I caught Summerfest twice this year: opening night and the second saturday. Frankly I'm somewhat surprised numbers are down considering Saturday night it felt more crowded than I've ever felt (and I used to work the grounds crew back in the days of the really big crowds). They call it a success and I suppose it is a success any year they make money, it doesn't rain too much and there is no violent crime. I do however think there is still plenty of room for improvement:
1. Get rid of the picnic tables around the stages. Despite all the claimed improvements to Miller, once people climb on top of those picnic tables, you really can't see anything. The bleachers are perfectly adequate. People standing on top of bleachers are much better than those on top of picnic tables.
2. Raise all the stages or bowl out the surrounding seating areas to improve sight-lines. Miller is supposed to be the best stage on the grounds yet it has some of the worst sight-lines of any stage. The stage is like 4 feet off the ground. When you combine that with people on picnic tables, you can't see anything. On the contrary, the stage with the best sight-lines is the non-permanent south end stage by Marcus (I can't remember the sponsor they're always changing). This stage is high off the ground, there are no picnic tables, and the pavement slopes down towards the stage. You can put thousands of people in this area and you still can see the band from way in back.
3. Much like you have local restaurants selling their food, have local specialty stores sell their wares instead of the same old carnival fake-ethnic crap they sell every year in the tents.
4. Improve the entertainment in the sports area. My first job at Summerfest was running the men's bathroom in this area so I've sat through a lot of half-assed competitions and such. You know it's bad when five people show up for a bodybuilding competition and three of them have such bad physiques that someone yells out "put your shirt back on."
5. Expand some activities to the new island which should be complete next year. Anything to help thin out the crowd would be a good idea.
6. I can't believe I'm saying this but bring back the kids area underneath the bridge behind Marcus. With no designated teen area, I found the grounds to be overrun with teens everywhere except the classic rock stage. How much money do these kids have? I probably dropped $150 on two visits and didn't buy one beer.
7. Ban the wearing of Cubs hats. Damn FIBS are everywhere nowadays.
1. Get rid of the picnic tables around the stages. Despite all the claimed improvements to Miller, once people climb on top of those picnic tables, you really can't see anything. The bleachers are perfectly adequate. People standing on top of bleachers are much better than those on top of picnic tables.
2. Raise all the stages or bowl out the surrounding seating areas to improve sight-lines. Miller is supposed to be the best stage on the grounds yet it has some of the worst sight-lines of any stage. The stage is like 4 feet off the ground. When you combine that with people on picnic tables, you can't see anything. On the contrary, the stage with the best sight-lines is the non-permanent south end stage by Marcus (I can't remember the sponsor they're always changing). This stage is high off the ground, there are no picnic tables, and the pavement slopes down towards the stage. You can put thousands of people in this area and you still can see the band from way in back.
3. Much like you have local restaurants selling their food, have local specialty stores sell their wares instead of the same old carnival fake-ethnic crap they sell every year in the tents.
4. Improve the entertainment in the sports area. My first job at Summerfest was running the men's bathroom in this area so I've sat through a lot of half-assed competitions and such. You know it's bad when five people show up for a bodybuilding competition and three of them have such bad physiques that someone yells out "put your shirt back on."
5. Expand some activities to the new island which should be complete next year. Anything to help thin out the crowd would be a good idea.
6. I can't believe I'm saying this but bring back the kids area underneath the bridge behind Marcus. With no designated teen area, I found the grounds to be overrun with teens everywhere except the classic rock stage. How much money do these kids have? I probably dropped $150 on two visits and didn't buy one beer.
7. Ban the wearing of Cubs hats. Damn FIBS are everywhere nowadays.
posted by Trent at 10:00 AM
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