Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival case study

Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival cut costs and time by integrating with Purplepass to manage their multi-event festival

“Their online ticketing is user-friendly, especially in a COVID environment. Easy reporting whether it's by event or by day, plus there are lots of options to pull reports. You can even pass along credit card processing fees to the customer.”

Goodbye paper! Hello Purplepass!

The Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival (SABF) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that uses events and initiatives to promote community spirit and showcase local agricultural heritage in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.

The festival comprises an array of events, from pageants and parades to tours, tastings and fundraisers, attracting over 250,000 people each year.

Challenge

Expensive printing costs
Tracking paper tickets
Creating seating charts was time consuming

Solution

Using a complete event management software; user friendly online ticketing, the ability to track and pull reports, assigned seating support, via Purplepass

With 6 different venues and 30+ events taking place throughout the festival, the SABF needed an efficient way to sell tickets, track and process orders, as well as create necessary seating charts.

Purplepass’ user-friendly and extensive event management platform made it easy for them to monitor every event on one dashboard. Moving their registration online also meant no more tracking paper tickets!

Results

Purplepass creates the seating maps for SABF; the venue requires 6 different maps.
The festival can pre-order ticket stock in bulk and/or print their own using rental printers.
They can track each individual event or the festival as a whole and create custom reports.

“Before Purplepass, paper ticketing was challenging and printing was expensive. Staff and volunteers also had to spend a tremendous amount of time setting up seating charts and placing guests.”

A user-friendly experience for promoters and their guests

The festival went from handling paper tickets and putting in long hours on their seating charts to a user-friendly, simple experience all the way around. With ticket sales online, in advance, this reduces the amount of purchases made at the gate and the number of volunteers needed to work registration. Digital ticket sales also translate to automatic tracking and available reports to review pre, during and post event.

For guests, the wait times and lines are shorter with all the pre-purchases and print-at-home tickets that can be scanned at the door upon arrival. By conducting more tickets sales online, with the option to present print-at-home or mobile tickets, this also reduces the cost of printing tickets and overall printing expenses.

The SABF can now create custom ticket passes and packages (VIP) to accompany any event type. This not only accommodates the festival and different ticket types they might want, but flexibility and options for the guests as well. When attending an event, people prefer options on their tickets; think VIP, reserved seating, children discount, weekend pass, etc.

Ample reports and tracking options

At Purplepass, we love all our reporting options and so does the SABF! Unlike before, the festival can now track everything before, during and after their events. With purchases being made online, they can track tickets sold, capacity, what ticket types are being sold, etc.

By doing this in advance, the festival can make adjustments to prices and available ticket types depending on what is selling. They will also be able to track customer demographics and evaluate their target market according to who is buying tickets.

Other custom report options include financials, customer and guest list, marketing, geography and distribution as well as coupon codes.

As for accounting, the festival no longer has to worry about tracking their paper tickets and avoiding human errors. Purplepass provides detailed event statements, charges and invoices for promoters to review at the end of an event.

These extensive reporting options make it easy for promoters to review the results of their event and better prepare for next year!

A COVID-friendly application

The coronavirus really changed how promoters take on and plan events. With a platform like Purplepass, one thing you can check off your safety list is a touchless registration experience.

One of the festival’s primary concern after the COVID-19 pandemic was creating a safe environment for their guests. Starting at the gate, guests can purchase tickets online, avoiding any unnecessary interactions like payments, exchanging cash or paper tickets. They can opt to have a print-at-home or mobile ticket so volunteers can scan them in without actually interacting.

Creating seating maps

Before Purplepass, the festival had volunteers design and assign guests to their seating charts...manually!!

With Purplepass, promoters can send us their venue layout and we will create a custom map for free. At registration, guests will be able to select their seat of choice using the map linked to that event.

Visit www.purplepass.com/learn to learn more about Purplepass and how you can improve the customer experience at your next event.

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"I decided to try Purplepass because I needed a system more robust than others I've tried (i.e. Eventbrite, Brown Paper Tickets, etc) without the Ticketmaster fees. I loved the ease with which the service became integrated into our show, making the service invaluable to my team. At one point, we discovered a feature we felt could be used that Purplepass did not have. We made the suggestion and asked for it to be considered in future builds. Within a couple of weeks the feature was added...I have already insisted Purplepass be incorporated into all future events. Thank you Purplepass for becoming a virtual member of our team!"

- Chastity I, Geekie Awards

"The wonderful Purplepass team came out to our event, trained volunteers (on event day) and in less than 10 minutes they were ready to go! The Purplepass team not only stayed the entire day but stepped in to help work during the peak of sales. Overall Purplepass offered the complete solution for our event needs and provided data that we will use to improve on sales and increase success. Purplepass was a win for iHeart!"

- KC Morris, iHeart Media

"The support team will walk me through the steps so I know what to do every time. They also have walked me through all of the details for Purplepass and spent many afternoons providing training sessions with me while I learned the software. Purplepass has been a huge help!"

- Kelson Henwood, Coordinator for The Lancaster Festival

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Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival cut costs and time by integrating with Purplepass to manage their multi-event festival

Ticketing for Fairs and Festivals