After getting a little rest and absorbing a ton of helpful live, emailed, Facebooked and Tweeted feedback from attendees at our inaugural 4th of July celebration, we wanted to share our thoughts.
First and foremost, we’re extremely grateful and proud of the team of 35 employees and volunteers, as well as the fantastic food vendors, who worked their tails off to put on this event. Next, we were thrilled to have had such a diverse, enthusiastic and patient crowd celebrate Independence Day with us. We were prepared to host our biggest event yet, and planned for about 1,500 attendees (we had about 1,000 RSVP’s on Facebook). Apparently, we vastly underestimated Richmonders appetite for great live tunes, delicious food, tasty brews and fireworks, as about 5,000 people ended up attending. We were overwhelmed. The lines got really long. And the heat and humidity didn’t help. We did our best to keep the lines moving, and are now doing our best to learn from the experience.
The common theme of the feedback you provided was that a ton of people had a great time, but the lines were too long for beer and for food. Based on your input, here are 5 ways Brewdependence Day 2013 will be better:
- Standardized price for all beer: 1 token
- Centralized, much larger and better staffed token sales area extending between the two entrances
- More beer service areas (two bars flanking the parking lot, two beer trucks in the field, two bars inside, and five mobile single-keg service stations spread out in the field)
- More food trucks
- Entry fee or pre-sold tickets to control overcrowding
Thank you, RVA, for supporting local, for coming out to celebrate with us, for providing honest and constructive feedback, and for your thirst for great beer.
Cheers!