Ticket Prices

[Khaalis]

I am a long time Sterling goer and while I might have some issues with the current management style and some of the decisions that have been made (such as cast having to pay for water), I do hope that faire continues to do well as I'd hate to see it close. What I think Sir Douglas needs to remember though is that Sterling isn't going to be a large cash-cow. At least not for a while. Too many people that live in Upstate NY don't even know the faire exists. So getting a large 5K person gate draw a day is NOT going to be easy without rebuilding the name recognition for the faire. He also needs to realize that the season passes are a bit too steep. These patrons are your bread and butter and also a part of the "cast" that pays to be at faire. Without the plaitrons the faire looses a lot of its "feel" as these plaitrons fill out that living village feel of the faire. As it stands the season pass only saves you the cost of 2 days. For people who are giving life to the faire and spending large amounts of money on food and drink over the course of the season, they should get some better discount on season passes.

I also hope Sterling never ever goes to food tickets. Even the local Rochester Chef's Week learned that mistake and reverted this year back to standard cash pricing.

I do however, applaud the improvements to stages, seating, etc.

[ALS]

As it stands the season pass only saves you the cost of 2 days.

How so? By my math 14 days at $24.95 comes to $349.30. A season pass is $204.95. $349.30 minus $204.95 gives a total savings of $144.35 or 5.7 days when $144.35 is divided by the daily rate of $24.95.

[Khaalis]

As it stands the season pass only saves you the cost of 2 days.

How so? By my math 14 days at $24.95 comes to $349.30. A season pass is $204.95. $349.30 minus $204.95 gives a total savings of $144.35 or 5.7 days when $144.35 is divided by the daily rate of $24.95.

Hmm.. then the prices went down from their original posting. The fiance and I did the math a few months back before we pre-ordered our tickets. When we first saw the Season Pass it would have only saves us roughly $50, not $145. I'll have to double check with her because I think she wrote it down someplace.  I'm glad it went down though. For us it still wasn't cost efficient as we are only going 6 days of the 14 days its open.

[irish]

In all fairness......Sterling did open on July 4th,  holiday weekend. Most people enjoyed family gatherings. It may of been rare, to have a picnic with people you haven't seen in awhile.
Then again..some do look into what the weather man says, before coming to faire, or going any place for that matter. It is a 'normal' thing to do.
Faire has been open for what three weeks? Give it a chance before a judgement is made on attendance.
When the "Harbor Fest" is on the end of the month, you undoubtedly will see a low attendance also.
Ticket prices I think are about in the same range of other faires. Maybe a buck or two higher. All I know is, I get what I pay for!!!
irish

edit: As far as hurting the vendors......I saw a few 'large' purchaes made. Garments, leather goods, candles, etc...... I know a few of the vendors and they had nothing to complain about. I am sure if they did, they would not of returned this year or SirDouglas would of heard about it!! LOL! 

[Lord Finger]

Sterling is the most expensive faire in the country.

PARF is most expensive in my experience. $29.95 for a single day adult admission + $1.00 convenience charge for ordering online, whereas Sterling offers online tickets at a discount. (http://www.parenfaire.com/buytickets_general.html)

As for attendance this year, I don't know the numbers so I'm not going to comment. All I can do is bring myself and promote the Faire as best I can by word of mouth, which will add several 1st-time visitors this year. The rest is up to Sir Douglas, a responsibility I do not envy.

[ALS]

Buy one, get one half price sale would readily be appreciated by attendees...

Uhh as a former vendor at Sterling who left because prior management was using season long buy one get one as its only advertising, I will point out that it changed to client type radically, hurt vendors tremendously yielding a total of nearly 15 leaving from '04 to '07 seasons because of pathetic earnings ( not breaking even managing to break even year after year ), closed concessions booths due to poor sales and nearly closed the place out ( if Mr.Waterbury hadn't bought it, the place would not have opened that year. It was over! ). A once a season thing is one thing but making a habit of it is not beneficial to vendors or concessions due to the change it brings about in client makeup and therefore not beneficial to the show.

Former management did tremedous damage to the show and its reputation, starting with putting the place up for sale on ebay a number of years back. This garnered statewide attention on the news and when the place didn't sell ALOT of people thought the place had closed ( I just talked to some one last week who though exactly this and have had this discussion dozens and dozens of times over the years since the ebay auction ) and as management spent next to nothing on advertising in the ensuing years turnout and therefore revenue continued to spriral down. From what I have seen/read Mr.Waterbury has spent HUGE green on not just reviving the place but making it bigger and better ( flying acts in from Florida struck me as a particularly big committment to try and bring the place back ). Ownership is not a charity, its a business. Ultimately it will come down to wheather people find it more convienient and cost effective to pay $25.00 for a show in thier back yard or to drive to another state and pay $20.00 or $22.00, plus room and board , to go there.

The parking lot was only 1/3 full the last time I went

That would make it an improvement over our last two years there, '04 and '05 when it never got over half. Sounds like things are picking up, in this economy thats doing something.

[Khaalis]

edit: As far as hurting the vendors......I saw a few 'large' purchaes made. Garments, leather goods, candles, etc...... I know a few of the vendors and they had nothing to complain about. I am sure if they did, they would not of returned this year or SirDouglas would of heard about it!! LOL! 

Interesting. I too know a number of the vendors and business has not been good. Most of the vendors I know haven't even broken even yet to pay for their booth fees, and many even had to dip into personal savings accounts just to make payroll. Some of these vendors are ones that normally do a bang-up business because what they sell is easy to purchase (low price) and usable elsewhere than faire (i.e. not garb, etc.). This also includes that many of the "children" attractions are not doing well either.

As for attendance, I think it is an unfortunate combination of the economy, ticket prices, food/drink pricing, and low awareness of the faire (I meet people regularly here in Rochester that don't even know the faire exists). What we may consider as worth the money for a day's entertainment may not be seen the same by your typical family. Most of the tourists aren't "into" faire like we are. Its a curiosity to them. If a typical family pays roughly $65-$80 to get in the gate and then has to shill out another $40+ for food and drinks (probably much more than this)... they may not have the same feeling of "worthwhile" that a Rennie does, especially since I have noticed that only about 20-30% of the danes last till the end of the day, most of the crowds start thinning out around 5 after many having not gotten there till noon.  The other problem with the higher prices is that it drives many danes away, even those who truly enjoy the faire. I've had a number of dane friends I know that like to go to faire at least a few times per season say they will only go one day this year because of the price / economy (cost of gas, etc.).

What they really need to do is revive an interest in the faire. That is going to take more than 1 or 2 seasons of advertising unfortunately. As the previous poster states, a lot of damage was done that needs to be rectified before the faire will be "healthy" again.

I just have to hope things will change in the future and that we make it through this season without losing half the vendors (who have many other gripes aside from lack of gate count), or with Sir Douglas deciding its a money losing venture and closing the doors, like so many other faires have recently.  We have already lost 1 vendor this season who pulled out mid-week last week because they took such a big loss (not to mention the other issues they had). I fear they won't be the only ones. We've seen it happen in the past.

[ALS]

We have already lost 1 vendor this season who pulled out mid-week last week because they took such a big loss (not to mention the other issues they had). I fear they won't be the only ones. We've seen it happen in the past.

This unfortunatley is pretty much a function of this joke of an economy of ours. We have been strictly internet since leaving the faire and this is by far the worst I have seen it in the esales world since we went online on 2003. I'm hearing the same from folks running a variety of small business's I know both electronic and storefront the sales have dropped dramatically. The news is a steady tream of bad, its scary to heard and we react accordingly, hanging on to our money " just in case ". I think your assement of the situation overall in your post sums it up pretty well.

[irish]

Darien Lake ~    Adults $25.99 Children $21.99 Family of Four $95.96

SeaBreeze ~     Adults $23.99  Children $19.99 Family of Four $87.96

Sterling Faire ~  Adults $24.95 Children $14.95 Family of Four $79.80

All three offer free admission for certain ages. Any place you go, there will be gas prices, which are lower than last year,  parking fee for some, thruway tolls and food costs. Bring a picnic to enjoy if funds are low. Buy a few food choices to add to the 'basket'. We always do.   That way you are supporting the vendors.
Save ahead for what you may want as a souvenir. One piece will bring back happy memories. You don't have to go broke.  
As far as vendor booth fees, they KNOW it is a chance they take by setting up any place. The economy has hit more people then at faire. Most Warwick visitors, do not plan on buying anything more than what is needed. It is a sad state of affairs but it is all so true.  I try to get a 'token' each time I go to faire. I really can't afford it, but I want them to know, I appreciate them and then I have an added memory of my visit!
That's all I have to say........


I already KNOW what I said, so you don't have to quote me....lmao!!  

[MMario]

...I have visited the Sterling Faire twice this season. 

Which two days were those?  We've really only had ONE sunny day so far out of the four.  The other three have all been cloudy and dark until after noon.  (until mid afternoon on two of those three)

[ALS]

Quoting in forums is a common practice to keep comments in context. With the likelyhood that some one else may chime in while you typing thus comming into sequence ahead of you, your comment would them seem odd as the context of it in relationshsip to the post its intended to respond to is lost.

[ALS]

Quoting in forums is a common practice to keep comments in context. With the likelyhood that some one else may chime in while you typing thus comming into sequence ahead of you, your comment would them seem odd as the context of it in relationshsip to the post its intended to respond to is lost.

As evidenced by what just happened while I was typing the above response.

[franco]

While I can sympathize with those who struggle to come up with the admission prices, I must say that the Sterling Festival is giving patrons an experience that is beyond quantification in dollar terms, and gives patrons the biggest return in terms of entertainment value than anything else I can think of, including other Renaissance festivals.

There are far less professional faires that charge almost as much, and you will continually be solicited for tips by performers everywhere, which creates another barrier between patrons and performers that suppresses the atmosphere for everyone. The actors at most other faires are not even close to BTM Players in their abilities, demeanor and professionalism - in short the quality is far higher at the Sterling festival than almost any other faire in the country. Certainly at other faires there are some very talented actors but there is not enough consistency in the entire cast to create the atmosphere that Sterling does day after day. The vendors are also top notch no dreck is sold at Sterling unlike some other faires.


Some of you who live nearby and haven't seen other faires don't know how good you have it. When you walk out the gate at the end of the day, look at the hundreds of actors, variety artists, and musicians, all of whom are paid (and not exorbitantly either) and ask what would you cut out, what would you compromise in quality to bring ticket prices down?

I also agree with ALS that lowering ticket prices is not a panacea for a faire especially for vendors.  It's like saying Mercedes should lower their prices to sell more cars. You are living near perhaps the very best Ren Faire in the country. Enjoy it and tell your friends!

[irish]

OMG! Was I just scolded???  
I know about the quoting and the little warning that may come up when you post.......it was a joke...lmao!!  

[ALS]

Not at all, I got the impression from your post that my quoting had somehow offended you and I just wanted to make clear why I was doing it to avoid possibly upsetting you further. I apparently mistook the tone of you post and appologize for the confussion.