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Enhancing the Music Festival Experience.

Andy Robertson

In an effort to differentiate the music festival experience from the competition many organisers have added extra attractions to their events in order to spice things up a bit. What is involved in getting these additional attractions organised and what is currently proving popular.


Music festivals can be very similar, especially when the same artists rotate around a plethora of summer festivals and although 2021 is slightly different due to tickets being rolled over form 2020 the future festival scene could start getting competitive. Some festival organisers have started enhancing the festival-goers experience by adding more attractions over and above just the music.

Fairground Attractions. 
There are plenty of fairground ride suppliers with rides for hire from high thrill adrenalin type rides to more sedate Ferris Wheels and Roundabouts. What is selected will very much depend on the target audience and age group of the typical festival-goer. Most companies offer a complete installation and operating service giving peace of mind to festival organisers but it's worth checking any health and safety aspects along with certification and their insurance should anything go wrong. Fairground rides are increasing in popularity at music festivals and can be a welcome distraction from the non-stop music.  

Wellbeing Services. 
These services may include massage and other therapies providing a chill out experience for festival-goers and have always been popular at music festivals. For organisers it may mean adding a wellbeing category to vendors saving them the effort of organising this themselves.

Arts and Crafts.  
As with dedicated wellbeing areas organisers can allocate vendors for the provision of arts and crafts but it helps if the experience can be more immersive than just the sales of art and crafts. More effort will be required from organisers to carefully select suitable vendors and the possibility of working with non-profits too. These areas are always popular for festival that welcome children who are often less interested in the music.

What's New? 
There have been developments in technology that allow for additional attractions including the ever popular ‘silent disco’ that can prove popular in the early hours when live performances stop and festival-goers are keen to continue the party without disturbing those sleeping. Other new attractions on the horizon could be gaming zones and virtual reality simulator experiences or even a dedicated area for extreme sport participation.

However an organiser chooses to enhance their music festival the core attraction will always be the music and the artist line up secured along with great organisation and infrastructure. Festivals are becoming much more professional in their organisation and adding something new is really going to help set them apart from competing festivals. For organisers that are unsure which direction to go in they can always trial new attractions and review customer feedback post event to help determine future strategy.

For any event organiser planning their festival using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their festival logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors guestlists and ticketing.

Photo by Lloyd Freeman from Pexels

Andy Robertson
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