What a spectacular Deep Roots Festival weekend this year. And where to begin with so many measures of success?
The energy: Wolfville was vibrant and incredibly alive all weekend. The weather was fantastic, and the streets were full of new and familiar faces. Attending or participating in Deep Roots wasn’t even a requirement to feel the excitement and energy that Festival was bringing to our part of the Valley!
Donations: Over $1,000 was raised for the food bank at the Rise up Singing Show on Sunday morning, plus a whole carload of food. More than double the amount in cash and food compared to last year! Also, almost $300 was raised for Stanfest through the donation towers we had set up! A big thank you to all who donated in any way.
Programming: Feedback on programming was very positive. People liked the diversity of musicians on stage and we had several sold out shows. Workshops were well received, and the Fresh Beats Parade reported the largest attendance ever!
Ticket sales and audience: Festival pass sales were the highest since Deep Roots Festival began (11 years and counting). Not only were shows sold out, 90% of tickets overall were sold. Ticket revenue was about $10,000 more than anticipated and that is just so darn exciting!
All the free events/workshops were well attended. Survey feedback indicates we had visitors from almost every province in Canada, from numerous states in the US, and from Europe. How fantastic is that!
This year’s Festival involved some substantive changes: the food venue was moved to the curling rink, the Festival Club was expanded, some ticket prices were lowered, and the Sunday afternoon concert was “beefed up.” All these changes went smoothly and we think helped in creating one of our most successful festivals to date. Thanks again to one and all …