THE CHALLENGE:

In 2016, we were tasked with producing the Volunteer Park Pride Festival from top to bottom. A part of the month-long celebrations in Seattle that draws thousands of attendees, Volunteer Park Pride Festival sets up each year in one of Capitol Hill’s most famous public spaces at the top of the hill. We set about planning the layout, talent, vendors, and sponsors for 2016’s festival, and then designed and executed a marketing campaign to bring the event to the attention of as many people as possible.

Volunteer Park Pride Festival is one of Seattle’s most beloved annual community events, celebrating the local LGBTQ+ community every year in a historic city park.

OUR APPROACH:

Our invitation to produce the Volunteer Park Pride Festival was no small task for our events team. We studied the past iterations of the event to understand the feel of the day-of festivities and set about planning how we could grow the event while still maintaining the community feel of the festival for the park and neighborhood. We knew this was a family-friendly affair and wanted to give that experience to the guests. The main components of the planning process came down to finding sponsors for the event who wanted to support Seattle’s LGBTQ+ community, talent acquisition for music and entertainment on the large stage in Volunteer Park’s field, vendors and nonprofits who wanted to sell their crafts or share important messaging with guests, and promotion of the event to ensure the day-of wasn’t an empty party.

Sponsorship Development:

One of the key aspects of producing an event at this scale without any ticket sales is securing funding for executing our vision. We identified and reached out to companies and potential stakeholders to pitch them on the sponsorship of the festival. We leveraged the visibility they would gain as value for their financial support and made sure that sponsor names and logos appeared on the official branding and decorations for the event. 2018’s festival saw growth to over 20 sponsors for the festival, which helped this community event free for everyone.

Talent ACQUISITION:

Booking the musical acts for the festival was one of the most crucial aspects of creating a draw that would fill the park on the day of the festival. As a free event, we had to manage the cost of the talent we were booking while making sure the names were recognizable to the attendees. We are fortunate to have great connections in the local arts and music scene, and in 2018 we were able to feature Desi Valentine, a rising star from London, and Tacocat, a local favorite, as headliners for the festival.

OUTCOME:

2016’s festival was a huge hit. So much so that we were invited to produce the festival again in 2017 and 2018, with increasing attendance each year, in addition to building the event up to over 20 sponsors, and 83 booths. We learned from our initial productions and were able to tweak details that made the festival flow better each year, accommodating more vendors, booths and guests. Our interactions with attendees showed that people were returning each year, and considered it to be a memorable experience that they wanted to bring friends and family to after they had enjoyed their first times. From sponsorship development to art direction to on-the-ground event management, we covered it all and we’re thrilled with 2018’s year’s turnout - an estimated 12,000 attendees!