[Harp-L] Harmonica Festivals vs Railroader Festivals

[Warren Bee <spahpublicity@xxxxxxxxx>]

Mark,

Believe me I see your frustration but once again you are doing the apples
and oranges thing. I would love to see how many people the railroad event
folks could bring in with a thousand dollar budget for promo. Get the "real"
numbers together and then we can have an intelligent conversation about
this. I would also venture to guess that the ratio of attendees to "true
friendships created" at these events would be interesting to see.
22,000 heads in one place is all about crowds, lots of observation and
spending money. 400-500 harmonica heads in one place is about community and
participation and improving personal skills. Most money spend other than on
food and beverage is for more harp stuff with the great vendors we have
attending. You don't see a lot of commercial crap being pushed at a harp
festival. Again, my guess, but with 22k attending the vultures are out there
with vacuum hoses aimed at the 22k wallets!

Apples and oranges my friend. I would also like to investigate the Railroad
deal more at your suggestion. Can't pull up the website with your link? One
more guess is that it is a volunteer organization with a PAID outsourced
outfit that takes care of the "heavy lifting" and provides the big bucks up
front for promotion.

Not trying to fan flames. Just want to keep everything real and in
perspective.

wb

-- 
Warren "Bee" Bachman
SPAH Publicity Director
631-521-0472
www.spah.org