What's most important to you in a Ukulele Festival?

What's your pics?


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excellent poll but i'd also like to see versions that took account of geography... as an american living in the UK i can say that american uke fests differ from those in the UK and then there's the mainland European ones and the ones in the Southern Hemisphere...

i wonder if we all like workshops as much as the next, for example. :)
 
Mike, tickets go on sale soon for TBUG, and we're going again this year. What the hay, it's a 20 minute drive. Believe it or not, what's most important to me isn't among the choices. Last year I nearly froze to death in that damn building. This year I'm wearing ALL my warmies!
2nd most important is my friends will be there, and third is good intermediate workshops.
I wish there was enough room for everyone who wants to go. The venue is too damn small.
 
Dunno, I've ever attended any, although the upcoming Wine Country fest around Napa CA is tempting. That's a 3-hour drive and will require overnight accommodations. Workshops may be the main draw; we'll see how my uke-newbie wife is doing before we buy tickets. Temperature is also a consideration; we won't survive being sun-blasted in unsheltered seats anywhere. Performing stars would be nice but not necessary. Jamming? Whatever. Our fave so far was a Celtic fest with John Renbourne (guitar), Kevin Carty (fiddle) and Moira O'Connell (voice) giving free workshops. Hard to top that!
 
Something that I've mentioned before is that I'd like to see at festivals is a workshop on how to set up your uke. Filing a nut an saddle, how to shave down at bridge, basics. Maybe a more advanced workshop also on fret work, installing electronics, and neck resets. Not sure how to pull something like that but I think it would be quite popular.
 
Something that I've mentioned before is that I'd like to see at festivals is a workshop on how to set up your uke. Filing a nut an saddle, how to shave down at bridge, basics. Maybe a more advanced workshop also on fret work, installing electronics, and neck resets. Not sure how to pull something like that but I think it would be quite popular.

I like this suggestion. I also like many booths and vendors, random performances apart form the stage, and especially a load of food trucks.
 
Two things , nice accommodations, we don't like camping very well, and other outside activities. I noticed that one has not gotten a lot of votes, but my wife is not a ukulele person, and she likes to wander off, especially during the day, and do other things.
 
Two things , nice accommodations, we don't like camping very well, and other outside activities. I noticed that one has not gotten a lot of votes, but my wife is not a ukulele person, and she likes to wander off, especially during the day, and do other things.

I agree. I don't see my husband and daughter hanging with me all that much at a uke fest.
 
Something that I've mentioned before is that I'd like to see at festivals is a workshop on how to set up your uke. Filing a nut an saddle, how to shave down at bridge, basics. Maybe a more advanced workshop also on fret work, installing electronics, and neck resets. Not sure how to pull something like that but I think it would be quite popular.

We did something like that this year at the Mighty Uke Day in Lansing, MI in May. Chester handled some of the mechanics you mentioned, I spoke on strings (choosing them, stringing them up), etc.. From the feedback, we're going to do two classes next year; a beginner and intermediate level one.
 
For me, it's a networking event. I like to see the vendors and speak with them. I also like seeing the new instruments and providing feedback on the designs, wood combinations, and plink on a few to hear the tone. There are lots of great luthiers and manufacturers these days. Not many of them visit the festivals in the Midwest and East, though.

TBUG is a good event. They have a bit of everything, but Nickie is right, too small, air conditioning is too cold, and the place is in a bad location when construction makes navigation hard (like in 2010).
 
I liked the way the UWC was set up, (isn't anybody going to put up pics already?) - for me its all about the social aspect and jamming with others.
 
For me it's all about the social aspect. If there are performers that are fun to watch - that's a bonus. I don't care much about the workshops - they are never advanced enough. A location relatively close to home is good too - not too far to drive. I pretty much only want to go if my friends are going.
 
Something that I've mentioned before is that I'd like to see at festivals is a workshop on how to set up your uke. Filing a nut an saddle, how to shave down at bridge, basics. Maybe a more advanced workshop also on fret work, installing electronics, and neck resets. Not sure how to pull something like that but I think it would be quite popular.

Auggie and Donna LoPrinzi did just that for us at TBUG one year.

"For me it's all about the social aspect. If there are performers that are fun to watch - that's a bonus. I don't care much about the workshops - they are never advanced enough. A location relatively close to home is good too - not too far to drive. I pretty much only want to go if my friends are going. "

Katy, I agree, I'm very social. If none of my friends were going, I'd go and make new friends! The workshops still challenge me, because my skillset is still very limited. But I'm learning all the time.
 
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Oh, and I like trying out other people's instruments as well. An admiring look and a polite question usually do the trick.
 
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