Business off the beaten path: Crowds escape from the cities to embrace some quirky festivals and fun
By Tricia Vita
Saturday, April 1 2006
Saturday, April 1 2006
Published on AllBusiness.com
It's spring in the Southwest and vendors are serving up ostrich burgers, deep-fried rattlesnake and good ol' fashioned strawberry shortcake at the biggest little spots you've never heard of.
Savvy carnival providers say the growth of megapolitan areas has helped build attendance at such quirky events as the Chandler Ostrich Festival in Arizona, the Freer Rattlesnake Round-Up and Poteet Strawberry Festival in Texas and the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival in California.
Danny Brown, co-owner of Brown's Amusements with his wife, Sherry, calls the Chandler Ostrich Festival "the biggest festival in Arizona and pretty famous in this part of the country." Brown's produced the 18th annual edition, held March 10-12, for the local chamber of commerce, with entertainment including Joan Jett, the Village People, the Little River Band and a Fiesta Day with Mexican bands.
The signature attraction is Hedrick Promotions' ostrich chariot races and the jockeys who ride the 7-foot-tall birds, sometimes bareback.
In 2003, the Browns helped this celebration of the area's history of ostrich ranching make the transition from a free downtown festival to a ticketed event ($5-$7, plus $5 parking) that now draws more than 100,000 to Chandler's new Tumbleweed Park.
This year, Brown's brought in 35 rides, including pieces from Butler Amusements, Davis Enterprises, Demas Enterprises, Kastl Amusements and Sun Valley Rides. A $69 advance-sale Family Fun Pack included admission and carnival passes for two adults and two kids.
Among the 150 food and merchandise vendors who came from throughout the Southwest and Southern California were purveyors of ostrich meat and carved emu eggs. "There's still room for new vendors. Every year we change them up," Danny Brown says.
The heart of Texas
Mary Bell of Fairplay Promotions in Hayward, Texas, notes that her Lone Star State has festivals celebrating just about everything: say, alligators (the Sept. 15-17 Texas Gatorfest in Anahuac), mosquitoes (the July 27-29 Great Texas Mosquito Festival in Clute) and shrimps (the June 2-4 Shrimporee, the 58th annual, in Aransas Pass).
"I don't think there's an animal, except the wolf, that doesn't have a festival," she says.
But Bell's vote for the biggest little spring spot anywhere is the April 7-9 Poteet Strawberry Festival. "It has grown from practically nothing, and it's just a little bitty town (pop. 3,305)," she says.
Attendance at the Poteet festival is 150,000-200,000, according to Gary Denton of San Antonio-based Alamo Attractions, which holds the ride contract. "It's the proximity
Savvy carnival providers say the growth of megapolitan areas has helped build attendance at such quirky events as the Chandler Ostrich Festival in Arizona, the Freer Rattlesnake Round-Up and Poteet Strawberry Festival in Texas and the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival in California.
Danny Brown, co-owner of Brown's Amusements with his wife, Sherry, calls the Chandler Ostrich Festival "the biggest festival in Arizona and pretty famous in this part of the country." Brown's produced the 18th annual edition, held March 10-12, for the local chamber of commerce, with entertainment including Joan Jett, the Village People, the Little River Band and a Fiesta Day with Mexican bands.
The signature attraction is Hedrick Promotions' ostrich chariot races and the jockeys who ride the 7-foot-tall birds, sometimes bareback.
In 2003, the Browns helped this celebration of the area's history of ostrich ranching make the transition from a free downtown festival to a ticketed event ($5-$7, plus $5 parking) that now draws more than 100,000 to Chandler's new Tumbleweed Park.
This year, Brown's brought in 35 rides, including pieces from Butler Amusements, Davis Enterprises, Demas Enterprises, Kastl Amusements and Sun Valley Rides. A $69 advance-sale Family Fun Pack included admission and carnival passes for two adults and two kids.
Among the 150 food and merchandise vendors who came from throughout the Southwest and Southern California were purveyors of ostrich meat and carved emu eggs. "There's still room for new vendors. Every year we change them up," Danny Brown says.
The heart of Texas
Mary Bell of Fairplay Promotions in Hayward, Texas, notes that her Lone Star State has festivals celebrating just about everything: say, alligators (the Sept. 15-17 Texas Gatorfest in Anahuac), mosquitoes (the July 27-29 Great Texas Mosquito Festival in Clute) and shrimps (the June 2-4 Shrimporee, the 58th annual, in Aransas Pass).
"I don't think there's an animal, except the wolf, that doesn't have a festival," she says.
But Bell's vote for the biggest little spring spot anywhere is the April 7-9 Poteet Strawberry Festival. "It has grown from practically nothing, and it's just a little bitty town (pop. 3,305)," she says.
Attendance at the Poteet festival is 150,000-200,000, according to Gary Denton of San Antonio-based Alamo Attractions, which holds the ride contract. "It's the proximity
