CueBlog 09

Prevailing sentiment that there are fewer visitors to the Festival this year are unfounded, say officials, who claim rather that the opposite is true: with a record high of consumers entering the Village Green and accommodation demands already exceeding those from previous years, “the figures so far are more-or-less keeping pace with last year,” says Festival CEO Tony Lankester.

Added to this, shows at the Festival are doing well. “We’re seeing that ticket sales are slightly higher than the numbers for 2007, both in terms of rand value and number of tickets sold,” says Lankester.

An update by Cue Newspaper on Day 7 (2 July) conforms this trend. The Village Green does have more visitors but there is less spending, with Fest goers giving preference to shows rather than shopping. Stall owners are concerned that they will not make enough money on sales to cover the costs of being in Grahamstown at this time. As they threaten not to return to the Festival in the future, organisers of the annual event are trying to create favourable rent conditions to support the felamarketers. 

Staying in G’town
Always a good indication that people are indeed in town is the high demand for accommodation. Says Mhleli Ngubo, manager of the Old Gaol Backpackers, “We’re fully booked, and even have people sleeping in tents. There are so many people and as for the bar, we’re already more busy than last year.”

Residence accommodation bookings at the University is indicative of the same trend. Manager of Conferencing, Carolyn Stevenson-Milln is delighted at the turn out shown by residence accommodation needs. Total bed nights last year for the duration of Fest were 15 695. On Day 5 of the 2008 Fest, this number was already at 15 111.

People need to eat
While some High Street restaurants are claiming to be over target, others in the industry are disappointed with the turn out so far. Justus Wagener, owner of Red Cafe say that “walking around it does seem quieter than last year, however there are enough people to fill the restaurant.” He believes that people do in fact have less money to spend overall.

Waitresses see things differently. “This time last year was hectic compared to now,” says Ayanda Patal who thinks that even though people have money for food, their generosity for her service is not what it should be.

Rogan Field, who is running his restaurant out of the Old Gaol is more than happy with the support he is receiving, “Business has doubled everyday,” he said.

Shopping in Town
Despite the packed restaurants in town, shops on High Street are empty. Mongezi Plank, acting manager of Markham, believes that unless people can buy on account they’re not spending in the shops. “Most people rather buy the cheap clothes at the vendors than the good quality in our shop. Maybe people are dropping their standards so they can save money.”

The exception here are the bottle stores who are doing better than other retailers. Says Yolande Duiker, manger of Graham Bottle Store, “We’re much more busy that last year. This is thanks to our extended trading hours.”

Vendor disappointment
Traders in town and on the Village Green are complaining that this is the slowest Fest yet. Steve Wambugu, a vendor in High Street, is concerned that he is not making enough money, “because the economy is down and prices are high. People are spending money on basic needs like food. It’s not like last year when they were buying my stock.”

Stall worker at the Fest, Nicole Naude, “I thought everything at our stall would sell fast, and that there’d be a lot of people, I guess I thought wrong. It’s very quiet.”

Everyone is hopeful however. Maggy Madufor who runs a still alongside the campus arch is positive that her sales will increase soon, “People are getting money this week, maybe from tomorrow we will get people to buy from here.”

Visitors are not so confident, says Sue Illgner, “The stalls are very disappointing. It’s very overpriced and the Festival has changed – not for the better.”

The show must go on
As far as ticket sale numbers go, this information is not being released by Festival ticket selling company, Computicket. Final figures will only be released at the end of the Festival. However, the long and always winding cue outside the Village Green box office is evidence enough that people are attending shows.

It seems that despite the gloomy economics prevailing South Africa, the impact thereof on the Festival is limited to casual traders – people seem to be holding onto their pennies when it comes to spending at stalls and on the streets, but not on accommodation and shows. “[The high numbers of show audiences] is good news for the arts. It shows that, even when times are hard and there is greater pressure on disposable income, audiences are still prioritising theatregoing and making space for it in their budgets,” said Lankester.

Pics: Siobhan Louw