[yorkiepud]

Just thought i'd give you a nudge to let you know that Kirkstall Festival and Bramley Carnival are on this weekend. (weather permitting!!)

Kirkstall Festival - Saturday http://www.kirkstall-festival.org.uk/
Bramley Carnival - Sunday http://www.bramleyparkcarnival.com/

Let's hope the sunshine stays!! Enjoy

[dervish99]

Kirkstall festival was excellent last year, well worth a visit. The organisers are asking as many people as possible to travle by public transport, as the usual car park next to the kids playground is very water logged.

[Peppermintgallery]

Having been to both event's this year. I think that

[MrTempleDene]

I can't speak for the events mentioned, but I do have to say far to many websites tend to be a "last thought" for people. It's the 21st century folks, keep your websites and social media up to date!

[johnnykaos]

Yes the Kirkstall festival was a great success - especially as this wildly fluctuating weather we're having behaved itself. I had a ride down there on my push bike and folks in cars were having difficulty getting near the place it was so popular.

I've been going to 'Kirkfest' for the past ten years and this years was definetely the largest by size and attendance, some of the aisles were rather difficult to move along as they were packed with people / families with push chairs etc.

The atmosphere was very jovial and the music and other entertainments was excellent. I actually got dragged into performing some Morris dancing for which I'm still cringing with embarassment.... I was sad to see they've cancelled the classic car show section this year, and there were no donkey rides. Also the prices of some of the kiddies fairground rides and attractions was absolutely shocking - nearly £5 per child to go on a bouncy castle for 10 minutes! Talk about a licence to print money.

Plus the prices that the food sellers were charging was absolutely extortionate. I felt a bit like there was more emphasis on making money by most of the people involved which is a bit sad when its meant to be about the community.

I can remember a couple of years ago when I went with my sister and her children and a couple of the neighbours children we didnt have much change left out of the £100 we took, and for all that the young uns didnt get to go on everything, or eat / drink everything they wanted. I can imagine that for a lot of families who are on benefits they would rather not go near the place because of the expenses involved and who could blame them?

Why dont the organisers provide more free events, or get the local businesses to contribute some money towards hiring some rides for the day themselves and provide them for free rather than inviting money grabbing fairground operators who just see it as an excuse to rip off the community? I tried to mention this to some of the organisers of the festival who I know and they just shrugged it off... I think maybe they are getting backhanders to run it this way.

[dervish99]

I think your summary of the festival is a bit unfair Johnny. There was form memory no classic car show last year either, whilst there were no donkey rides there were pony rides, same thing different breed. The rides were expensive, i don't know how much the bigger rides were but for the little ones £2 each is a lot of money, especially when they want to go on everything. I thought the food was priced about the norm for this type of event, certainly no more expensive than other events i have been to this year, and it has to be said the quality was a damn sight better. I don't understand your comments about the organisers providing more free events, the whole event was free, you didnt have to pay a penny if you wanted to watch the bands and displays. Inviting so called money grabbing operators on site may actually help pay to run the event, which i bet is not cheap.

I think it is a shame when people whine about a free event, the whole day was a sucess from what i could tell, as you say yourself the event was "definetely the largest by size and attendance, some of the aisles were rather difficult to move along as they were packed with people / families with push chairs etc. " So they must be doing something right. Give them credit for bothering at all.

[johnnykaos]

Dervish99 overall I did say the Kirkstall Festival was a great success and I thoroughly enjoyed the day. I was just commenting on the overall cost that the day out could incur and why this was unfair.

Firstly I would have thought that the local takeaway businesses that were providing food / drink would find it more in their interest to provide reasonably priced food on the day as it could attract them new customers in the future, I mean the profit margins on food / drink are vast, when they are charging £4.50 for a bowl of curry that will have cost pennies to make. They would still be making enormous profits even charging £1 per bowl - and they'd sell a lot more and maybe attract customers that wouldnt otherwise bother.

The profits involved with selling such takeaway food / cups of tea+coffee for £1.50 each are so great that I think it explains why the amount of food sellers at the festival has increased almost tenfold from a few years ago. I bet that even the smallest hot food vendor at Kirkfest went home at the end of the event with several thousand pounds in the kitty.

Personally the cost of the kiddies rides / food / drink didnt affect me, but as I was trying to explain I can imagine that a lot of families on low incomes probably steered well clear of the event as they will have know the cost that going would have incurred, or the misery that would have been felt if they'd gone with their kids who'd have wanted to go on rides but they'd be unable to pay the extortionate prices and had to refuse letting them go on these rides, young children dont really understand this and I think a lot of parents would avoid Kirkstall Festival rather than feel embarassed / degraded because they werent as rich as other folk.

I mean the bouncy castle was nearly £5 per child for gods sake! That really is a total rip off, and I was amazed to see how busy it was even at this price. I used to run a bouncy castle hire business 10 years ago and I would rent out a bouncy castle for £60 for the whole day or £100 for one that was 10 metres square that we used to hire to Drighlington Gala for the day. There is no way the costs of delivering the castle / paying a guy to erect it and take money from customers etc justified charging nearly a fiver per kid!

The festival organisers would actually make more money by hiring the bouncy castle / kiddies rides themselves for the day - which you can do for kids parties etc, and then they could charge a more reasonable fee thus making the attractions more available for people of this area - and they'd probably make more money that way. Obviously the larger rides such as the Waltzer probably cant be hired, but they are more teen / adult orientated anyway.

All I'm saying is that I think its a bit hard on the kiddies who come from families that arent as well off. I do know of families who regularly dont go due to the expense incurred by the cost of kiddies rides and because their children get upset when they see other youngsters enjoying these attractions but they get told they cant afford to have a go.

Yes the other events are great including the displays / music which are free, but the organisers arent paying the bands neither, sure they pay for the stage / P.A etc but the stewards and other staff are all volunteers. I've worked as a steward there myself in previous years but I find the whole organisation of the festival is run by a clique of middle-class / middle-aged people who arent open to suggestions regarding the running of the festival as they dont appreciate that everyone isnt as well off as themselves. When I tried pleading the case of unemployed people I was told that 'they should get a job'...! Easier said than done, especially in this day and age, and ultimately its not fair on the kiddies when they cant enjoy a day out in their own community because richer folk are calling the shots who dont recognise their problems of poverty because they are so blinded by their own wealth!