Culinary fests hope to defy economic gloom
— -- How muted will the merry-making be this year?
Economists seeking a fresh perspective on Americans' leisure-spending habits should keep an eye on ticket sales for the top culinary festivals, which showcase luxurious foods and wines and the product lines and books of celebrity chefs and TV personalities.
Ticket prices are rising at two of the most popular gatherings, the Feb. 19-22 Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami and the June 19-21 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, yet organizers predict sales and attendance will be only slightly affected by the recession.
"There is such a drumbeat of negativity in the outside world, but people still need to eat and be entertained," says Dana Cowin, editor in chief of Food & Wine magazine, which sponsors the Aspen fest (foodandwine.com/classic).
Tickets for the three-day event went on sale in December at a cost of $1,085, reflecting a 3% increase over 2008 (after March 15, the price increases by $100, as in previous years). Cowin expects all 5,000 slots to sell out, as they have every year for the past decade, but at a slower pace.
Food Network's South Beach festival (sobewineandfoodfest.com), which sells individual tickets for its approximately 60 events, has kept prices the same for most of the gatherings, but a few will cost 8% to 16% more than last year, says founder/director Lee Brian Schrager. The $212 Grand Tastings (up from $187 last year) and the $200 Burger Bash (up from $175) both sold out within two days after going on sale in late October (more tickets recently were made available), but tickets for the $350 Bubble Q (up from $300) have not yet sold out, partly due to added capacity this year.
Based on the number of tickets sold to date, Schrager says attendance will about equal last year's, when 30,000 attended the main events and 20,000 attended a separate low-cost, family-oriented festival-within-the-festival. Schrager notes that area hotel rates, which will be generally lower than last year, also could help to keep attendance from dipping.
