HG attendance??

http://renoutfitters.com/festivals/celtic-festivals-highland-games/

If you scroll down through it lists the attendance of some of the events

I miss you.....

Thanks, Tony.

I'll make sure to get back up to the NE next year.

You're awesome . . .

bump

ok, i'll buy beer/scotch for whoever contributes the most . . .

Mike,
That's an elusive number...most games either don't know or will try to inflate their numbers in an effort to attract sponsors. A score-keeper can tell you how many athletes competed but that's about it. I can give you ballpark numbers for some of our games but even Pleasanton believe it or not can never seem to come up with a concrete number. Most smaller games in CA would be somewhere in the 2- 5000 range, somewhere like Sacramento, probably 10-20,000 per day and Pleasanton approx. 20-30,000 a day. As far as I know Celtic has the biggest attendance... Steve

But you can fix Scotlands attendance problem right Gerry? thats what your here for right?

The attendance at the Celtic Classic is very high (hundreds of thousands).

Hundreds of thousands??  Wow. That's crazy.  Do they have a system to track the number of attendees??

Admission to the Celtic is free (kind of has to be, since it's on city streets).  It's a different business model from most other festivals (food and beer sales using tickets), but a very successful one.

Already becoming clear that you are not comparing like with like here. So many festivals at which the Highland Games elements are just one of the attractions. You have to be clear as to what a Highland Games actually is when you submit your research. It could be argued that an event that only has Heavy events is NOT a Highland Games.

Hey Mike, these are most of the games I have competed in the last 3 years... Hope this helps.

SMALL EVENTS- CITY/STATE      YEAR      APPROX ATTENDANCE
Ringgold HG - Ringgold, GA     2010-13     5,000
Alhambra HG - Pensacola, FL    2010        3,500 (1st yr.)
Shamrock HG - Springfield, IL 2012        2,000
Chieftains HG Rome, GA        2012        2,000 (1st yr.)
Ft. Boise HG   Boise, ID        2013          500 (1st yr.)
Twin Falls HG Twin Falls, ID   2013          300 (RAIN)
Culture Fest   Ontario, OR      2013        1,500

MEDIUM EVENTS
Panama City HG Panama City, FL 2010-12     10,000
Tallahassee HG Tallahassee, FL 2010        8,000
Smokey Mnt. HG Maryville, TN    2011-12     10,000 (2-day)
Arkansas HG    Batesville, AR   2012        10,000
Savannah HG    Savannah, GA     2012-13     12,000
Blairsville HG Blairsville, GA 2011-12      8,500
Payson HG      Payson, UT       2012-13     10,000
Treasure Valley Boise, ID       2012-13     10,000
Highland Fling Highland, UT     2013        5,000
Bitterroots HG Hamilton, MT     2013        8,000 (2-day)

LARGE EVENTS -
NE Florida HG - Jacksonville, FL 2011-13     50,000
Bay Area Ren - Fest Tampa, FL    2011-12     80,000 (several days)
Greenville HG - Greeneville, SC 2011-12     80,000
Stone Mnt HG - Stone Mnt. GA    2011-13    100,000 (2-day)
Dublin Irish Fest Dublin, OH     2012       150,000 (several days)
Las Vegas HG Las Vegas, NV      2013        80,000 (2-day)

I too am curious Rob, how you arrived at your numbers.  In fact I think your numbers for Treasure Valley this year seem very "generous".  I also participated in that games, and there is NO WAY they reached Portland Attendance numbers.  Your Bitterroot HG number is also more than double what the Games Association itself has stated for Attendance (3,600 in 2011, 3,100 in 2012, 3,000 in 2013).

Part of my job is to advise dozens of volunteer event organisers every year ; so the direction this thread is heading re numbers is of great interest.

Wayne Hill wrote:   There's no way to track attendees <at Celtic Classic a free festival>, because there are many (wide open) access points and people come and go quite a bit. If you took aerial photographs, you'd get a (literal) snapshot of attendance (which I think they do), but there's a great deal of turnover.

Gerry a little off the topic we also have the volatility of the weather which can ruin a games. A few have been cancelled because if weather or a fear the weather could hit. I think Stonehaven and Montrose are recent examples. A have thrown at bute games for a number if years as it is an island games the whole island seems to turn up if its not chucking it down with rain. North America doesn't seem to suffer this issue as much. On another note Gerry what games being discontinued made the 20% drop in games being held.