The Route 66 International Festival in Victorville, Calif., saw only about 5,000 visitors during the weekend — a disappointment for area businesses and organizers, reported the Victorville Daily Press.
Some of them blamed the above-100-degree heat for low attendance, while others criticized a lack of organization and marketing.
The festival attracted about 800 paid visitors Friday and 4,000 on Saturday at the San Bernardino County Fairgrounds, where a gourmet food-truck show, a classic car show, live entertainment and military vehicle exhibits took place, according to Vince Sapina, the festival’s media and PR chair. About 350 people attended a mixer and tours in Barstow on Thursday.
After the Daily Press ran an article in April stating that Sapina’s co-chair estimated 6,500 visitors and 40 vendors, Sapina asked for a correction saying he was expecting 30,000 attendees and 90 vendors.
It wasn’t all bad news. The California Route 66 Museum saw higher numbers during the event. The Green Tree Inn, the host hotel, also saw a 30 percent increase in overnight guests.
But the Ambassador Hotel in Victorville experienced a negligible impact in business. And vendors in the gourmet food-truck festival saw little to no profits, even after other food trucks booked for the event were canceled.
The newspaper’s report boiled down the problems for the festival:
- Hot, miserable weather.
- Unexpected changes with the organizers in March, which left them scrambling.
- Complaints about the lack of marketing.
I also suspect scheduling it near mid-August didn’t do the festival any favors. That’s a time when parents are getting children ready for school or college, so I suspect some prospective festival-goers begged off.
Also, a number of roadies didn’t go because California is a very long — and expensive — trip for them. The festival moves around among the eight states Route 66 passes through.
Organizers also had a hard time figuring out where the festival would be. Initially, the host city was announced as Santa Monica. Then it was Rancho Cucamonga. But organizers had difficulty finding economical lodging in both cities. Finally, they settled on Victorville. By then, critical weeks that could have been used for organizing had passed.
Early estimates of 30,000 to 50,000 visitors seemed far too optimistic. I knew attendance would be an issue when it was reported on the Route 66 yahoogroup in July that ticket sales for the annual Will Rogers Awards banquet were near historic lows.
Fact is, the festival attendance has trended lower in recent years since David Knudson of the National Historic Route 66 Federation stepped down as one of the key organizers. Before the 2012 festival was even over, organizers were discussing not having a event next year so they would have more time to put together a 2014 festival. That’s not a sure thing, however, and an International Route 66 Festival may happen next year anyway.
But it’s good to remember that the first very Route 66 festival in 1996 took place in a tent in the near-ghost town of Landegrin, Texas. The event kept growing, and topped out with more than 50,000 visitors in Springfield, Ill., in 2002 and 2003 — thanks in large part to the prodigious festival-organizing talents of Fred Puglia.
Towns located more in the middle of Route 66 probably should get higher priority as hosts, so more roadies can attend. And it should be scheduled from mid-June to early August, when most families can be together for vacation.
But Victorville also served notice that it may be time to scale down expectations, host it in smaller towns, and be aware of its humble and more-intimate beginnings. Small-town atmosphere is what many travelers revere about Route 66, so it may be time to consider that when organizing the annual festival.
UPDATE: 66-to-Cali owner Dan Rice in a phone interview said although the festival didn’t draw well because of the hot weather, the festival gained $48,000 in profit with $110,000 in revenue.
“We’re ecstatic,” Rice said. “I don’t think any state association has ever walked away with $50,000 after a festival.”
Rice also said the building that hosted the Route 66 authors and artists was “packed” throughout the weekend.
So, despite the terrible attendance because of the weather, the festival itself seemed to turn a handsome sum.
UPDATE2: Michael Wallis, author of “Route 66: The Mother Road” and a keynote speaker for the Will Rogers Awards bandquet, said the festival was the “best since Landegrin” — the first-ever festival.
UPDATE3: AmericaJr.com posted this story about the festival.
There is a reason that a trip to Victorville, summer or winter, is never a grand prize on game shows. As a testimony to the organizers abilities to overcome obstacles, and the drawing power of Route 66, I know for a fact that there were people in Victorville, on purpose, on a very hot day, from at least 12 countries and 21 states because of this event. Victorville and other communities along Route 66 might want to think about that as they scramble in search of a catalyst to spark improvement and development.
We attended and had a fun time. The three points the paper noted was a good summary. Marketing and communications seemed to be an issue. Even those of us that read Route 66 News and hang out on 66 forums were having trouble figuring out what the plans were. I can see why people with only a small interest in 66 did not attend.
In all it was still a lot of fun for us. Got to see some of our old friends from other parts of the country all gathered together in one place. Something we liked about Amarillo was that the host hotel had a main lobby / courtyard that everyone passed through. It was a great place to meet, greet and visit. Didn’t have as much of that with rooms that opened to the parking lot. Many people just went from their car to their rooms.
Have to give the team that took over late in the game and scrambled to make it happen a round of applause. They pulled off a really good festival regardless of the attendance.
Regarding scaling back; we did not see a need to attend both days. One day was plenty for us. Part of it was the heat but we had visited every booth and talked with all of our favorite people in just one day.
Looking forward to next year no matter where it is!