adma
Superstar
Y'know, here's a question that hasn't been posited: I wonder how many who went there in good faith came out with "second thoughts"? i.e. Ford Fests either not being what they used to be, or not what they're cracked up to be. (And this is independent of the violence per se--at least, relatively so.)
That is, I think a lot of them came to wonder *themselves* why they even came here. And the discarded burgers + the sparse attention paid to the band + bouncy castle says it all, on its own, independent of any homophobic-or-whatever "incidents".
A lot of us are casually assuming that attendees are "finite entities", i.e. they go in positive, they leave positive. Yet...people don't work that way. They might go see a newly-opening blockbuster movie that promises to be thrilling--and walk out when it turns out to be a turkey; or else, endure it only to spread the negative word of mouth thereafter.
In this case, it's all camoflauged by its being a one-time event, and in an amorphous context where it's difficult to gauge "audience patterns" (as opposed to the closed environment of a theatre or cinema or arena). And I suppose a lot of those who *did* come with kids felt obligated to, well, "endure it" lest the kids get upset--but in the end, the sheer summer-day drudge of it all leaving even the kids feeling too icky for a bouncing castle or whatever. And the accumulated drear even leading them all to question the "excitement" of meeting the Mayor--"is that it?"
In fact, I started wondering about this last year after the Ford Fest "officially" became too big for the Ford homestead to handle--and more particularly with the Centennial Park event, whether this was all getting dangerously overextended (aided by the geographic psychology of Thomson Park having more hills and dales and gullies, whereas Centennial is all "big sky"). And Centennial Park had better carny rides--what kind of rides did Thomson Park have last year? If there were carny rides last year, then surely, families would have been disappointed this year.
Something nobody has noted (yet which was advertised on the way into the park!): *next* weekend, Thomson Park is hosting a Rib Fest--and I'll betcha that pound for pound, that'd be a more "satisfying" event for the attendees. Whereas with Ford Fest, the only real satisfaction left is tabloid.
