Cerritos Ukulele Festival 2011?

So after a couple days of rest I'm able to post. As already mentioned, there was a decent crowd, considering the lack of promotion. I suspect that it was mostly people close to the organization like performers with their friends and families and workshop instructors and students and their friends and families. To steal a phrase from the pyramid marketing industry, a "warm market" if you will. The venue doesn't really lend itself to passers-by traffic, so there was little if any casual outside-of-the-community visitors... which, as an enthusiastic uke fan, I would have liked to see more of. The Muzeo seemed to be a great place for holding workshops. The building is the old public library for the city of anaheim, so it has a nice education-y feel conducive to study. Definitely more upscale feel to the workshops than those rec center rooms at Cerritos. Vendor and food was a bit lacking tho. As a food vendor after a limited amount of visitors dollars, I was happy to see only me and one other food vendor (and a third, if you count cookies as food); however, as a visitor, I would have liked to see a bit more variety. As it was, my neighbor, North Shore Catering probably could have handled the entire event, I've seen them at other events, they have a huge variety of Hawaiian stuffs, from plate lunches to shave ice, and they do a good job too... Heck, they even have musubis (mine are better tho ). The biggest issue was that the food was shoved into the corner (for health department compliance reasons) so we didn't get much traffic and worse, I couldn't really hear any of the performances. The event was supposed go till 9pm, but that was really only because they had performances scheduled till 8. In actuality, people started being scarce once the workshops concluded... And some vendors started tearing down really early and leaving by 6. The last couple hours I was just sitting around eating leftover musubis and playing with myself ( figuratively and literally with my spongebob uke). I waited till the bitter end to tear down. I went slowly because i tried to be mindful of the residents of the mixed use buildings nearby... That is until the Disneyland fireworks started... I didn't realize how close we were to "the happiest place on earth"... With THAT racket going, I could make as much noise as I wanted. A long day for me 6am to 10pm... I probably made a hundred bux after expenses. Not really worth it in terms of amount of work and time involved, but I always knew I was there more in support of the festival. I still remember how sad I was having only the choice of nachos to eat at last year's event.

Oh well, still had fun. Met ricdoug! I was hoping he would take me up on my free Musubi with performance offer, but, he didn't... Saw that he came back for more musubis tho! Always a good sign, when customers come back for seconds and thirds. Actually, I saw a bunch of familiar faces. That's fun.

I think it would be cool if they have it at the Muzeo again (assuming it doesn't go away completely). Once they get the kinks worked out, it should be world class.

Three food booths for 1,500 people, you must have done well and had long lines.

Jinny,

You would have been one of the reasons I was going to head down there. However, after getting the initial scouting report from someone that played at 10:30 I decided to pass. I know that there were limited choices in food last year and it sounds like it was worse this year. Plus, I knew that MGM wouldn't be there selling his ukes.

I give the organizers credit for putting on the event no matter how much it has fallen by the wayside. No one else is stepping up to do an alternative event so I guess this is what it will be like from now on.

It makes San Diego look like the place to be for those in So. Cal.

jinny said:

Oh well, still had fun. Met ricdoug! I was hoping he would take me up on my free Musubi with performance offer, but, he didn't...

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Shootz, braddah Jinny.

I read your offer wrong. I always make purchases from vendors at these events and would have performed for free! I thought you were using that Roland Mobile Cube for your own performances. You must have missed my solo at the cookie stand. I bought their sampler pack, too. Shade was an issue. Some of audience members were sitting behind the stage under the awnings and the rest were cramped into the shady patch to the far right in front of the stage. It left me plenty of room to take video in the center where a lot of the chairs were empty. Later in the afternoon i was shooting video from my SportBrella Chair on the mezzanine to the left of the stage. I never saw long lines more than 5 or 6 at the food vendors, but always saw at least one or two in line. There were a lot of breakout jams in the walkway just to the left of the workshops, where 2 to 5 at a time would jam together. I saw a lot of people I know. It was a constantly rotating crowd. Many can't take more than a couple of hours in the still heat. They're already talking about using that green tennis court mesh fabric for shade, putting entertainment on both ends of the vendors and running the workshops later in the day to create more vendor traffic. Lori's Uke Leash area always had customers there, too. Ric

Ronnie Aloha said:

I give the organizers credit for putting on the event no matter how much it has fallen by the wayside. No one else is stepping up to do an alternative event so I guess this is what it will be like from now on.

It makes San Diego look like the place to be for those in So. Cal.

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My friend Uncle Roddy has been increasing ukulele involvement at his events http://www.hawaiiuncleroddy.com/ , Ronnie. The Huntington Beach ukulele crowd is working on a ukulele picnic event. There's a ukulele retreat this weekend:

Dear Ukulele Fans,

As you already know we were not able to go to Camp Morning Star on September 20 because an oil tanker haad spilled on the road. It has taken a full week to get the spill cleand up and now the road is open again.

We now have OCTOBER 18, 2011 as the day we may go to the Camp and use the lodge for our Ukulele Retreat.


The Loma Linda Ukulele Strummers are inviting other clubs to join us on our Camp Morning Star one day Retreat. New date is OCTOBER 18, 2011. Please let us know about how many will be coming. This is our third annual retreat at the camp!
CAMP MORNING STAR
42727 Hiway # 38
Angeles Oaks, California
9:00 am to 3:00 pm in the Lodge
No admission fee!!!

Please bring your own lunch, music stand, music, your ukulele, a friend and a jacket in case it is cool. There will be times for individual performances! It will be very informal and lots of fun. The lodge can accomodate a large group so we hope many will decide to come whether they play a ukulele or not.

Directions if you need them - From Yucaipa or Mentone take Hiway 38 , past Forrest Home turn off and up the mountain , past Angeles Oaks, past Jenks Lake Road, Past Barton Flats Public Campgrounds on your left, and a short distance on your right to Camp Morning Star, 42727Hiway # 38. (If you go to the second Jenks Lake turnoff you have gone too far!) Go to the Lodge where we will be meeting! Glen Clement will be our Master of Ceremonies and this will be a great fun time.

Joan Revel and the Loma Linda Ukulele Strummers
909-796-8934

I don't think The Anaheim Uke Fest was bigger than Reno or San Diego, or Wine Country. It didn't feel like 1500 people. We closed up before nightfall when we realized there were no lights or electrical hook ups to light the booths. It is really hard to sell stuff in the dark with a flashlight (found that out in San Diego... electricity was extra $). I was hoping there might be some street lights for the complex, but I didn't see any. The shoppers had stopped browsing by around 5 or 5:30, and some of the other booths were packing up. My poor husband had patiently endured the long day, and I didn't want to burn out my sales force. Got to keep him in good shape for the next one, after all.

I am really glad they put most of the vendors in the shade, between the buildings. We would have roasted if we had been in the area next to the stage. We could hear the music from the stage most of the day, and it was very pleasant. The audience needed more shade, that's for sure. Who knows how many people they might have if they posted the date/time and workshop info a month or two in advance (and didn't change the date).

For a one day event, sales for us were decent. But only because we were local and didn't have a lot of extra expenses. People had bought Uke Leashes last year at Cerritos, so we got some return business from them, and some new customers. We do this mostly to spread the word about the Uke Leash, knowing every satisfied customer will tell a friend or two. Next year we may target Uke Fests that we haven't attended before, to get a new pool of unaware but needy uke players.
–Lori

Lori said:

I am really glad they put most of the vendors in the shade, between the buildings. We would have roasted if we had been in the area next to the stage.

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Glad it worked out for you, Lori.

Was that your own EZUp? We have one we bought when we were racing RC cars where we'd otherwise be in the sun during long pit times. Takes two people to set up but it's definitely worth it. Not a problem in a vehicle, but not really something you could take on a flight to distant festivals.

Love the tag line on your sign that says "Teach your uke to 'stay'."

itsme said:

Glad it worked out for you, Lori.

Was that your own EZUp? We have one we bought when we were racing RC cars where we'd otherwise be in the sun during long pit times. Takes two people to set up but it's definitely worth it. Not a problem in a vehicle, but not really something you could take on a flight to distant festivals.

Love the tag line on your sign that says "Teach your uke to 'stay'."

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We borrowed my brother-in-law's EZup canopy, which we were grateful for. We have no storage room for that kind of thing, and he already owned it because he was a soccer coach. If I were to buy one, I would get one a little taller. But, I don't expect to get enough local use from it to justify buying one. I only do Uke Fests, no Aloha/ Hawaiian/ general Polynesian festivals. Many Uke Fests provide shade as part of the booth fee.

–Lori

Lori, glad to hear your husband was there to help you set up. If I was sure I was going to attend I would have checked with you to see if you needed help setting up again.

Ric, thanks for the link. I'm familiar with the group "Oahu" since they perform in a lot of venues. Hopefully he can put something together.

Ronnie Aloha said:

Lori, glad to hear your husband was there to help you set up. If I was sure I was going to attend I would have checked with you to see if you needed help setting up again.

Ric, thanks for the link. I'm familiar with the group "Oahu" since they perform in a lot of venues. Hopefully he can put something together.

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Thanks Ronnie.
Last year at Cerritos I had to go it solo, but got lots of help from the UU community and members of the Canogahana Players. You guys are the very best. I just posted the rest of the photos from the Uke Fest here.
http://gallery.me.com/apthorp#100178&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=0
–Lori

Nice pics, Lori.