SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT OLD WALKERVILLE'S ART IN THE PARK. LOTS OF PEOPLE.
Some gave credit to the new wine tasting event but most said they came out this year because of all of the pre-hype over the past three weeks. One vendor said he had never sold as much in any of the nineteen years he's been attending the festival. Others were running seriously low on stock by the end of Saturday. Some had even gone home to pilfer more goods from their walls and basements to keep up with demand. There were 5000 more visitors over previous years. Eyeballing the traffic around Old Walkerville, the event seemed to be one of their best in attendance. Local garage sales were even sold out on the first day. By all counts (except for Transit Windsor, who recorded 3000 riders on Saturday and several hundred on Sunday) Old Walkerville's Art in the Park looked a huge success.
A week earlier, local media and bloggers reported extensively about Windsor citizen's intervention in the City strike. Frustrated residents took it upon themselves to cut the six acres of grass and clean the park up for this event. Next, CUPE announced that they would not picket the event. Perhaps their first positive PR initiative since the lock-out started. Last but not least, the weather was perfect on both days. Not too hot and no rain. There were more painting and print displays than in past years as well (33 in total). What really made this year's Art in the Park stand out from all others was indeed the attention it got from all forms of media in the past couple of weeks. None of it to do with advertising and promotion. All of it to do with the City's lock-out of it's inside and outside workers.
The lesson in all of this is not about the strike but about how weak advertising and promotion typically is for Windsor's core social events. Every year there is hardly any advertising until a couple of weeks prior and it usually consists of lawn signs placed in a few key intersections around town. The same holds true for other events like the Freedom Festival and ethnic events. Most Windsorites are unaware of these events until they are practically on top of us. This year even the repetition of "Art in the Park" stemming from less than good news about Windsor threw the event over the top. Imagine if the City of Windsor and the event organizers put a little more effort into promotions. Windsor would only be better for it.
3 comments:
A voice of reason! People don't understand how important advertising is and then complain when attendance is poor at their event. Ugh!
Yes, advertising is VERY important.
Well said M.O.M. Given the prevalence and ease of social media today, I'm often amazed that local events don't take full advantage of what's freely available. It's not the end all, be all, but it certainly helps expand your presence in the community. If you don't believe it, just ask Windsor Eats.
That said, kudos to this year's Emancipation Day Celebration. They've wholeheartedly embraced web 2.0 to their benefit. Their site features Facebook like networking and they have a robust presence on Facebook itself. I'm planning an interview with their President in the near future to explore the planning and prep they've done for their celebration, with an emphasis on their web efforts.
Post a Comment