Decatur Book Festival Attendance Up Versus Last Year
Decatur Metro | September 8, 2009As anyone can guess, it’s notoriously difficult to estimate attendance levels at festivals that don’t employ ticketed entry. That said, Decatur Book Festival Executive Director Daren Wang predicts around a 15% increase vs. last year.
How’d the DBF powers-that-be come up with that number? Well…
The square was more crowded, there were more venues, the smaller venues were more full, the lines at the larger venues were longer and it was a lot harder to get through the crowds. I don’t think, however, that we had 80,000 people in town over the weekend. So the bottom line is we are estimating a 15% increase, but not putting an absolute number on it.
Sounds about right to me.
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From my observation, there were definitely more people. I was around a good part of the festival both Saturday and Sunday and saw very few empty seats at the venues. And remember there was an additional large venue at First Baptist Church that we didn’t have in years past. Will we add another large venue next year (DHS auditorium)?
Steve, you were definitely in a good position to get a feel for the raw numbers. I like the idea of the DHS auditorium. I also really enjoyed the experience at ASC’s Buttrick Hall on Friday afternoon and wish there were more workshop-like offerings that could keep that venue (or perhaps DHS on the weekend?) occupied. I suspect folks would be willing to pay for many of those.
Hey, Carl,
The issue with any venue at ASC for the mainstream events is distance/transportation. Realistically, it’s too far to walk from the Square and they’d have to work out an efficient shuttle or something.
It was probably do to twitter like everything else. There were a lot of mentions on twitter. People seemed to be having a great time.
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=decatur+book
Maybe I am confused (again), but how in the world is the ASC auditorium too far to walk to for an event?
Perhaps for elderly or infirm, yes, but would imagine vast majority could make the distance…what is it a mile or less?
ASC, although to you and me looks like a reasonable walk, would be too far for most people to want to go. The fact that it’s a good 10 or maybe 15 minute stroll, it’s not within sight, and one has to cross the railroad probably nixes it as a viable venue. If it were a good spot, it would have been used before now.
If you don’t believe me about the distance, you should have seen the Renfroe students who were walked over to the Square on Friday afternoon. They were tired and cranky and they’re younger than us.
As the parent of an RMS student, I can report that these students wake up tired and cranky, remain that way all day unless playing sports, shopping, or eating, and then go to bed tired and cranky. I hear that they brighten up for some dynamic teachers as well as perfect strangers, but haven’t seen that behavior in years. Nonetheless, the lack of being within sight and location across the tracks really does limit the usefulness of ASC for the Festival, except perhaps for the most popular of events which will draw people to any location. A shuttle would be imperative for those who either can’t make it physically across the tracks or fear for their lives in those crazy intersections. Crossing guards would be necessary too.
I think CSD facilities should definitely be used. Certainly CSD benefits every year from the wonderful Friday events that the Festival puts on for the schools. As a taxpayer, I’d like my school facilities used a little more for community events. I understand the need to be cautious with valuable school facilities but I think they are underused in a time of tight resources and getting the community into the schools more could be good PR for CSD. Both the high school and Glennwood are no further from the square than First Baptist is.
Yep. Good thoughtful post. ASC and the crossing to me is the biggest challenge to that space. Guess I am out of touch with walking. I walk around Emory campus all day so downtown to ASC seems like a easy (if unsafe) distance. Don’t think New Yorkers would think it was a very far walk.
Just us “suthners” who are are auto-centric. Surprised to hear us in Decatur think it is a long walk, though.
This is an interesting discussion that seems to be tying in multiple topics from the past week or so.
The first was the plea yesterday by “woodenspoon” about streetscape improvements to McDonough. Though I grant you that it is a bit of a haul down and up that hill, part of what makes people cranky about McDonough is that it really isn’t all that enjoyable to stroll down. (Oooh! More bus parking PLEASE!) However, even without the streetscape improvements (for now) this road has seen some decent transformation in recent years…from the DHS gym and auditorium to private development like the Village Vets and Relics & Rarities. And don’t forget about the Marble House. Botched restoration or not, it’s still a very interesting building…and probably one of the least known 100+ year homes in the city. Nothing can make up for some essential streetscape improvements on McDonough, but the recent construction activity primes it for rebirth.
The other was Daren’s mention last week about “dreams of DBF tents up and down McDonough”…all the more palatable if the street isn’t an industrial wasteland.
The third is the mention here of the DHS auditorium and gym. Funny, because I had the exact same conversation with a resident this weekend about how these could be great new locations for DBF events and serve as a midway point between the Square and ASC.
Though it is indeed a longish walk, believe it or not, it’s about the same distance (1/3 of a mile) from the Courthouse to First Baptist as it is from the Courthouse to ASC. It’s just that walking down Clairemont is more enjoyable (until you hit Commerce at least) then walking down McDonough. SAACJack is right, it’s not that far, it just feels far and the more improvements that happen along this corridor, the shorter the distance will feel.
One of the apparent side-effects of the auditorium/gym is the elimination of one lane in front of them, which is a good start. I think the ultimate streetscape plan is to narrow down the street anyway, perhaps with a planted median.
OK, DM, I decided to check you out using Google Earth:
From the Square to front door of First Baptist – .22 miles
From the Square to front door of Presser Hall at ASC – .43 miles
Almost twice as far.
Thanks Steve. That was sort of what I was thinking. Now from the corner of College/S. McDonough to the corner of Commerce/Clairemont might be the same distance, but you’ve got to figure the walk through the ASC campus as well.
Yeah, I think I only measured what Pete referenced above. Regardless, it’s still shorter than I would have guessed.