Early in February we were fortunate to have a visit from west coast clients which we will be assisting through MacKay Marketing with their amazing Tequila, Aroma as they seek to find national distribution.
Dreamland Amusements paid its annual visit to St. Mary's GA performing for the Kings Bay Village Merchant's Association the last week of February. St. Mary's is a wonderful community and is one that we always look forward to visiting early each year.
February is typically a very busy month finalizing planning the years summer events and when fall events begin their planning as well. Its also a great month to begin bargain hunting since many acts already have much of their summers booked and are now looking to fill in "holes" in their schedules. These "holes" can come at a bargain to events who find themselves route-able for the act. You of course may not find you get exactly what you had hoped for but certainly you can find something in the genre of what you were looking for.
Tommy Sears of Hole in the Wall Farm has been spending the winter at the Naples Zoo & Caribbean Gardens in Florida offering camel rides to zoo patrons. Hole in the Wall Farm is a non profit animal rescue that also offers horse drawn wagons, Renaissance jousting tournaments, petting zoos, live nativity scenes and more. Tommy was very excited with the opportunity to meet Jack Hanna who was on hand at the zoo for a gala benefit. Jack commented on the lovely well behaved camels from Hole in the Wall.
Here are a few of the amazing entertainers and an example of some of the routing that they would be able to help you make a deal on:
Chuckwagon Mac - Tales of the Old West - mid June in the southeastern U.S. and early July in the southeastern U.S. or mid Atlantic. Also dates available in the northeast for early September and mid October.
Accipiter Enterprises - Birds of Prey - early and mid June in the southeastern U.S. Early August and Labor Day weekend in the New England. October routing from the New England to the Southeast
Anastasini Circus - routing in Mid July from the Southeast to the Midwest.
Adam Burck's Tigers - Routing in mid August into New England
B&C Ranch - Elephants, Camels and Horses - openings in June routing into the Midwest.
Close Encounters Lions & Tigers - openings in mid July from the west into the northeast
Horses, Horses, Horses - openings in June for the east coast
Flying Pages Trapeze - late June and early July heading into the Northeast
Vicenta Pages - Tigers - late May to Early July open heading into the Northeast. Early to mid August in the Northeast.
Brian Franzen - Tigers & Elephants - Early May open and late September to beginning of October heading into the Northeast.
Galaxy Girl - Daredevil and Motorcycle show - good availability in June. Mid July to Early August in the mid-west. Last week of August heading into New England. Late September into October in the Southwest heading to the Southeast.
The Magic of Lance Gifford - mid July to 1st week of August in New England. Mid September heading from New England to the southeast. Late October in the southeast. Some spring dates also available on the east coast.
Magically Medieval - Early July heading from the south east to New England. Late July to early August heading from New England into the south east.
Hot Dog Pig Races - 1st and 2nd weekends of August in the Northeast and weekend of September 18 & 19th open in the Northeast.
Nerger's Tigers - Early to mid August heading from the Midwest to New England
Mutts Gone Nuts - Late August heading from Pennsylvania to Ohio. Mid to late September heading from Ohio toward the Northeast or mid Atlantic.
Johnny Peers and the Muttville Comix - early May heading from the southeast to the northeast. mid May in the Northeast. And September after Labor Day in the Northeast
The Great Little Bear Show - early June into early July heading from the northeast to the Midwest. September in the Northeast.
Rosaire-Zoppe Chimps - various spring dates in the Southeast. July heading to the Northeast as well as late August.
Monsters of Classic Rock - various dates
The Flying Wallendas - has dates available in July into mid August heading from the Midwest into New England.
This is just a sampling, once you have a budget and date in mind give us a call for a proposal! And of course with music acts most of everything is a one night stand so it is quite impossible to list the various possibilities here.
As always, we would like to give some tips to put on an amazing event your committee will be proud of. In the last couple of years many smaller to mid size fairs and festival have lost their midway operators for various reasons. Some of those reasons include consolidation of smaller midway operators, to shortened season due to work visas for the experienced foreign work force. Also the high cost of operating has also caused the demise of many businesses, from insurance costs, to fuel costs, to permitting and inspections costs. The loss of a midway can be devastating to an event, not only does it put a large hole into the layout of the grounds, it is also lost revenue for the event, and a loss to the community who comes to the event especially to the teens and families who look forward to this activity. A lot of time and energy is spent by the committee trying to find a new midway operator and more and more often they are finding this isn't possible, there is sometimes the option of renting a few rides.
I believe at a certain point the event has to turn the negative into a positive and just think of the loss of a midway as an opportunity to be creative. Some of the possibilities would include turning the open space into a new vendor area, a car show, or a new entertainment area. Some events are choosing to theme their event even making the theming process into a marketing opportunity for some early media exposure for the event. Turning the event into more of a music festival, a Renaissance Faire, a wild west event, maybe a little Americana. Choosing a theme would give you the possibility of appealing to a new audience and a fresh start. The best thing to remember all is not lost, fair and festival goers still have a lot to look forward to, with the food, vendors and entertainment. It will be a re-building process and a challenge but in the end will make you a stronger committee.
Please call upon us anytime to help you make your celebration complete!
Congratulations to Terry Sylvester for being inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame, class of 2010 with The Hollies. Terry is also currently booking!
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