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Festival Awards 2006
Carolina in the Fall wins Statewide and Regional Awards!
The Carolina in the Fall Festival has been recognized for the fourth consecutive year for excellence in the festival industry. The North Carolina Association of Festivals and Events recently held a joint conference, called Carolina Showfest, with the South Carolina Festival and Events Association in Charlotte, North Carolina. During the Awards Luncheon on the final day of the conference, the Carolina Showfest Excellence Awards were presented for the 2006 calendar year. Festivals from across North Carolina and South Carolina competed in different categories. With a combined, two-state conference, the awards process was considerably more competitive this year.
The Carolina in the Fall Festival, held on the Shepherd Farm off of Armory Road in North Wilkesboro, October 20-21, 2006 was the winner of seven awards!
From left to right: Monica Shepherd, Julie Beck (President of NCAF&E), Brenda Shepherd, Patti Mitchell (Chairman of Excellence Awards NCAF&E)
- Best Website for the festival website. Information about festival musicians, festival sponsors, special events, festival staff, history of the festival, as well as ticket, accommodations and travel information for festival attendees is provided on the website.
- Best Event Photo for photos representative of the family-atmosphere outdoor musical festival. Photos included a photo of the United States Flag (sent to festival organizers by an Army Infantry Captain with the request that the flag be flown during the festival in memory of thirteen soldiers who lost their lives fighting in Iraq) and a soldier’s boots which remained on-stage throughout the festival and was part of the Patriotic Salute presentation led by Retired Air Force General Larry Huggins at the start of the festival each day. Other pictures included a picture of Uwe Kruger, one of the Musical Hosts of the festival, performing on-stage, and a picture of the Carolina in the Fall banner hanging on the Shepherd’s barn at the entrance to the festival site.
- Best Mass Media Printed Material for the festival program that was available during Carolina in the Fall free of charge to all festival attendees. The program contained Festival Greetings from the Festival Hosts and the Musical Hosts; the Stage Schedule; Petey’s Place Children’s Area Schedule; detailed information about each musician; sponsor information, vendor information, special activities information; and, a special thank you to specific volunteers.
- Best Sponsorship Packet for sponsor information provided for the cultivation of relationships with potential sponsors to ensure that both the festival and the individual or business mutually benefit from the sponsorship endeavor.
- Best Press Kit which includes Press Releases, all festival printed materials, and communication with various Media Representatives for promotional articles and/or interviews.
- Sponsor of the Year for Harold’s Restaurant in North Wilkesboro, NC. An excerpt from the award recognition follows:
Harold’s Restaurant is a small restaurant that is a favorite of many in Wilkes County and surrounding areas. Everyone goes to Harold’s for the food, the reputation of home cooked meals, and to see Harold Call, the owner. It is very typical to see Harold go from table to table, pulling up a chair and joining those who are dining in his restaurant. He knows the likes and dislikes, backgrounds, and stories of all who enter his doors. When Harold Call learned about Carolina in the Fall during its initial year four years ago, he was one of the first to volunteer to be a sponsor. He was anxious to see the new event succeed and willing for his successful and popular restaurant to be a sponsor of the festival. That sponsorship relationship has continued for four consecutive years since the start of the festival. The sponsorship commitment from Harold’s Restaurant is like no other sponsor relationship! Harold’s Restaurant not only provides the meals for musicians, staff members, and volunteers throughout the weekend festival, but Harold himself delivered those meals and brought part of his staff with him to serve the meals to the seemingly endless line of staff members and musicians. Harold consistently kept the serving line open for at least two hours to ensure that everyone had a chance to eat. Prior to the official opening of the festival each day, Harold delivered warm ham, sausage, and bacon biscuits to the festival site to help volunteers and staff members start out the day. When the festival was over and the crowds had left, Harold delivered an additional meal and served the volunteers and staff members who were exhausted after cleaning up the festival grounds. Harold’s Restaurant is truly deserving of the Carolina Showfest Sponsor of the Year Excellence Award.
- Associate of the Year for Dan Eller of Party Time Rentals in Charlotte, NC. An excerpt from the award recognition follows:
Party Time Rentals, Inc provides an invaluable service to the festival industry. Carolina in the
Fall, a relatively new festival, continues to rely heavily on the expertise of the Party Time
Rentals, Inc staff for development of the plans and necessary changes to the festival site.
Party Time Rentals Inc has earned a reputation as a high-quality rental company with a
tremendous inventory and experienced event planners for Charlotte and the Carolinas. Dan Eller, owner, and his staff at Party Time Rentals willingly work with event and festival planners to help develop festival layouts, search the company’s inventory to create running lists of tents, tables, staging, fencing, chairs, concession items, etc. that can be utilized during festivals and events, and even provide CAD drawings of tent layouts for placement of staging, tables, and chairs to provide maximum seating for each venue. Dan Eller has such expansive expertise in preparing festival grounds because Party Time Rentals, Inc is contracted to work at many venues including race tracks, stadiums, convention centers, downtown streets, parks, and, particularly, festivals. His outstanding knowledge of planning venues greatly influenced festival logistics for Carolina in the Fall such as planning for the flow of pedestrian traffic, vendor area set-up, children’s area layout, and the main stage and sound engineering control area.
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The Carolina in the Fall Festival has been recognized for the fourth consecutive year for excellence in the festival industry. The North Carolina Association of Festivals and Events recently held the annual conference and Showfest in Charlotte, North Carolina. more...
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