Live music, goods for sale, the first taste of sunshine in the air...what could be better than a spring festival in your city or community? Though these events are fun to attend and may sound fairly easy to plan, a festival in any season can be a difficult challenge. Follow these tips to make sure your spring festival is as wonderful as it can be.
Instructions
Plan Your Event - Date, Time, Place, Marketing and Funding
1. Set a date. The first step in planning any festival is to set a date--and stick with it. Spring festivals can be tricky, especially if held outdoors, since the weather can be unpredictable. Whether you're having an indoor or outdoor festival, consult calendars of other events in your area (check in newspapers and with your Chamber of Commerce), weather reports, and the availability of the site you'd like. When you're sure of the date, set the date and the time, allowing room in the morning and evening for setup and cleanup.
2. Create a detailed plan outline for your fair. This should include the major areas of site selection and preparation; marketing and advertising; sponsorships and funding sources; participants; volunteer organization; equipment needs; and a plan for setup, execution and cleanup. Each area of your outline should include a list of things to do, a timetable for accomplishment and a column showing who will be responsible for that task.
3. Select and prepare your site. This occurs immediately after your selection of the date and time. Where will your fair be held? Make sure the property is available by checking with the owner or management company. Reserve the date (as well as the day before and the day after, to be safe) with the owner or company. Next, ensure you obtain any necessary permits, licenses or other legal documents necessary for the execution of a festival. This can include ABC permits for the sale of alcohol, musical performance permits, fire department inspector permits, food inspector permits, and others. You can find out more by contacting your local town, city or county offices, or your local health department.
4. Begin marketing and advertising at least six months in advance of the festival. Check with wider, regional publications first, as they are more likely to have earlier deadlines. Then make sure you know the deadlines for your local papers, radio stations, magazines, and internet sources. Online networking sites, like "Facebook" and "MySpace," can be beneficial and inexpensive marketing tools, and your local chamber of commerce, government offices, and neighborhood associations can be good resources for where and advertise locally. Plan to announce your call for participants (musicians, vendors, or other people involved in presenting at the fair) at least three months ahead of time. The key to any successful marketing campaign is a set-in-stone logo, simple and easy to identify, as well as three or four lines of vital information that can be used on every document you create. Place your logo on forms, postcards, flyers, ads, banners, merchandise and anywhere else you're advertising your event.
5. Find funding. Sponsorship and funding sources should be clarified within the first month of planning. How much money will you need for your fair? Consider marketing and advertising costs, including printing; costs for permits; costs for renting the site; equipment rental or purchase; and the purchase of supplies. Overestimate everything you'll need, as there are always hidden costs in an event of any size. Then, decide whether you need event sponsors, private funding or grants to obtain that amount. Many local organizations offer small grants to event planners, and private funding from yourself or someone you know is always an option. If you feel you'll need sponsors, decide how you'll repay their sponsorship (logo advertisement, merchandise and banners) and make sure to contact them by at least four months from the event date.
Bring on the Fun Part - Participants, Volunteers, Equipment and the Big Day!
6. Create forms for participating vendors or musicians using a word processing or graphic design program. Make sure to ask for all their contact information, a sample or description of their work, a clear statement of application fees, and any insurance or liability waivers required by the site. Some events must be covered by event insurance, which can be found from local associations. Begin advertising for participants early, and have a set deadline for their applications. Know how many vendors or performers you can safely accomodate, and how much you'll need to charge to make a profit on the event. Keep track of all applications and make contact with the participants as you receive them to follow up with information about the fair. Email lists work very well for this.
7. Organize and recruit volunteers to help with planning and to carry off the fair--setting up, cleaning up, and helping out while the big day is going on. Volunteers can also be used to market and advertise by placing flyers, doing internet and word-of-mouth advertising, and contacting papers and magazines with press releases and requests for features. Volunteers will be an essential part of every event, so make sure you've done all you can to reward them--arrange a free lunch, offer them a t-shirt or other merchandise, or give free admission tickets to them for friends and family. You can find volunteers through local advertisements, or by contacting university and secondary schools, who often maintain lists of volunteer opportunties for students.
8. Prioritize your equipment and rental needs. Equipment can be a stumbling block for many future event planners. Outdoor events can require tents, which are expensive to rent but prevent the event from being canceled in case of bad weather, and portable stages, which may be hard to come by. You may want to provide tables, chairs, booth spaces, trash cans, recycling bins, portable toilets, electrical access for food vendors, or other equipment. Identify every item you'll need before you advertise, and begin acquiring equipment immediately. If you have a budget to work with, you may choose to rent the equipment from a party rental source--most regions have at least one or two stores serving them, which you can find using a simple Internet search. You can also ask to borrow or rent at low cost from church or student groups, neighborhood associations, chambers of commerce, universities, and other local sources. Make sure you have a crew of volunteers who can pick up and return equipment the week surrounding your event.
9. Check your lists and plans. Last-minute checks of everything should begin at least one week in advance. You'll be responsible for making sure everyone you delegated responsibilities to has completed their tasks, and you'll be required to vouch for the permits and paperwork necessary to make sure the whole thing goes off without a hitch.
10. Enjoy yourself and relax. The most important thing you can do is to enjoy the big day. Every event is bound to see a few mistakes during the day--but it's important to remember that you can't make everything perfect. Remember to sleep well the night before, eat a good meal or two during the event, and thank everyone who's helped make the spring festival go perfectly! Thank-you cards to all participating vendors, musicians, inspectors, permitters, sponsors, funding sources, and volunteers are a good idea. And when it's over, get ready to plan one for the summer, fall or winter.
