HomeMy WebLinkAboutPost Event Review11VFM
Post Event Review: Vail Farmer’s Market and Art Show
Event Dates: Sundays from June 19 to September 25 (15
Sundays)
Event Promoter: Meadow Drive Partnership
Event Contact: Angela Mueller/Martin Stewart
(970)) 401-3320
Mueller.a@comcast.net
Intro:
The Vail Farmers’ Market and Art Show was a huge success for its tenth year! The
parking garage was full 13 Sundays. The event ran from June 19th till–September 25th,
every Sunday. The Vail Market is the largest Market in Colorado, with up to 129 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 over 8,000-to up to 15,000 people into Vail every Sunday
of the summer. This would not happen if there was not a Market. We
see the families come each and every Sunday, the visiting tourists
staying in Vail, and the Coloradans coming in for a day in the
mountains
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 19th to September
25th 2011.
iv. 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. Each year we have seen this grow. Colorado visitors
have a reason to come back another weekend after visiting.
v. 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
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Lacrosse Shootout
Jazz @ the Market in Solaris
Philadelphia Orchestra
New York Philharmonic
Vail Invitational Soccer
Vail International Dance Festival
Jazz @ Vail Square
Rocky Mountain Antique Festival
Vail Arts Festival
Vail Street Sale
Gourmet on Gore
Vail Jazz Party
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. This added bonus for
the Town of Vail and all events creates a true community feel for
Vail.
vi. 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.
The restaurants and shops all say Sunday is their best day and has
grown in the past few years.
vii. The advertising that we have received from the Vail Daily, the Radio
Stations and Plum has put our market out there for all of Colorado to
see. We had daily ads on Plum. Along with several stories that have
been done about the farmers/Kelly Liken. The Vail Daily/Colorado
Mountain News Media as 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.
viii. We corporate sponsors this year, B and G Foods and the Ritz
Carlton, Script to Screen and Food Network Magazine all were
presenting sponsors at the market.
b) Weakness
i. We added a day for the market, which made the allocated days 15.
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, caused the market to have a very tight budget. This
coming year, depending upon budget from town, the amount of
events in town and from sponsors will allocate how many markets
we will have.
ii. We are seeking sponsors for the event. We had a good year with
support, however the event has grown and costs more than ever to
put on. We will need to increase our traffic control and we will also
need to add two more workers to help with garbage and recycling
throughout the town. Without the help of the Town with in kind
services for traffic control, the costs have increased.
iii. We are sending out sponsorship packages to local companies in Vail
area. This year we saw a decrease in sponsorships for all companies.
We are hopeful that there will be an upturn for the market.
iv. The weather can be a weakness and a strength and we found that
even on our rain days, the parking structure was full, though the
people did not stay as long as on nice days.
2) Event Budget and use of Allocated Funds
Please see the attached Budget for 2012. We utilized the CSE funding to support
the marketing efforts to draw more visitors to Vail. See the media we used below.
The salaries to coordinate this budget are also coordinated in the event.
3.) Marketing Efforts
The following efforts were made to promote the Vail Farmers’ Market and Art
Show. (Examples have been attached at the end of this presentation)
a. Vail Daily had six full page ads run weekly during the market season
b. The Summit Daily: Had 2 full page ads per week
c. The Aspen Times had 1 full page ad per week
d. The Glenwood Post had one full page ad per week
e. The Ft Collins Now had 1/3 page ad per week
f. The Greeley Tribune had 1/3 page ad per week
g. The Sky Hi Daily News had 1 full page ad per week
h. The Grand Junction Daily News had 1 full page ad per week
i. There were ten Mountain Radio Stations running ads during the Market
Season: (Per week ads)
1. KZYR – 8 plus one hour “Live at the Market” every Sunday morning
2. KRYSTAL- 17 Frisco
3. KSKE- 24 Vail
4. KQSE- 14 Gypsum
5. KTUN-19 Eagle
6. KNFO-21 Basalt
7. KKCH-19- Glenwood Springs
8. KCMV-9 Kremmling
9. 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.
l. Plum TV ran three 30-second ads every day this summer and one 2-minute
ad per week. The 2-minute ad will run all winter.
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.
o. The Vail Farmers Market & Art Show is one of the VLMD five Signature
Premier events on its Vail.com website.
p. 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.
q. The sponsorship from the Vail Daily/Colorado Mountain News Media
gave us $200,000 of in-kind advertising. Plum as a sponsor ran $14,000 of
advertising.
r. 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, We estimate
from our surveys there was 8,000 to 15,000 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;
23% are locals,
39% are in state, non-locals and
38% 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 this slow
summer.
b. We surveyed visitors of the Market five different Sundays. The results are
below:
1. Total surveyed: 148
Questions from Survey
1. Was the Vail Farmers’ Market and Art Show the reason you came to
Vail Village today? _ Yes NO
We had 115 say yes or part of their reason was the Market
We had 33 say no, but happy it was here- most were visiting from
other states.
1. What do you like most about the VFM?
42 said the many choices, size
68 said the entertainment and spending time outside
38 said the food and produce
2. Any comments or suggestions for improvement or changes at the Vail
Farmers Market?
93 said all is good
More kids activities (which we will do next year)
Specific comments:
“We love coming here for the day.”
“ This is amazing, we had so many choices!”
On a scale of 1-5, 5 being terrific how do you rate the VFM?
There were 129 fives, 11 fours, 7 threes and one 1.
6. On a scale of 1-5, 5 being definitely, do you plan to visit the VFM
again? We had 124 fives, 14, 4’s and 10 3’s
7. Salary Range: (question was optional, and we did receive answers)
13% $50K- $99K?
21% $100,000-$160,000
30% $161,000-320,000
29% $321,000-$520,000
7% Other or no comment
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. We have found that a Farmers’ Market is not a
typical event company’s sponsor. We are working on a sponsorship
package for 2012. We will be requesting funding from local companies.
We will continue to look for sponsorships.
The Media exposure we have had, we plan on continuing with our
funding. The exposure we have received has helped create a statewide and
local knowledge of the Market. The Vail Daily is going to work with us
this coming year and have a weekly article about our vendors. We will
start with the farmers and create stories about where they are from, their
history and their future. 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.
Social media is becoming a larger component of the market each year. We
will be growing with this avenue.
6.) Impact on Vail’s “Sense of Community”
The Vail Farmers’ Market and Art Show was started ten 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 129 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.
Conclusion
The 2011 Vail Farmers’ Market and Art Show brought in record crowds to Vail every
Sunday. This event has grown to be a support the businesses in town rely on. We thank
you for your support for 2011 and look forward to your support for 2012.