Trim Balloon Fiesta - A bit disappointed! - Mod note post #70

Access

I felt like i had to tell others of what our experience of the Trim Balloon Fiesta was on Saturday last.

I brought my family over to trim last saturday for the Trim Balloon Fiesta and the parking/diversion around the town was done very well as not to cause major traffic etc.

We arrived at around 11am so we missed all of the early morning balloons that day - (not too worried about that - my own fault!) but my main point is that while it was very well run and stewarded with fantastic parachute jump demonstrations, i was disappointed that we were charged €10 per adult (€20 altogether + kids free) to basically walk around a field so that we could buy (if we so wished) expensive food and drinks... and exorbitant funfair rides costing €2/€3 for less than 3 minutes of a ride!

My case in point is when my son asked me if he could have a bottle of fanta, i gave him €2 and off he went to a stall... coming back to me a few seconds later saying it was €3 a bottle! :eek: - needless to say we didnt buy there.

I love Trim town and think it is a fantastic place to go for a drive or a picnic with the family and i was gutted last year when we missed the Trim Balloon Fiesta because we were away at a wedding and unable to attend... but i must say we were disappointed after going this year.

Am i alone in thinking like this - or have i missed something?

JRL

I was there both Saturday and Sunday, and I was disgusted to be honest. I support the idea in principle, however the pure lack of events was hughly disappointing.

The only good thing to the whole weekend was the Saturday night Fireworks etc.

What bugged me was that they were getting money from the door, money from sponsors, money from vendors and money from government agencies and I couldnt see the spend of such funds anywhere in order to provide family entertainment if the baloons couldnt go up....It was basically a field, with food vendors, a few amusements rides and a bouncy castle or two...

I spoke to one of the Baloonists last week - He couldnt understand why this was held in April, where you really have no hope of getting a Balloon up aswell as it being on a Hill....really strange...

falabo

this is STILL a major problem in this country. Astronomical prices. as long as people are willing to pay such prices, why should they stop charging that much?

Stroke Politics

I was waiting for this thread.

Same sense of disappointment here, we went over from Navan on Saturday morning at 10ish, thinking that it would be free, as there was no mention of any admission charges on the brochure that I picked up 6 weeks ago. Looked at the sign for €10 per adult, and turned back - how could we pay €20 to go into the field and pay for all of the attractions as well? I took out the brochure again before I binned it yeaterday, the word "free" appears many times on each page, but very little sign of the charges! Maybe my sight is failing me, and there may be some mention of it, I am not going to retrieve it again from the recycling bin but my wits are not; it's a bit rich to expect us to fork out €10 to stand in a field and look at some static kites, and an army of security men from a Northern Irish security company. At least we only came from Navan - would have been very thick if we had travelled from Drogheda or Tullamore....

Redjeep!

Just got back from it.

Total waste of money and time.

We didn't see a single balloon and in effect spent €25 to walk around a field full of burger vans. There was nothing happening and we even got refused admission to the castle, despite the fairly clear comment on the website that it was included.

Never again.

kevohmsford

We went yesterday but no way was I going to pay 10 euro in. We just walked up the far side of the river. A few people got in beside the bus stop.

Redjeep!

They've got a Facebook page. Why not leave them a message ?

I actually didn't mind paying to get in, I considered that normal for a Festival, but was unhappy with the complete lack of anything to do. Let's face it, rain isn't that unusual and not many outdoor events get cancelled because of it.

Rafa1977

Redjeep! wrote: »

They've got a Facebook page. Why not leave them a message ?

I actually didn't mind paying to get in, I considered that normal for a Festival, but was unhappy with the complete lack of anything to do. Let's face it, rain isn't that unusual and not many outdoor events get cancelled because of it.

Would that be the Facebook page that they never update!!. Yeah, I agree wih what everybody has said what a rip off and waste of time. Why, why, why in April???? Who decides these things? :mad:

rpurfield

id intended bringing the kids over but between one thing and another i didnt.and im glad i didnt now reading this, it sounds a great idea in theory but really sounds like a swerve from what ye are saying.

PauloMN

Personally I have mixed feelings about it. On the plus side, it did seem to be well organised in terms of parking etc., and there was stuff included in the admission that wasn't there two years ago (from what I remember anyway) like the bouncy castles, kids shows, face painting etc.. My kids spent about half an hour in the bouncy castles alone - that would have cost a small fortune at other festivals where they normally charge for those things.

The night glow and fireworks were also good, we live in Trim so we were able to come home after the Saturday afternoon, get a bite to eat, and then head back in later to see the night glow and fireworks.

I think the Saturday was worth the €10 for adults given the activities, but between the weather and the activities for the Sunday and today, I'd have not been happy paying even a fiver in.

The food and drinks etc. did seem expensive - it always is at these things. €3 for a bottle of Fanta is lunacy. I also agree the price of the rides was pretty steep. The carousel I felt was a total rip off given that for the little ones, obviously a parent had to hold them on it, so €6 between the child and adult to have one go on it!!! :eek: I really think that's crazy, especially in these times.

The weather is a huge problem for this fiesta. I remember saying two years ago to my wife that they should go for the June bank holiday weekend, when at least there's a better chance of getting calmer, better weather. Easter is generally a mixed bag in Ireland as regards weather, even if it's not raining it's often breezy. June, while not guaranteed to have perfect weather, has a much better chance of calm, dry weather.

In fairness to the organisers, I suppose it costs as much to run the fiesta whether or not the weather allows the balloons to go up. They did (as far as I know) reduce admission to €5 both yesterday and today to try and make up for it. I wonder did those who booked in advance get any refund seeing as they paid the full amount?

Overall, I think for the Saturday, given the night glow etc., I'd probably give it 6/10 - with the main downside being the price of rides etc.. I can't imagine what yesterday or today were like between the weather and lack of night events.

Edit: I note the point about the security company, I did wonder the same, were they definitely from NI? If so, would obviously rather local companies were supported for these things.

Borderfox

First thing I thought on my way home after paying €20 for the two of us into a field was "do you have any baloons in your baloon festival??" never again..

Fiona

Never knew this was on, I am in Ashbourne and didn't see it advertised anywhere, if I had of then I would have went down for a peek but after reading this thread glad I didn't now!

nowuckenfurries

They got off to a bad start in my books, some ar*ehole dj pumping out music @ 07:00 Hrs on a Saturday morning is not the way nor the time I wanted to be woken at on a Bank Holiday Saturday Morning :mad:

When myself & Mrs went to go in, we realised that the balloons were not flying, fair enough the weather made it unsafe to do so, no arguements there.

However it just didn't warrant EUR 20.00 to walk around a funfair & a wet field.

I watched the stunt plane perform from my Front door, a great show indeed.

I was a bit concerned as to why the organisers charged people into a field so they could again be charged rip off prices by traders who themselves had paid to place stalls in said field... double take.. (BTW its the same for the VV Car Show)

Archeron

Have to say, I feel the same as everybody else on this, felt like a complete rip off. €10 per person to stand in a wet field with nothing to do. The brochure said that there were lots of non weather dependant activities, but I didnt find any, and as mentioned, the brochure said nothing about the entry fee.

This is the second time now I've invited friends to Trim for the festival, and the second time absolutely nothing happened. I spent about an hour rambling around the field, then came the rain, so a half hour in the marquee trying to keep dry, at which point we said feck it and went to the pub instead.

I do give some kudos to the people running the falconry, as they seemed to be doing something all the time I was there, but other than that, I dont think I will ever bother to attend this festival again. Shame, I think in principal its a great idea, but it seems to be a really bad time of year to hold it.

niallam

Don't bother with their Facebook, deleted my comment to them and looks like others comments too on it...
Anyway, 2 cars of us arrived, I brought the dog with me, I'd never checked their website first but sign on the gate saying no dogs so I left everyone and headed back home with the dog. Got back and paid in only to discover many other dogs inside all day??? Another of my friends was actually turned away with his dog, I didn't try myself once I saw the sign.
But I won't complain anymore as its all already been said, everything overpriced and very badly organised. Wouldn't go back next year...

Rafa1977

niallam wrote: »

Don't bother with their Facebook, deleted my comment to them and looks like others comments too on it...
Anyway, 2 cars of us arrived, I brought the dog with me, I'd never checked their website first but sign on the gate saying no dogs so I left everyone and headed back home with the dog. Got back and paid in only to discover many other dogs inside all day??? Another of my friends was actually turned away with his dog, I didn't try myself once I saw the sign.
But I won't complain anymore as its all already been said, everything overpriced and very badly organised. Wouldn't go back next year...

I noticed that they also deleted my Twitter comment. Wasn't as if I was rude or nasty, just pointed out the obvious of being dissapointed and feeling ripped off by them.

dixiefly

Access wrote: »

I felt like i had to tell others of what our experience of the Trim Balloon Fiesta was on Saturday last.

I brought my family over to trim last saturday for the Trim Balloon Fiesta and the parking/diversion around the town was done very well as not to cause major traffic etc.

We arrived at around 11am so we missed all of the early morning balloons that day - (not too worried about that - my own fault!) but my main point is that while it was very well run and stewarded with fantastic parachute jump demonstrations, i was disappointed that we were charged €10 per adult (€20 altogether + kids free) to basically walk around a field so that we could buy (if we so wished) expensive food and drinks... and exorbitant funfair rides costing €2/€3 for less than 3 minutes of a ride!

My case in point is when my son asked me if he could have a bottle of fanta, i gave him €2 and off he went to a stall... coming back to me a few seconds later saying it was €3 a bottle! :eek: - needless to say we didnt buy there.

I love Trim town and think it is a fantastic place to go for a drive or a picnic with the family and i was gutted last year when we missed the Trim Balloon Fiesta because we were away at a wedding and unable to attend... but i must say we were disappointed after going this year.

Am i alone in thinking like this - or have i missed something?

I fully agree with this and the other points made. We paid €30 for myself, the missus and 11 yr old son as the wife mistakenly thought we might come back over the weekend. This was much more of a rip-off than the last time it was on 2 years ago. Last time there were much more displays of baloons and people got photos of balloons being blown up and also into the balloons as they were being let down. There was a lot more happening and also there were a lot of stalls selling more than just fast food. We bought off a few stalls the last time.
On top of that there was no charge in the last time. I am also wondering where all these balloons were? Besides the 3 at the light show and the two on Saturday morning I saw when driving by there were much less balloons than the last time. It was a "balloon fiesta" with a distinct lask of balloons!

dixiefly

nowuckenfurries wrote: »

They got off to a bad start in my books, some ar*ehole dj pumping out music @ 07:00 Hrs on a Saturday morning is not the way nor the time I wanted to be woken at on a Bank Holiday Saturday Morning :mad:
When myself & Mrs went to go in, we realised that the balloons were not flying, fair enough the weather made it unsafe to do so, no arguements there.

However it just didn't warrant EUR 20.00 to walk around a funfair & a wet field.

I watched the stunt plane perform from my Front door, a great show indeed.

I was a bit concerned as to why the organisers charged people into a field so they could again be charged rip off prices by traders who themselves had paid to place stalls in said field... double take.. (BTW its the same for the VV Car Show)

Fully agree with the comment about the DJ playing loud music at 7am. Incredible....and then the music wasnt to be heard for the rest of the weekend. In fact they were probably breaking their permit as noise laws have a lot of restritions in built up areas between 10pm and 8am.

I agree with the point above about the double take, however not sure if it is fair to compare the Vintage and Veteran with this fiasco. I havent been to it for the last couple of years but I always found it ok value for money. The Vintage and Veteran also give money to charity - I dont know where the profits from this go....maybe there are not many after paying the security firm from Northern Ireland!

I would also have a concern that this would give a bad taste to visitors about Trim and effect other well run, good value events.

Borderfox

It had huge potential but wrong time of year I think put the nail in the coffin for this year, I have been to so many big town festivals and despite the weather they are fantastic but not for this one next year.

niallam

WOW... they deleted my comments again and blocked me from their page for my non offensive and what was "my experience" comments
If they cant take constructive points from what was a customer on the day that paid for 7 people in on the day, 4 of whom came up from Wexford and left very disappointed on the day.

Hi all we had over 10 birds of prey including Falcon's, Eagle and much more. Pets weren't allowed in for their own safety

The dogs i saw inside were mostly small, 3-4 larger breeds, was 1 collie without a lead on it even... The only bird they had flying was a Harris Hawk (1.5kg's i think, any heavier and you cant fly them as means they might not be hungry enough to come back to you) flights of about 20 foot from handler to handler, best of luck to it carrying away my 30kg boxer and my friend who was turned away as well has an even bigger dog

Not only myself and the 7 i paid in for but my family also attended over the weekend as well as friends, 20-30 people maybe i know, if the organizers can't listen to complaints about the day and try maybe fix them or even say "Sorry" then they'll loose a lot of the local people next year, everyone will just head over to the castle grounds where if the balloons had have gotten up you would have seen everything, for free...

Borderfox

Their loss Niallam

niallam wrote: »

WOW... they deleted my comments again and blocked me from their page for my non offensive and what was "my experience" comments
If they cant take constructive points from what was a customer on the day that paid for 7 people in on the day, 4 of whom came up from Wexford and left very disappointed on the day.



The dogs i saw inside were mostly small, 3-4 larger breeds, was 1 collie without a lead on it even... The only bird they had flying was a Harris Hawk (1.5kg's i think, any heavier and you cant fly them as means they might not be hungry enough to come back to you) flights of about 20 foot from handler to handler, best of luck to it carrying away my 30kg boxer and my friend who was turned away as well has an even bigger dog

Not only myself and the 7 i paid in for but my family also attended over the weekend as well as friends, 20-30 people maybe i know, if the organizers can't listen to complaints about the day and try maybe fix them or even say "Sorry" then they'll loose a lot of the local people next year, everyone will just head over to the castle grounds where if the balloons had have gotten up you would have seen everything, for free...

Access

Thanks all for the replys!

My whole point of starting this thread is to see if i was the only one who thought that the entrance fee was nuts... and not just me being nuts!

Like i said... i dont want to be giving out about what is a fantastic idea of a festival in a lovely town... but, i feel so let down by it - some on here said it perfectly when they said it was basically an entrance fee to enter a field full of burger vans!

Maybe if the festival entrance fee was scrapped completely... then i would be back to the festival with my family. But seeing the queues out the gate on Saturday... i cant see that happening!

Also... on a side note... im happy to see that anyone searching google for "Trim balloon fiesta" will see this thread in the first page of search results.
Facebook/twitter comments may be deleted... but google search results will be around for ages!

bumpydog

I've had a read through all of the negative experiences here and, in particular, the choice of dates for the festival. As a commercial ballooning operator, over the past 10 years, the best two months of the year (most stable conditions) have been April and September (does anyone remember last weekend - or looked out of their window today?). Trying to put a similar festival in September clashes with so many other events, one such being the National Ploughing Championships etc. Last time this festival was held (2010), there were far less activities besides the balloons, leading to vulnerability should the weather be bad. In 2010, the balloons all flew the day before the event and conditions were ideal 3 days after the event. It doesn't matter what time of year an event of this type is held, it's a toss of a coin whether the conditions will be suitable (last summer, the three ballooning events were all completely blown out), hence there being far more at the event this year than previously i.e. skydiving demonstration, aerobatic display, paramotor display, 7 huge inflatables, free face-painting, magic shows, Cadburys Easter Egg Hunt, wacky races, puppet shows, kids disco, falcon displays (did I mention that all of this was free? - although certainly not to the organisers). The limited Pet Farm was caused by a last minute let-down by a certain large pet store in Navan, who promised rabbits and guinea pigs etc. Another local organisation decided not to attend leaving another gap in the offerings.

The balloons teams travelled to Ireland from Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the UK and Ireland and were, naturally, bitterly disappointed not to be able to fly in this beautiful country. Despite this, they put on many displays and, in 3 or 4 cases, damaged and/or soaked their balloons due to the conditions). Yes, we had to pay all their fees and costs to attend.

One complainant even suggested that this was of no benefit to the local economy as there were no local traders. These were all invited but chose to only attend on the Sunday. I would think that a town filled with people and not a single free room in the town's accommodation providers is something of a benefit? According to the president of the Chamber of Commerce, the 2010 event brought in over one million euro into the local economy and observers this past weekend have never seen the town so busy.

One complainant here drew comparisons to the Vintage Car Rally and the Scurlockstown Olympiad (hay-making festival), both of which are held in the Porch Fields (both of which charge €10 entry). Yes, I attend both because those particular activities interest me, however, the level of offerings at either do not come close to what was provided, and funded, for the Easter Fiesta. They went on to state that their profits go to charity. Probably true, however, with little or no expenditure, and being run by voluntary committees, this can be easily done. There are likely to be no profits for the Easter Fiesta due to the huge expenditure in providing all the free activities. Those jumping fences or being deterred by the small minority of complainants on social media channels were probably responsible for that situation, And, of course, the weather didn't help the situation. The cost of the Night Glow on Saturday night, which was heralded a great success by attendees and local residents, did not come close to be covered financially by those who came to see it at €5 an adult (most attendees came free having bought a regular day ticket for one of the 3 days). I should add that most of the sponsorship for this event was in kind, and not direct financial support i.e. Cadbury's kindly donated the Easter Eggs for the egg hunt, VW provided us with 4 Amaroks for our foreign balloon teams.

Regarding the issue with dogs - there were three reasons that dogs were requested not to attend. Firstly, by far the largest number of complaints at the 2010 event was from parent who had their kids covered in dog sh*t (yes, believe it or not, there are irresponsible dog owners - I see now that Trim Town Council has, last week, implemented a €3,000 fine for the owners of dogs who litter). Secondly, some small children are actually afraid of dogs and, lastly, the owner of the birds of prey specifically requested that no dogs be near the birds. I am not sure if the comments about the birds carrying off the dogs was tongue-in-cheek, but it's simply due to the birds not settling prior to displays - the same reason that the kites were taken down 30 minutes before each display.

As a local Trim company (yes, one even complained that this was being run by a foreign company, and this should be stamped out!) we have spent the past 6 months, working 16 hour days to put this event on and we acted on the constructive criticism that was provided following the 2010 event. Should we decide (bother?) to run this event again, we will also take on board constructive comments in a bid to further improve the event. Those who posted on FB simply stating 'Rip off - don't go' could maybe email us, as requested, providing some constructive ideas.

The main comfort to us is that the vast majority of the attendees responding to our survey enjoyed the event and found it to be good value for money, one even citing the 7 inflatables alone being worthy of the entry fee as it entertained their kids for hours. Clearly, we would like constructive comments from those who felt that €10 was not good value.

As stated above, please email us at info@trimfiesta.com if you have constructive comments to make and we will do our best to address them.

Malcolm.

bumpydog

Redjeep! wrote: »

Just got back from it.

Total waste of money and time.

We didn't see a single balloon and in effect spent €25 to walk around a field full of burger vans. There was nothing happening and we even got refused admission to the castle, despite the fairly clear comment on the website that it was included.

Never again.

Hi Redjeep!, can you show me where on the website that admission to the castle tour was included?

Thanks.

bumpydog

Access wrote: »

Thanks all for the replys!

My whole point of starting this thread is to see if i was the only one who thought that the entrance fee was nuts... and not just me being nuts!

<snipped>

Maybe if the festival entrance fee was scrapped completely... then i would be back to the festival with my family. But seeing the queues out the gate on Saturday... i cant see that happening!

Maybe in 2007/2008, when companies would provide financial sponsorship to cover the huge costs of providing free entertainment, this might be possible. Until (and if) those days return, the costs of this have to be borne somewhere, and this was via entry fees. I am assuming that you don't come and pay €10 to visit the other Trim festivals or do you consider those as nuts as well?

kormak

WHAT A RIP-OFF!!

Went down Saturday, paid 20 quid in for Mammy, Daddy 1 kid and a dog.
Spent anopther €12 on the chairoplanes in 6 minutes!!
Did see a couple of balloons inflated (just about...)
Artisan food stalls? does the Falafel van count???!

I notice a barrage of negative comments on their website and then they magically disappear...

I can't see how anyone would go to this next year...

WASTE OF MONEY FOLKS!!!

GhostInTheRuins

I had a friend visiting Ireland for a few weeks and we were considering going to this. I looked at website the night before and I couldn't see anything on there that would justify the €10 entrance fee, especially since the balloons didn't even fly. Judging by everyone's reactions here I'm delighted that we didn't waste our money.

I know a few people that were heading to it but I haven't spoken to them since, it'll be interesting to see what they thought of it.

kormak

uptheriver wrote: »

So the balloons didn't get off the ground so what ?! I saw tonsa balloons, sky divers etc etc and what exactly do you want for a tenner !! went all Saturday and saw tons and did tons and the night glow was totally amazing !! great time in trim town after also. all in all I had a blast . hate to see people complain and complain.

One of the best things I've done this year. Maybe they shoulda organised an indoor one instead so there's no chance of it being affected by the weather ! The stormtroopers were great and the globot was electric. Never mind the wingers I had a FANTASTIC TIME and so did my family and my friends who all went. nice to do something outside also i like the rain & pina coladas !

*************************************

looks like you're in the minority with your "fantastic time..."
Nice to get the wee ones out, but there's reasonable and then there's taking the piss!! this WAS the later.

kormak

uptheriver 4 posts ever on Boards and all in staunch defence of the Ballonfest!!! hardly impartial.... :rolleyes:

GhostInTheRuins

Suspicious posts by uptheriver and char8833.

bumpydog

@Kormak,

As I stated in my earlier posts, we carried out market research at the event and the complainants were a small minority. It's like most things in life, it doesn't matter how many positives anything gets, it's always the negatives that shout loudest.