Festival Evaluations

By all measurements and impressions, the 2004 Festival built on the strong foundation begun in 2003, and improved in every area. All agree that the strength of this Festival is its base in a small village that takes pride and ownership of the Festival. The volunteers and a good share of the musicians are Caspar folks. The audience is mostly drawn from the under-served and over-touristed residents of the Mendocino Coast. Visitors, many of them from afar, commented that they felt very much "at home," adding more than once that Caspar felt "authentic" and "friendly" where more touristy destinations along the coast did not. Our plans for 2005 are to improve the areas where we felt, and our informants confirmed, that improvement was possible -- in 2004 the food was much better, but it could be better still; the entertainment was varied, but it could be even more diverse. All agreed that the free outside stage brought a sense of delight and playfulness to the Marketplace. Vendors reported in almost every case that sales were much better than expected, and that the market was always busy but never crowded. We expect the Market to be bigger next year. The trick for us in 2005 and subsequent years will be to hold on to the flavor of localness and homeyness, despite inevitable growth. We are committed to doing that. If we can't, according to organizer Michael Potts, "We should just stop. We want this Festival to be fun for all, especially the musicians and volunteers. This Festival expresses Caspar -- funky, rural, intensely human. If we let the Festival get big and polished, it won't be ours any more." While we did solicit evaluations during the 2004 Festival, we guess people were having too much fun to fill them up. Therefore, the results from the 2003 evaluations are shown below. Responses to evaluations     The dark blue bars represent the average numerical rating of each of the prompts, with zero being "bad" and ten representing "perfect." Number of informants: 48. The lighter blue bars show the standard deviation -- a statistical measure of the agreement of the informants; narrower means more agreement. Magic is alive - Rebekkah Ekberg      Joyful, fun, colorful, paced well, seats comfortable - Becky Mikesell      "Great talent/music; beautiful weather and community. Joy - beauty - friends - community - dance - casual" - Tom Wodetski      Best: size, scale and location; quality and diversity of entertainment; nice people Worst: there wasn't! Thanks for the fine attention to all details. From start to finish this was a lovely experience. You took good care of us and we had fun! - Francy Vidal and Edmond Badoux      (performers, Chaskinakuy)      Liked best: overall friendliness. I came in the late afternoon on Sat. I helped out in the main bldg. and felt great about the music and about the Caspar folk. - Carole Bersani      Best: the energy, the sunshine, the fun atmosphere Great traffic, buyers bought, pleasant music - well organized and executed. Marketplace: great variety. Food: excellent! - Mary Stinson      Best: the good feeling that abounds I like hearing music and being in presence of musicians from different countries and hearing about their instruments. - Betty Barber      Best: the cultural diversity of the music. The festival was warm, welcoming, and informal. The guest artists generously shared the historical background of their music and isntruments. - Ellie Tatz, Houston, TX      Liked best: Manose Worst: no stage in the shul Great music but the best groups ( ex. Panacea) started too late in the pm. No dancing in the shul. - Fraeda Dubin      Best: the music, esp. the diversity Great sized event, great location (inc weather), great price - affordable - I camped - great great music - great variety. I particularly liked the Sufi music of the Erdemsels, Manose, Nuba, and Chaskinakuy - music I don't hear much in this 'ethnocentric" culture. - Jan Moore      Best: the music, the atmosphere, everything! Worst - playing at 11pm after Lark camp - too late. Loved the music and the audiences. Hope to see more jamming next year - Bon Singer ( performer: Panacea)      Best: the variety. Worst: can't think of anything... Glad the weather cooperated. Thank you for giving me a quiet place to recuperate. Loved the fact that this was right after Lark camp - such a pleasant way to slide back into reality (such as it is!) A microphone announcement of the concerts would be nice for those of us on the marketplace grounds. - Terry Allaway      Best- the environment, the variety of music. Worst: open stages didn't happen. Really enjoyed it all - felt relaxed and fun. A good time. - DJ Hamouris, Oakland (volunteer)      Best: Sufi singers. Gorse monster. Worst: Fiddle summit - intersting idea, but didn't jell. Good first year - hope it will grow. - John Brownson      Best: concerts. Worst: did not accomodate dancing during concerts. Great music, fantastic atmosphere. Wonderful weekend. Publicity: worked for me in Lake County. Picked up a newspaper insert thing in Willits. - Lorna      The whole concept is great! Need better attendance at the market, more food vendors. More outdoor music! More trash bins. Please keep the vendor fee low... Don't give up on this event – it's a great idea. - Terri Paulsen (vendor)      Good opportunites for music to happen! Beautiful weather/setting. Would like more wine and beer booths. - Cait Reed (performer)      Wonderful music and you took great care of us as performers. Worst: not enough of it! The perfect ending to Lark camp! Thank you for a wonderful experience. I'd like to especially thank you for providing The best pre-event package for performers I've ever had at a festival (letter, coupons, feedback, etc) great communication leading up to the event (emails). Food coupons (great food too) Great lodging (Jughandle) Massage for performers - Wow!!! - Pam Swan (performer)      Best: the freeform atmosphere. The first year holds promise. Staff and volunteers: Lack of visible structure may be its strength. - Joe Mickey      A very worthwhile weekend - Ralph Christensen      Best: The welcoming spirit and helpful staff ... it was great – a very friendly community supported event. As a performer I felt appreciated. Thanxs for having us! It was a very pleasant experience. Keep up the good work. - Erin M'Rabet      Just bellisimo!! - Moez M'Rabet      Caspar Community Center 15051 Caspar Road - box 84 Caspar, California 95420 707.964.4997 gather@CasparFest.org

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