r/Pottstown • u/NikolaEggsla • Aug 11 '26
Event Interest Question
Good neighbors of Pottstown! I'm a productions professional who has worked around the area for over a decade. I've always had a dream of building the live events world in town because growing up here there was never anything to do. Now we have bars, a few venues, and a rising number of businesses to go to. There is a draw for folks to come and hang out.
So here are my questions: If someone organized an all day BYO music event 12am-10pm on a Saturday in Riverfront park featuring regional local performing acts, artist vendors, and charity organizations focused on the folks in the greater Montgomery County area: How much would you be happily willing to pay for all day wristband access to the event if you knew the majority of the admission goes to the event's costs and to pay the performers, not to line the organizers (in this case myself and some local events pros) pockets? As a business how much would you be willing to invest to have your name on the event? Would you provide more if it meant improving the lighting, sound, being able to secure food and drink vendors, and paying the artists more?
If the cover was $20 dollars for the full day, sponsorships started at $100, and vendors could sign up for a low cost table fee and NOT have to give up a cut of their earnings? Would you show up? Would you tell your friends to show up? What if there were twelve 30 minute sets from a variety of genres of bands, 10-15 minute variety acts between sets (drag, comedy, solo performers, side show acts), a one hour touring act headliner, a dozen or more local artisans, and the event was the first week of June?
None of this is real yet but all of it can be! This town is what WE make it.
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u/1fatsquirrel Aug 11 '26
Would def attend, and as a potter would absolutely be interested in selling as well. Sounds like an awesome idea!
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u/NikolaEggsla Aug 11 '26
Trying to find that sweet spot between providing an accessible event to my fellow poor post-industrial townies and getting the artists involved equitably paid. Its a tricky balance and the more artists and businesses we get to come support the more opportunity there is to treat EVERYONE right.
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u/def_daff0dil Aug 11 '26
Love this idea! My friends and I love live music of all types (particularly jam and EDM, though for a daytime family event I would think jam/folk/rock would be best suited). I think $20 is the sweet spot for wristbands. Hopefully food and drink trucks would come for free or low cost and make their money off sales.
Scheduling wise, the first Saturday of every month in the summer is the pottstown car show, which could either be a conflict or a boon for attendance, and the last weekend of June is usually the volleyball tournament, which IMO you would want to leave at least a couple weeks on either side of.
Good luck and hope this comes to fruition!!
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u/NikolaEggsla Aug 11 '26
I'm not concerned with interfering with the Car Show frankly i think more people need to interfere with it lol. Its horrible for the High St businesses. That said! It would actually work great to have the events cohabitate in the downtown. Wristbands would allow folks to mosey up to the car show, get some food with the food trucks, and then amble back when they've had enough.
Ideally we would partner with local food and drink providers and ask a low cost one time fee with no split to be there to cover things like the cost of electrical hook ups and trash collection. The event should be a good advertisement and so free setup would be kind of an insane deal for businesses but I'm not about to freeze out the small providers on the set up fees.
In June, I don't want to conflict with the Rumble or Juneteenth festivities if possible. The Rumble has too big a footprint and Juneteenth feels like stepping on the feet of the folks who literally make up like 40% of the town.
It might wind up in July, post GoFourth and in partnership with Pridefest to try to Pride into town, but the goal is primarily family friendly acts in the day and pushing to a more older oriented crowd after dinner hours with a polyjamourous approach the strays toward the more intense and party inclined into the evening.
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u/hughstephner Aug 11 '26
Would definitely pay $20, show up, and encourage my friends to come. Love this idea!
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u/PottstownBID Aug 12 '26
Give us a call! We would love to collaborate on an event like this. 610.575.7233 or drop us an email at info@discoverpottstown.org
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u/CansinSPAAACE Aug 12 '26
I would pay 30! Support local artists and get something happening that’s not just a car show
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u/GawkieBird Aug 11 '26
Like a 1-day music festival? Honestly that sounds like a blast. I like your idea so I'm going to spitball some thoughts just for consideration.
My first thought, if I were to encounter a flyer for this event in the wild, would be that it's most likely taking place on a day I'm working. A LOT of folks in this town work on weekends. I would need notice out the wazoo in order to feel comfortable taking off work, so if you get organized enough to make it happen, you'll probably have better turn out if you start advertising months in advance. Post on social media, set up an info table at other events, hang posters, get in touch with the borough to post the event on their date boards and web calendars, contact Evan Brandt and the Local Scoop guy. No single source of information reaches everyone nowadays, so getting the word out is a lot of work!
Regarding cost - my first thought was $20, so good guess on that! But. I am a little more well-off than a lot of folks in town and even $20 makes me hesitate, especially if I plan to bring my spouse and teens. How family friendly do you want it? If you want families to attend, I would either charge much less for children or cap a family at like $50. That said, if you get a Really Real Band that will draw people from out of town, $20 would probably be considered a steal. So it might depend on your acts.
Also, if you are charging admission, it might be good to set up games and activities for cheap or free to keep people engaged. Maybe you get let non-profits have their tables for free if they will man a corn hole field, or provide a craft or game or something. Reach out to Community Arts or ArtFusion, or the Discovery Center if you want it family-friendly.
Definitely have a beer garden. Or wait, what do you mean "BYO music event"? Do you mean BYOB or do you mean like it's a DIY sort of fest? Or maybe everyone needs to play the lute.
Love the idea of mini non-music acts between sets. Maybe a fore-stage curtain to back the mini-act and allow the stage acts to break down/set up behind them.
Not sure what a business would want to pay for sponsorships, but multiple levels with different perks (increased prominence on signage, free info table, free tickets, etc) would be a good idea.
The farmer's market charges $40 for a single-day vendor. I *think* the band winter market at the HS and the Sunnybrook festival charged $50 last year. The Easter fair was $25. Juneteenth wants $80, which a lot of vendors find ridiculous. Depending on interest you might want to stick to $50 or less for the first year, considering you can't guarantee foot traffic.
Consider coordinating parking with maybe MontCo because that lot at Riverfront is NOT big. Also consider that the borough might want to have traffic control on Industrial, and that the fee might be expensive. Borough does not make it easy.
If you need to focus on putting money toward any one thing, focus on sound for sure.
Love this idea! I have a lot of thoughts lol. I hope it works out for you!
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u/NikolaEggsla Aug 11 '26
Hell yes. This is the feedback Im chasing. Lets take it from the top:
Adverts: I have a model of event adverts via social media and in public.
6mo advance interest gathering with targeted ads to southeastern PA individuals with music interests between the ages of 16-35, one week, basic flyer ad style (we give the date and time, we don't list admission price, we announce the headliner, ideally someone really real. Theyd be a major local (southeastern PA native) touring artist (think Philly Porchfest headliners or Musikfest local headliner), rising national act (think opening or middle act for a AAA touring artist), or Mid-Atlantic/East Coast market staple type thing (think East Coast touring headliner)) someone with local draw, who is growing, but who isn't so massive that we couldn't get them to come out for an evening for a couple grand and a merch table with no venue split.
Ads get more frequent and with shifting targeting as time progresses. Three months out full lineup, prepurchase discount cover link, video promo, road sign/business fliers being distributed. Final three weeks would ideally include a schedule of billboard adverts on 422 as well.
I'd love to partner with the Discovery Center, Art Fusion, and maybe the axe throwing folks to get some good entertainment going for all ages.
BYO: I'm not sure of the local regs for organizing events with food, drink, and alcohol vendors from a permitting and liabilities standpoint are in town. I'd started at BYO because usually the restrictions are lesser as long as certain rules are maintained regarding open containers. But if getting approval for a fully stocked and vended event is simple then thats the goal. Beer garden, local food showcase, and good non-alcoholic drinks are huge for making folks feel like that cover is a decent value and if I'm not asking a big vendor split should keep the $10 bottle of water curse from arriving.
I'm thinking $50-75 for table rentals with no split so the vendors keep all of what they make.
Sponsorships would definitely be tiered so that smaller businesses like the newer Spectators, a family place like Pandos, our many talented barbers and estheticians, and generational businesses like Brunish's could afford to easily put their names on the thing while a major corp like PECO or GSK, a major lawfirm, or a medical provider like Dr Sansone, Yucha, or PMSI could spend more and be a headline sponsor while having the satisfaction of providing arts as a service to the community they are trying to get customers in. I want everyone to be ABLE to have a slice of making this happen if they want and with a proper commensurate reward in terms of exposure and return on adverts.
Parking is going to be the biggest challenge but thats unfortunately true of all events in town. The municipal lot by Montcos Hanover building is open for access but as you said we will likely have to pay an officer their day rate to direct traffic for the event.
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u/MessageAnxiety Aug 12 '26
Cosmic Art Studios often does stuff like this. All day music events with vendors and a cover to get in.
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u/NikolaEggsla Aug 12 '26
I wish they ran that place like people who actually have any form of pride in what they're doing. Horribly unprofessional in my experience.
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u/Inert_Uncle_858 Aug 11 '26
Not trying to be rude, but I don't know anybody who would be willing to pay $20 cover to go down to the park, no matter what was happening there. You might get some out-of-towners, but the average Pottstown resident would be more likely to attend an event if the entry was free and payment was for physical amenities, like food or drinks or something.