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

PauloMN

bumpydog wrote: »

Let me try one last time.....Yes, we funded the vast majority of this festival and spent the past 6 months putting this event together, so I am taking some of these posts personally (nothing was free, I set up boards accounts etc). I asked for one simple thing - send me personally an email to info@trimfiesta.com with *constructive* suggestions/criticisms/ideas and I will respond to each and every one. I can do no more than this. So far, from this thread, I have received NONE. Until that happens, I can only confirm that these 'legitimate' board members (yes, two positive comments were accused of being manufactured by myself) are happy to have a poke behind their anonymous IDs. I don't care who you or anyone else here are - use a hotmail account if you want to remain anonymous. Let's see who's brave enough to start the ball rolling.

Malcolm.

Malcolm, I think you should either fully engage on this thread, or do not post on it at all. I agree that some of the criticism is not constructive, and some might not be accurate, but there is a pretty stong general feeling on the cost of some items - from long time posters in the Meath forum, not one post wonders - which you have not responded to at all.

If you are representing the Balloon Fiesta on a formal basis, then you simply cannot take the criticism so personally. I appreciate you've obviously put a lot of hard work and effort into this, and of course it's hard to read criticism, especially when it is not constructive - but the beauty of a forum like this is that everyone can air their views, and people do read other people's feedback and base their decision to attend future events based on what they read. With that in mind, when they read one of the organisers being so critical of other posters, it just fuels the fire imo. Just because someone doesn't send you an email does not mean their feedback is not valid.

One thing that a number of posters, myself included, have mentioned is the cost of the rides at the Fiesta. You haven't commented on this at all in any of your posts. In a recession, when people are expected to pay a cover charge to get entry into a festival, it obviously really got to people that they had to fork out €3 for tokens to have a few minutes on the rides - including adults having to go on the rides purely to mind the little ones.

Imo, addressing the cost of rides and food/drinks at the event would go an awful long way to making people happier to pay the cover charge. Last time there was no cover charge, so people are not as bothered about hefty charges for rides. But when people have to pay a cover charge, the expectations rise dramatically, and while I feel my expections were met to some degree with the additional activities that were not there in 2010 (kids shows, bouncy castles etc..), I do think the items that did have a charge need to be looked at/reduced.

kc66

kormak wrote: »

Ah I think they got 2 go's!!

I asked the guy and he said he will give another go if its quiet, by the time she came down the slide there were a few people waiting so wasn't going to ask him.

ibarelycare

Malcolm seems to be confused between the words "constructive" and "negative". There is plenty of constructive criticism on this thread from what I can see. It seems he only wants to hear positive feedback.

kormak

A bit of advice Malcolm...
Even if you feel frustrated from reading negative (or non-constructive) comments... smile with gritted teeth, tell people "Thanks for ALL your comments, we'll take everything on board and endeavour to write the wrongs next year... bla bla bla "

Constructive criticism from me (again):
Lose the cover charge OR drop the price of the kiddie rides... way too expensive.
Don’t advertise artisan food stalls if they’re not going to be there.
Organise the free stuff (bouncing castles, etc...) a little better. It was a bit of a free for all.

It has all the hallmarks of being a great festival in my opinion (Especially if it’s a fine sunny day). Just needs some smoothing round the edges when it comes to certain costs and fees?

dixiefly

bumpydog wrote: »

Let me try one last time.....Yes, we funded the vast majority of this festival and spent the past 6 months putting this event together, so I am taking some of these posts personally (nothing was free, I set up boards accounts etc). I asked for one simple thing - send me personally an email to info@trimfiesta.com with *constructive* suggestions/criticisms/ideas and I will respond to each and every one. I can do no more than this. So far, from this thread, I have received NONE. Until that happens, I can only confirm that these 'legitimate' board members (yes, two positive comments were accused of being manufactured by myself) are happy to have a poke behind their anonymous IDs. I don't care who you or anyone else here are - use a hotmail account if you want to remain anonymous. Let's see who's brave enough to start the ball rolling.

Malcolm.

I think that is a ridiculous comment.......whether you like it or not social media is a very significant way of communicating these days, especially for the under 40s and to dismiss it the way you did says more about you than anything else.

Look at the amount of views on the thread..of course some are multiples of the same person but it is significant enough. Note that most of the posters posting their constructive comments have a significant number of posts and didnt just join this week.

I would hope that at least some on the committee would take on board some comments as a balloon festival is a unique event. And just to let you know, we are not all faceless people in front of a computer screen - some of us are involved in several organisations in the town. We just use social media as a tool for communicating.

As far as I remember I posted positive comments about the last balloon fiesta as I found it quite good. Its not a case of looking to pick holes in the event. But when, a significant portion of people give similar experiences you should at the very least recognise those and your post above basically says you dont believe very many of the comments. Anyway, the thread wasnt just to get feedback from yourself, it was primarily a discussion about the event and peoples thoughts.

bumpydog

OK, as this is currently such an emotive subject for me and my company, I want to apologise if anyone took my comments out of context or personally. Sure, we want to improve the event and make everybody happy and we will review all comments and see if it's possible for us to repeat this event although that, sadly, looks unlikely, given the demand for us to reduce pricing/provide more.

No more posts from me.

bitemybanger

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with anyone nor am I taking sides.
I can't comment on this years Fiesta as I didn't attend but I was at the last one and myself and the family had a great day and was looking forward to another one but with rain, wind and cold I decided it wouldn't be as enjoyable as it could be.
I personally think it is the right time of year to hold the event.
One because it really is hit or miss with the weather, for instance if it was held today, it's warm sunny and the wind isn't howling.
And also because if it's any later into the year, sure there is a better chance of a sunny day but the night glow and fireworks which are in my opinion the highlight of the whole fiesta wouldn't be on til very late ruling it out for young kids.

<Mod hat on>
Please keep the thread civil folks.
I understand some people are upset and feel ripped off and that's fine.
If you disagree with a post, attack the post not the poster.

scammed1234

I, too, have had a very poor experience with a Hot Air Balloon company operated by one of the people who has responded to several posts in this thread.

Fact: I have purchased vouchers for a hot air balloon ride with the company over a year ago and they have cancelled every flight I have booked and refuse to provide a refund.

If you purchased vouchers at the event described in this thread, it is my opinion that you should return them within '7 days' as offered by the same director for a full refund.

noel farrell

my first visit to this venue , i took a trip up from carlow on sunday , the way i see it the weather spoiled the show . the did not seem to have a plan b in the event of not being to inflate the balloons ,i know the did try , as an older pair on our own we enjoyed what was available ...i travel a fair bit to country fairs in ireland and uk there would be some thing on in the main arena from early till late not so here it was sparse to say the least .. how ever i thank them for trying , this event could be a great day out in the future if more thought was put into it .. i wont knock it if i am still around i will give a go next year if it is on how ever i will be expecting more for my hard earned yo yo

cournioni

Guys, please keep this civil and within the rules of the forum charter. There has been three bans handed out so far on this thread for breaches of the rules. We do not want to have to hand out any more.

Mightycraic

scammed1234 wrote: »

I, too, have had a very poor experience with a Hot Air Balloon company operated by one of the people who has responded to several posts in this thread.

Fact: I have purchased vouchers for a hot air balloon ride with the company over a year ago and they have cancelled every flight I have booked and refuse to provide a refund.

If you purchased vouchers at the event described in this thread, it is my opinion that you should return them within '7 days' as offered by the same director for a full refund.

I was at the event and did ask - there were no ballooning vouchers for sale. In fact, my brother flew with them last year and had some flights cancelled due to weather but he did have his vouchers extended free of charge and thoroughly enjoyed the flight.

Access

As the opening poster on this thread i have nothing to gain from dissing/complaining about this festival - like i said, Trim is a lovely town and i will still continue to support the local economy - But not the balloon festival.

I have a wife and kids... and my opinion counts very little on matters in life... because i am a regular ordinary joe soap.

I have not read this thread for a couple of days... and i am appalled at the replys and attitude from the person representing the festival... but on a flip side - i am delighted that this shows that i am not the only one person to think this way regarding the value for money of the admission fee.

Our constructive facebook and twitter comments regarding the balloon fiesta were deleted so as a boards user... i think i was right to post in the meath forum.

Bumpydog... i really do appreciate how hard it is to organise such a big festival like yours and well done on that in fairness... but as a paying customer I have a right to complain if i dont see value for money because my income is damn hard to come by nowadays.

upinthesky

well i attended on Saturday and a complete waste of money paid 20 euro in
2 rides for the children 6euro
a balloon 5 euro and
ice cream for the kids 4.50 total of 35 euro in say 20 minutes

now i was on a strict budget so could have spent a lot more if i had the money i know parents that spent on average 70euro to keep the kids entertained


i complained on there facebook page only to have the comments deleted i know balloons are weather permitted but everything else was so overpriced there was nothing to do only spend money
i heard the night show was good but how can parents bring children to an event that's on between 9 and late hours not possible

upinthesky

and may i add there was supposed to be a pet farm there all i seen was a sheep and a donkey in a pen!!

we asked the stewards and they said the farm never showed up very disappointing

AnCatDubh

lisar816 wrote: »

and may i add there was supposed to be a pet farm there all i seen was a sheep and a donkey in a pen!!

we asked the stewards and they said the farm never showed up very disappointing

I think the circumstance around this was explained earlier in the thread. TLDR - They were let down.

dr. gonzo

Hi
I attended the Festival 2 years ago and I have to say it was outstanding, probably the best festival that has been run in Trim. The weather wasn't much better than this year but there was whole lot more to offer, both for adults and kids. The food van's and stall 's were fantastic, truly great Artisan foods.

I was really looking forward to attending the festival this year, we have two small children so for them it was about bringing them to see the balloons and the farm in particular. For myself and my wife it was also again about going to see the balloons and the amazing foods that were there in the previous festival.

We went on the Sunday morning, got there around 10:30 and had left after getting our money back by 10:45, gutted!
As it's been mentioned before, there was no Farm, Country Market consisted of 5 or 6 van's selling junk and no Artisan food just greasy burger vans, there were kites though!

I understand that the Night glow and fireworks were amazing and well done on that for a great show but as for the rest..

From reading a previous post, I have purchased vouchers from the Ballooning company that ran the event, and whilst the trip was cancelled several times due to weather - we continued to book, eventually we did get to go up and it was an absolutely amazing experience, well worth the wait!

I do hope that the event is ran again and comes closer to the initial festival two years ago...

Borderfox

One thing I will say in its favour, the baked potatoe stand was savage tasty and priced just right, Also enjoyed the WWII re-enactment up near the Yellow Steeple/Tower

nomesc

Agree with everyone. We went on the Sunday and €10 per adult to walk around a cold wet field was crazy. Didn't see any of the nice food stands that were there a couple of years ago either. The bouncy castle area and slides were good. My daughter loved the egg hunt too. A baloon was bought for her. It cost €8 and didn't even last the day! It was very well organised but I thought it was better a couple of years ago, better stalls. Think €5 per adult would have been more acceptable. That baked potato stand was nice but their chili lacked a kick

skywalker_208

Was going to bring the family along over the weekend but started to see the negative comments on FB page and was in 2 minds. Then I saw they were being deleted so that was my mind made up. I didnt go.

Seeing the attitude and level of customer service being provided by the Trim Balloon Fiesta rep here I am glad I didnt.

Twigster

Didn't attend because had plans for the weekend, but had the pleasure of be woken up at 7 saturday morning by the ridiculously loud music. was going to complain but not worth it judging by the comments here and feedback on facebook. Im sure events like this have to be licenced and would put a complaint for future events with regards to the noise pollution.