Bravo, Binghamton.
I stopped by the 23rd annual Spiedie Fest this weekend with tempered expectations, thinking the celebration might resemble, in scale, the downtown Binghamton Farmer’s Market or the New York State Chili Fest, both of which I chronicled in previous columns.
The festival blew away all those expectations. In my eyes, it was spectacular. While the famous featured sandwiches were delicious, I’d actually consider “Spiedie Fest” a misnomer — rather, the festival seemed to celebrate all of the traditions of New York’s Southern Tier.
While I had a good time at my first Fest, I think that with one minor change, the Fest could really make it to the next level. (Keep in mind that I am not from the Binghamton area and am offering more of an outsider’s perspective.)
So here’s my daring suggestion: raise the price of admission. (I can already feel my inbox filling with hate mail, but please at least hear me out.)
At $12, the all-access button, which can only be purchased in advance, is your best bet. A button allows you admittance to the Fest and the concert area for the whole weekend.
For a Festival that claims to bring in multiple first-rate musical acts and celebrities, $4 per day, per person, is a very reasonable price to pay — in my eyes, too reasonable. The relatively low cost encourages families from around the area to keep coming back each year.
But despite a “Reader Rant” published earlier this week to the contrary, I wouldn’t consider a $12 button “cost prohibitive.” If a children’s ticket to see a 90-minute movie can cost $6 or $7, and a gallon of gas can cost upwards of $3, I wouldn’t consider it unreasonable to charge, say, $18 for a three full days of festival admission and concert access.
So my plan: raise the price of a three-day, all-access button to $18. Consequently, bump the price of a one-day admission from $5 to $8.
Economically speaking, raising the price will drive some people away. I think that some of the appeal of the festival has typically been the relatively low cost — some readers might remember the days when admittance to the Fest was free.
But those days, alas, are gone. Now, many families partake in lengthy road trips, or even fly, to attend the area’s annual extravaganza. It’s a big deal.
So as important as it is to retain the low-cost appeal, I really think the Fest is on the cusp of becoming a huge event in the region. While C-list celebrities such as Loverboy and Mario Lopez are nice, and do attract their share of fans, other potential visitors ostracize the event for not bringing in the latest stars.
With the extra money brought in by raising button prices, Spiedie Fest could markedly improve the celebrities it attracts — perhaps on the level of, say, Kelly Clarkson.
The three-day festival could even center itself, and the bulk of its marketing, around that one B-level celebrity on, say, Saturday night.
Additional revenue could mean more than just a marginally more popular celebrity. People love giveaways; perhaps, with purchase of a button, visitors would be entered in some sort of spiedie-related raffle. A shot at one of 10 free barbecues, to make my own fresh spiedies year-round? Count me in!
Giveaways or not, the Spiedie Fest is a success, a vital part of the Southern Tier summer experience. A mild cost increase to improve the entertainment a bit wouldn’t drive away the core group of Spiedie Fest regulars and Binghamton natives returning from out of town. But tons more people — perhaps even younger people — would come just to see the biggest name on the docket.
Based on what I saw this weekend, anyone checking out the Fest for the first time would enjoy the total experience — especially if the night were capped off by their favorite celebrity.
Strub is a senior at Binghamton University, a part-time copy editor at the Press & Sun-Bulletin and a new resident of Binghamton’s West Side. His column appears Thursdays.
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