It is over... the 9th Annual Northern California Blues Festival is in the can. And if you missed it, I am sorry... it was an event that shall never be the same again.
The biggest risk we took this year was turning a one day event into two days. And if you are not familiar with event planning... two days means a whole new host of variables that need to be tackled. Questions like... if you build it WILL they come? Because you are not only creating a longer event, you need you attendees to pay more for more days. Will they? Well... the question was undeniably answered for us... they DID!
While Saturday's attendance during the day was less than last year due to the 105 degree weather, the attendance by Saturday evening to watch Elvin Bishop was easily at 2500+.
Sunday's attendance for Maria Muldaur and the rest of the first ever Sunday Line-up was incredible at 1500.
But there was more than just the attendance. This year we had 35 craft vendors, 9 food vendors, two beer stations, and for the first time ever... Margaritas from Tequila 374.
And then there were the cars... incredible hotrods brought together by the Capital City Cruisers... six trophies were handed out to the winners including the Best of Show (confession here... I don't have the name of the winner but I get it for you).
The line-up of music for Tuesday was truly special... from Equinox to Elvin Bishop, from the Delta Wires to Steve Foster, from Lee Bootz to Mighty Mike Schermer (he's shorter than I thought)... it was a one day line-up any festival would be proud of.
If you want to purchase EXCLUSIVE live MP3's of the festival you can get them at http://www.jasonhaxton.com/ncbf.
Sunday started out with a wonderful pancake breakfast sponsored by the Orangevale Grange. Very tasty! The proceeds from the breakfast benefitted their scholarship fund and they are excited about doing it again next year!
Then the Sunday line-up went along with great aplomb... Jeff Watson, Strictly for Kicks, Sacramento Blues Review, Mick Martin and his new Blues Rockers and the ever so talented Maria Muldaur.
Reminder --- EXCLUSIVE live MP3's of the festival @ http://www.jasonhaxton.com/ncbf.
;-)
Maria was very gracious and sat around for at least 30 minutes signing autographs. Then the crews came in and we had the complete park back to its pre-festival beauty by 11pm that night.
If you would like to be on our email list for the upcoming festivals that I am doing under the banner of CreativeCATS presents, please go to www.matsonian.com and enter you email in the box on the left. We use Constant Contact so you can be assured of no spam.
Keep it real my friend and we will see ya at the next event.
By the way... a blatant plug here... we plan all our events using QuickPlanner Plus which you can get for only $34.95 at www.QuickPlannerPlus.com it is truly the best planning software for creating quick administrative plans. I should know... I designed it! ;-)
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Matson "Matsonian" Breakey
SAVE THE DATE - UPCOMING EVENTS!!!!
SUDS ON THE GREEN - Sacramento
Like Golf? Love Beer? Don't Play... Just Drink!
September 13, 2008
William Land Park, Sacramento, CA
www.SudsOnTheGreen.com
FAIR OAKS'TOBERFEST
An Octoberfest for BrewFest Lovers, by BrewFest Lovers!
September 27, 2008
Fair Oaks Park, Fair Oaks, CA
www.fairoaksbrewfest.com
SUDS ON THE GREEN - East Bay
October 18, 2008
Fremont, CA
www.SudsOnTheGreen.com/eastbay
CHILI COOKOFF & MUSIC FESTIVAL
October 4-5, 2008
Old Sacramento, CA
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