I am a vendor at the Pumpkinfest and I have to say that even with the rain my sales were great. Friday night was of course, as it always is, very slow. After 9 yrs of doing this show I am still trying to figure out why they have Friday included but that is neither here nor there. Saturday was very good even with the constant rain. The crowd was pretty thick at times and I know we had at least 3 tour buses come in. Sunday, on the other hand, was extremely thin as to the number of people that were there, but I know alot of the people that I spoke with that were in from other areas said they would be leaving early on Sunday morning since the weather was supposed to be pretty crappy. And Sundays are always slower than Saturday but this was more than usual.
And for anybody out there that was at the festival, I would love to thank you for supporting such a wonderful event. It is one of my favorite shows to do and I hope that it continues.
I would like to throw this out for a bit of feedback just to see what some of your thoughts are......
First of all, don't get me wrong and think I am trying to start trouble but I would just like see what you think. I loved the fact that there were as many vendors as there were because it is great to see the park full rather than just a few of spaces filled, however, I heard quite a few people say that there was an over abundance of "flea market" type vendors and that it would have been nicer to see more actual craft vendors.....thoughts on that?
Secondly, I understand the whole "Ghost Lake" thing is to be haunting and scare people.....however....I feel that when it comes to the fact that the Pumpkinfest is actually more of a family event then the "scare" antics should be held off until after the Pumpkinfest activities are closed for the evening. I witnessed several disturbing acts of this scare tactics that went on Friday and Saturday night which actually resulted in the people that were there to enjoy the festival being run off by the "freaks" with the makeup and props. Several women were offended by the fact that one of these characters would not keep his hands off them even after being told to do so and several other family groups with small children that were obviously scared by these people coming at them with some of their props. ANY thoughts on this???
Last....I would just like to say, and I want to be clear that I am not one of these people, but I would like to apologize for the vendors that were so rude and packed up yesterday and left before the show was over. My thoughts on that are that it is an outside show, you know that when you sign your contract, and you should be prepared to be there whatever the weather brings your way!! The public is coming to the event, umbrellas in hand, with the impression that there is X amount of vendors and they should not have to walk around vehicles packing up in the middle of the event or walkways just because the vendor doesn't want to sit in the rain any longer.
Ok...now that I got all that off my chest...Thanks to anyone that braved the weather and supported the 2011 Pumkinfest and I am sure the committee would like to hear comments and suggestions for the future.
