Best festival last weekend?

[Cats Cats Cats]

The beer should have been 3.2 or its illegal unless the area is 21 and over.

[davideinstein]

Thanks for telling everybody what it is really like owning a store downtown.  Lots of people think that if its open and downtown that it has to work or the owner is just doing something horribly wrong.  You are doing things right and its going but it would be better with more support from people who love downtown.  But it isn't all sunshine and rainbows downtown like so many on here want to believe. I think the downtown stores are a great place to get unique gifts for birthday and christmas.  Everybody needs to shop downtown for their gifts so stores can thrive.  Get more inventory, move to larger buildings, etc.

Mayfest hurts sales for sure for us as well. But it's a cornerstone of history in Downtown so you deal with it.

[davideinstein]

Mayfest has become more than just Mayfest. And I think that's a good thing. Three festivals, Bedlam baseball and thousands walking around hurts no one in the long run.

[TheAnsonia]

We went to all three festivals this weekend. I thought all seemed to be a raging success. We spent Friday and Saturday at BDAF and Mayfest and Sunday at all three.

Mayfest - probably catered least to my group IMO. We walked around a bit (and bought some artwork from John Bramblitt that is just stunning), but the bands and beer prices weren't for us. We looked for some bars to hang out in and enjoy the Mayfest crowds, but the only one that was available was Daily Grill (and the booze there is just as pricey). Buying tickets is also a pain and deterrent. On Friday night, we gave up on the food vendors and went to White Flag for a delicious Selma Hayek burger.

BDAF - we liked a bit of the wares at this festival and got a few things over here as well (less art, more goods like t-shirts, jewelry). The food trucks are fun, but our faves always seemed to be out of food or had a line out the wazoo. We ended up sitting outside at Rusty Crane instead. 

HopJam - I foresee this festival getting better with time. They definitely seemed overwhelmed by the response in the beer zone. We never even went inside because the lines were so long, and the area was so cramped. The bands we saw were all fantastic, and the crowd for the show was a great mix of all ages. We were there for all the bands except Hanson. (We tried to stay for a few songs but couldn't hear the music over the girls singing along. )We spent most of the day bouncing between sitting on the patio at Bar 46 and watching the bands with some more moderately priced 3.2+ beer from Bar 46.

Overall, I would definitely attend all three festivals again next year. I'd like to see Mayfest direct more of a budget toward some bigger name bands in the future to draw more of a crowd, but that's just where my group's particular priorities lie. A lot of people I know are under the impression that Mayfest is more for the older set and skip over it when making plans.

[sgrizzle]

Overall, I would definitely attend all three festivals again next year. I'd like to see Mayfest direct more of a budget toward some bigger name bands in the future to draw more of a crowd, but that's just where my group's particular priorities lie. A lot of people I know are under the impression that Mayfest is more for the older set and skip over it when making plans.

FYI, the headline bands for the last 2 years have been aimed squarely at people in their 20's. All new/up & coming national acts.

That being said, Mayfest is on an incredibly small budget. The Center of the universe festival gets much better artists but they have 3x the budget. Mayfest has a higher attendance and open longer so it has much higher overhead. Not counting providing all of the infrastructure for the artist and vendors, the kidzone with kids activities and giveaways, galleries for different classes of artists with cash awards, etc. So only a small percentage is available to pay the musicians. Imagine how small the budget is, then divide by about half. Mayfest does a lot with a tiny amount of cash. Also keep in mind that DTU used to run Mayfest, and the festival kept going when that organization and it's people and money went away.

As far as the tickets, it is a bit of a pain, but overall most people are fine with it and at the end of the festival you can be comfortable knowing that sales taxes are paid on your purchases and that vendor didn't just get in their truck and drive back to Missouri or Louisiana with 100% of their profits.

[Conan71]

FYI, the headline bands for the last 2 years have been aimed squarely at people in their 20's. All new/up & coming national acts.

That being said, Mayfest is on an incredibly small budget. The Center of the universe festival gets much better artists but they have 3x the budget. Mayfest has a higher attendance and open longer so it has much higher overhead. Not counting providing all of the infrastructure for the artist and vendors, the kidzone with kids activities and giveaways, galleries for different classes of artists with cash awards, etc. So only a small percentage is available to pay the musicians. Imagine how small the budget is, then divide by about half. Mayfest does a lot with a tiny amount of cash. Also keep in mind that DTU used to run Mayfest, and the festival kept going when that organization and it's people and money went away.

As far as the tickets, it is a bit of a pain, but overall most people are fine with it and at the end of the festival you can be comfortable knowing that sales taxes are paid on your purchases and that vendor didn't just get in their truck and drive back to Missouri or Louisiana with 100% of their profits.

Do the artists with higher end pieces have to be paid with tickets or do they take cards or cash?

I recall in the early 1990’s they brought in a guy that had a bigger vision for Mayfest.  They moved it down to the Brady District and had many big name music acts, a couple we saw were Ray Charles and Chuck Berry.  People complained that the festival kind of lost it’s soul due to it being directed into more of a music festival than an arts festival.  A little Googling reveals this:

Mayfest had been relocated from the Main Mall to the Brady area in 1991 and ’92, a move that upset downtown merchants who relied on Mayfest crowds for a large part of their business. The festival was expanded from five days to 10 in 1992, and there was even talk of charging people for admission, but the idea was discarded.

And the director, Al Kraizer, was accused of trying to give Miller beer, a major sponsor of the festival, a monopoly on beer sales. He had ordered tents and heavy equipment — first a beer truck, later a forklift and a cherry picker — to be parked in front of two businesses that were selling cans of Budweiser to festival-goers.

Kraizer said he was just trying to protect Mayfest patrons by discouraging unauthorized sales of beer.

The businesses, a caterer and a dinner theater, asked a district judge for an injunction against Kraizer. The dispute was settled out of court with the barricades removed and the business owners dropping their suit.

IIRC, Kraizer moved to Tulsa to take the directorship and he was seen as somewhat of an interloper.  I’m glad it moved back to the Main Mall area and resumed it’s original purpose.

[AquaMan]

I remember that well. Kraiser was a dictator, not a director. But that is when it started to lose, as you say, "its original purpose" imo. Beer and fair food became its most notable raison d'tre. It has never regained that original flavor of a small, offbeat diversion for downtown workers and likely never will. BD comes close but more resembles a small town garage sale. (ducking the bricks and stones....). I love it, but it is what it is.

[sgrizzle]

Do the artists with higher end pieces have to be paid with tickets or do they take cards or cash?

I recall in the early 1990’s they brought in a guy that had a bigger vision for Mayfest.  They moved it down to the Brady District and had many big name music acts, a couple we saw were Ray Charles and Chuck Berry.  People complained that the festival kind of lost it’s soul due to it being directed into more of a music festival than an arts festival.  A little Googling reveals this:

IIRC, Kraizer moved to Tulsa to take the directorship and he was seen as somewhat of an interloper.  I’m glad it moved back to the Main Mall area and resumed it’s original purpose.

Everyone I know involved in those years shows PTSD signs when asked about it.

[DTowner]

As I recall, when the BDAF started the Blue Dome consisted of only a few bars and restaurants.  Makes sense that they would try to piggy back onto Mayfest to bring some attention to what was a new neighborhood.  Now that the Blue Dome and the BDAF have grown and matured significantly from those early days, it could probably stand on its own, but I don’t really see why it should break up its productive relationship with Mayfest.

I doubt there are many people who are drawn downtown by Mayfest only to get captured by BDAF instead.  The overlapping events help make downtown the place to be that weekend and, as a result, it is most likely beneficial to both.

I find the “art” for the targeted markets at each festival to be quite different and I doubt one festival takes many merchandise sales from the other.

[Conan71]

As I recall, when the BDAF started the Blue Dome consisted of only a few bars and restaurants.  Makes sense that they would try to piggy back onto Mayfest to bring some attention to what was a new neighborhood.  Now that the Blue Dome and the BDAF have grown and matured significantly from those early days, it could probably stand on its own, but I don’t really see why it should break up its productive relationship with Mayfest.

I doubt there are many people who are drawn downtown by Mayfest only to get captured by BDAF instead.  The overlapping events help make downtown the place to be that weekend and, as a result, it is most likely beneficial to both.

I find the “art” for the targeted markets at each festival to be quite different and I doubt one festival takes many merchandise sales from the other.

That’s been more or less my opinion on it, they have different appeal.  I guess one could argue that there may be patrons who bypass Mayfest completely who might go if BDAF were on a different weekend.

[RecycleMichael]

I recall in the early 1990’s they brought in a guy that had a bigger vision for Mayfest.  They moved it down to the Brady District and had many big name music acts, a couple we saw were Ray Charles and Chuck Berry.  People complained that the festival kind of lost it’s soul due to it being directed into more of a music festival than an arts festival. 

The year was 1990. I was volunteer chair that year. It was the first time I really volunteered for more than a beer booth shift or two.

We did everything wrong that year. First of all, we moved a successful art festival to a new venue for the sole reason to add big stages and make the main stage a ticketed act each night. Moving killed the booth artists. It turned out that most of patrons were downtown business people who liked buying and taking right to the office. People didn't want to walk around with expensive art or go put it in the car in what was then not the safest neighborhood. Going from a free festival to a ticketed festival each night also didn't pay off. People just stood outside the fence.

Secondly, we made the festival ten days long. It turns out that people only go to Mayfest once and we were hoping people would hang out every night. We doubled our crowds, but the crowd size each day was dramatically lower. The weekends were great, but nobody was around during the week. As volunteer chair, I had to fill way more shifts than I had volunteers. I begged every one I knew to work double shifts. I will owe favors till death for it.

Finally, Al Kraizer was a piece of work. Parking a truck in front of a restaurant was a dick move, and he thought he was in charge of everything.  He also hired a bunch of friends to work as street performers. One I particularly remember was a guy who break-danced to a boom box in the middle of intersections. Al gave the guy a hotel room for ten days and way too much money to do something already out-of-style and not very artsy.

[sauerkraut]

Fort Worth, Texas has a Mayfest the first week of May along the banks of the Trinity River. It's one of the best Mayfest events I ever been to. A radio & TV station do a tug of war across the Trinity River, I dunno if they still do that or not. I have never been to Tulsa's Mayfest.

[Townsend]

Fort Worth, Texas has a Mayfest the first week of May along the banks of the Trinity River. It's one of the best Mayfest events I ever been to. A radio & TV station do a tug of war across the Trinity River, I dunno if they still do that or not. I have never been to Tulsa's Mayfest.

[TheAnsonia]

FYI, the headline bands for the last 2 years have been aimed squarely at people in their 20's. All new/up & coming national acts.

That being said, Mayfest is on an incredibly small budget. The Center of the universe festival gets much better artists but they have 3x the budget. Mayfest has a higher attendance and open longer so it has much higher overhead. Not counting providing all of the infrastructure for the artist and vendors, the kidzone with kids activities and giveaways, galleries for different classes of artists with cash awards, etc. So only a small percentage is available to pay the musicians. Imagine how small the budget is, then divide by about half. Mayfest does a lot with a tiny amount of cash. Also keep in mind that DTU used to run Mayfest, and the festival kept going when that organization and it's people and money went away.

I absolutely understand the budget is very small. I also would not want the music to overtake the "original purpose" of the festival. That being said, I would respectfully disagree with the statement that the headliners the past couple years have been up-and-comers. To wit, my classmates and I listened to Bob Schneider in high school and college about 10-15 years ago. I like Bob Schneider, but he's no up-and-coming, new act. Another example from this year's festival, Black Joe Lewis, was a big hit a several years ago - maybe 5-6? - at SXSW. The rest of the bands on the Williams Stage were locals from what I watched. Don't get me wrong, I personally like the headliners; I'm just saying that it's hard to bring in new/younger people or any kind of new audience if you don't have at least one slightly more attention-grabbing name. If Mayfest doesn't have the objective to grow in size at all, then this approach works great. Having attended the festival my whole life, it seems as though the attendance and luster of it just isn't quite what it used to be.

I'm also biased against the whole opening 5th and Main to traffic again though, so maybe my memories are slightly more lustrous because of my missing the gigantic fountain area in the square. 

As far as the tickets, it is a bit of a pain, but overall most people are fine with it and at the end of the festival you can be comfortable knowing that sales taxes are paid on your purchases and that vendor didn't just get in their truck and drive back to Missouri or Louisiana with 100% of their profits.

The big ticket items aren't purchased with tickets (artwork, pottery, etc.), so I'm not convinced of the sales tax argument. Everyone I know thinks the tickets are a huge pain and will go elsewhere to get drinks/food to avoid the overpriced hassle. Again, just my anecdotal experience over many years of attendance.

[hello]

What struck me though is now that I have spent more time in other cities around the world, what I saw during Mayfest/Blue Dome, the busy streets, the vendors and food, music, etc. would just be another average day.  What we saw this past weekend shouldn't be anything special, it should be the way downtown is most days… except busier with more people  and on more streets than just a few.

Could not agree more. In the past two months I’ve been to OKC and Fayetteville and both just seem to blow Tulsa out of the water.   OKC had much more interesting boutique shopping in walkable areas (such as Plenty Mercantile) and Fayetteville had a farmers market on just a normal Saturday that was far superior to any in Tulsa, as much as I hate to say it.  Tulsa is definitely moving in the right direction but it seems to flatter itself with comparisons to Austin and Portland, OKC, etc imo and not realize just how far behind those cities it is.