Better Than Crabs

This post may or may not actually be controversial but I am close friends with some | of the | organizers of Buskerfest. Following will be my “outside” look at some of the things I overheard regarding Buskerfest and some things that might help out. Okay who we kidding I’m just going to start ranting.

To start off I tried promoting not only Buskerfest but blogelation as well on a local news site’s forum by just posting a comment as “blogelation” that said there were local bloggers giving a different view of the current Buskerfest activities happening and if they wanted updated pictures and opinions of the event they could check them out. The next three posts on the forum were in regards to my comment and they were the only ones that actually made reference to it:

Posted by Buskerfest sucks. 2:21:22 PM
Buskerfest is when a bunch of retarded trolls decide to sit around Queenstown and shove flaming coals into their asses. I am not impressed.

Posted by anonymous 2:25:55 PM
Buskerfest wasn’t worth the time I spent walking down Queen. Get out of our city.

Posted by anonymous 2:26:55 PM
Yes but Buskerfest is supposed to eventually draw 10,000 visitors to the Sault every year–yeah, right. BAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!

As you can see, these are three posts put up pretty much one after the other (this could lead us to believe it’s the same person but we will pretend for now that it’s possibly three individuals). Taking this as the “majority” (as they were the only to comment — yes usually there’s a silent majority and it’s the complainers who are the loudest but just run with me here) the organizers may want to look at possible ways of changing the general public’s view of what Buskerfest is. Based on the comments above it looks like it will take a lot of work to do this as well. Talking with people who did take in the shows the majority did seem to like what they were viewing but the task is trying to get those who won’t go to see the event and just dismiss it as “retarded trolls with flaming coals” to change their mind — how do you do this I’m not sure but if it’s the general mindset of people maybe more diversification of the “general” busker is needed. I also notice most news coverage (photos in the newspaper etc) are usually of the guys eating fire or blowing a burst of flame — if this is what they usually see they aren’t privy to the other acts out there, such as the USA Break Dancers or the Coralies (acrobats). I’ll also admit that seeing one guy eat fire you’ve mostly “seen them all” — ie: if you have one busker in the lineup who eats fire the other 3 guys in the lineup probably shouldn’t do that as one of their “acts” as the audience will grow stale to it. I know “fire eating” is probably a busker stand-by but maybe it’s time for them to also realize that every other busker is doing it — same with basic juggling etc.

The next step is to target a wider market. The majority of people seen on the street during this event seemed to be parents with their kids. This probably is a good demographic to grab as they do have the income and knowledge that they should pay the busker after the performance but seeing as Buskerfest is supposed to be an event put on by the Sault Youth Council or to raise awareness of the Sault Youth Council where are all the “Sault youths”? Where are the teens and twenty somethings? Why are they not coming down to check out the festivities that are Buskerfest? Mind you the majority of them are probably sitting in their parent’s basement with other friends complaining that there is nothing to do but how do you get them out of the basement and down to Queen St. letting them know that yes, there is something to do.

This follows into my next point of advertising. I know the volunteer committee was running thin this year and a couple of people were wearing a lot of hats that others should have taken care of. The people who did organize did a fine job and all the buskers seemed to love it here as well as the audience who caught the shows but I think there could have been more of an audience. This is mainly based on quesitons I received while standing on Queen St. at the festivies, one gentleman approached me and asked what was going on, I informed him that it was Buskerfest and he had no idea that it was going on again. He remembered it from previous years but saw no ads regarding it this year. The week leading up to the event I did see some placards placed on key street corners etc but the date — which is probably one of the key elements — was hard to read as you were driving by, you needed to be stopped in front of the sign to see it. I also had a couple of people ask me what was going on and I informed them that it was Buskerfest and they asked if this is the first time it’s been here. I would then go on to explain that this was its third year running and they would reply by stating that they never heard anything of it before. So the possibility of advertising a couple of weeks to a month in advanced should probably be looked at for next year. Another idea is possibly getting a banner to hang across Queen St. on the square that Buskerfest will be performed. The costs and logistics of this I’m not sure but Queen St. is a major road and if a banner was put up two weeks in advance leading into the event I think people would see it and know that it’s approaching, they’d also know where it’s happening because it’ll be where that banner is.

Not really related to Buskerfest itself but why are the business on Queen St. and mainly those in the square that Buskerfest is taking place not opened during show times?Ã? You would think as a way to get new customers into the store they would be open simply because of the walk by traffic happening.Ã? I know Loplops was open (they were a sponsor and the busker headquarters) but I heard many different people walk by and into the place stating they’ve never seen it before.Ã? I also heard people leaving commenting on the drinks and the art saying they were glad they stopped in and they’d definitely to go back.Ã? The fact Steve was smart enough to have his establishment opened to the public probably gave him clientele that he wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

These were just a few ideas/issues that I’d like to raise to hopefully better an already great festival in the Sault. I know the buskers like coming here because of the reception they receive and I know the audience who does take it in generally like what they are seeing. I also know that the organization committee for the event usually is pretty thin and needs any help that they can get; maybe a couple of months before the event they could try to promote the need for volunteers to help assist with different aspects of the event. Another possibility is going to the local high schools before they get let out for the summer as community service is part of their curriculum now and maybe some of them would find it a good learning experience to see how an event of this magnitude is put together — prospective business students could get some marketing experience etc. I think if you approach people and sort of say “if you help us, it’ll help you” they’ll be more than willing to help out.

I seem to be very opinionated the last couple of days. Maybe I should start writing editorials.

Possible Related Posts:

• Blogelation: A Mini Update
• Blogelation: Buskerfest Day Two Part Four - Fire
• Blogelation: Buskerfest Recap In Photos

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