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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.