vail d. KQSE-14 Gypsum e. KBTB: The Valley f. KTUN-19 Eagle g. KNFO-21 Basalt h. KKCH-19-Glenwood Springs i. KCMV-9 Kremmling j. KJEB-9 New Castle Each radio station above had numerous live DJ mentions per week, which were not, included in the above weekly ad numbers. j. The Market will continue this advertising next year if we get the requested funding. We also sent out press releases to concierges, newspapers, radio, etc to gain the free word of mouth and media exposure. The Market had private newsletters from condos and real estate companies help promote the market by mentioning it in the summer activities for their guests. k. The Vail Farmers Market & Art Show is one of the VLMD five Signature Premier events on its Vail.com website. l. The marketing of not only the Market, but also the Town of Vail, its activities and adventures is a goal of the Farmers’ Market. We want to get people into Vail to not only be entertained by the Market, but by the stores, restaurants, world renowned music and activities available. We want people to plan a trip and stay longer because the market is on Sunday. The numbers we have had this year show us that people are drawn to the Town of Vail due to the Market. m. The sponsorship from the Vail Daily/Colorado Mountain News Media gave us $200,000 of in-kind advertising. Plum with a partnership put us on their ticker for the season. n. The marketing has given us a place in Colorado. We have found that many of our visitors are from Summit County, Aspen, The Denver area and the Western Slope. The marketing we have created has made the Vail Farmers’ Market and Art Show recognized throughout Colorado. 4.) Statistical Information a. Attendance Numbers and demographic profile The Market saw that out of 15 markets, the parking garage was full, except for two markets. The August 29th Market draw showed us that it was difficult to find a parking space all morning and afternoon. We estimate from our surveys there was 9,000 to 12,000 people each of the 15 Sundays in Vail. The Vail Farmers’ Market and Art Show draws a diverse crowd. Based on surveys that we presented this summer; 18% are locals, 49% are in state, nonlocals and 33% are out of state. We also found that the crowds were family and couple based. When we spoke with businesses in Vail, we found that Sunday is their busiest day in the summer. All were in agreement to continue the market this summer. The increase in sales the businesses had helped many of them through a possible slow summer. b. We surveyed visitors of the Market five different Sundays. The results are below: 1. Total surveyed: 102 Questions from Survey 1. Have you enjoyed the Market in Vail Village today? _ Yes NO We had 102 say yes 1. What has your favorite area been? 61 said the food and entertainment 30 said the art area 11 said the mix of food and produce 2. What if anything would you like to see at the Farmers Market? 43 said it is great the way it is 31 said more art 16 said more produce 10 more entertainment 2 said another day of the market “Keep the great food and vendors!” “Great market.” “Love the energy!” “More farmers” “Why do you not try a Saturday too?” 3. Will you come back to the Vail Farmers’ Market and Art Show? again? We had 101 yes and one no 5.) Potential for Growth and Development of Sponsorships and Media Exposure The Vail Farmers’ Market and Art Show has been working on finding sponsorships for the event. Though have found that a Farmers’ Market is not a typical event company’s sponsor. We are putting together a sponsorship package for 2011. We will be requesting funding from local companies. We will continue to look for Partnerships. We have partnered with I Openers to work on corporate partnerships and are already working on the 2011 market. I Openers and the Vail Farmers Market plan on working together and are looking at continuing our partnership opportunities. The Media exposure we have had, we plan on continuing with our funding. funding. The exposure we have received has helped create a statewide and local knowledge of the Market. The radio ads continue to draw the locals and the Summit and Glenwood Springs visitors. We will continue to explore more media exposure by joining forces with the businesses other Vail events. Our goal is to advertise all Vail’s adventures for everyone to explore. 6.) Impact on Vail’s “Sense of Community” The Vail Farmers’ Market and Art Show was started nine years ago to provide a sense of community for the town of Vail. Each year the market has grown and as you look at the pictures included, see the faces, the families and the vendors. We have created a true community for Vail. The locals, the visitors, both in state and out all come to the Market and leave with the majority of them happy and excited to come back to Vail. We are bringing people in from all over Colorado. The Market is showing the visitors that have come that we have a true Colorado experience outside their hotel room. The 125 booths and having the stores open on Meadow Drive create a true community that both the business owners and visitors all say are worth visiting over and over. 55 of the vendors are from Eagle County. Some of our vendors come for at least two of the local markets and do not drive back home. They stay in Vail. 7.)Sustainable Event The Vail Farmers’ Market hosted the Town of Vail’s Sustainable event this summer. The town set up sustainable recycling and volunteers trained visitor. The staff was trained in green practices and we did designate Marty to be responsible for overseeing green event practices. a. The bags we use are biodegradable. b. The vendors have all worked at using eco friendly utensils, plates, glasses and napkins. We are at 95% eco friendly items with 100% for the 2011 Market. The reason we were not 100% this year was due to vendors having items left they needed to use. c. We have purchased recycling containers for the market. They are available throughout the market each Sunday. d. The farmers we have at the Market are all from Colorado. e. 55 of the vendors are from Eagle County. Some of our vendors come for at least two of the local markets and do not drive back home. They stay in Vail. f. We have gained 27 points from the Green Action Item sheet from the town. We feel this shows our work we have done this year. Conclusion The 2010 Vail Farmers’ Market and Art Show brought in record crowds to Vail every Sunday. We saw more cars parked on the frontage road than any year in the past. We feel that we can continue this classic event each year with the support of the CSE. Thank you for your continued support! We believe on average, each week the 10,000 customers that comes to Vail spend $20 in town on food and beverage and another $20 on purchases, that is $400,000 per week or $6,000,000 for the summer. The 4% (Vail Sales tax) of $ 6,000,000 is $240,000.