26 May 09 Outstanding RedFest Survey Results

In September last year, Brisbane Marketing engaged the University of Queensland to undertake an evaluation of the 2008 Redland Spring Festival. The study was to measure the economic and social impacts and visitor and stakeholder satisfaction with the Festival.

The Festival committee is excited by the outstanding response and will use the results to inform their programming into the future.

The high calibre of entertainment included in the program was a definite attraction with 40 % of respondents quoting that as their reason for attendance. The Festival has already supported that response by increasing and improving its exciting entertainment program for 2009 – soon to be released.

Clearly, the Festival atmosphere, the availability of local luscious strawberries and the strengthening of local traditions and values all rated highly amongst the attracting features which contributed to the soaring level of satisfaction surveyed at the event.

With all those attractions on offer, the majority of respondents indicated they would attend the Festival the next time the event is held, with 63.1% indicating they were ‘highly likely’ to attend and 16.5% indicating they were ‘likely’ to attend.

The Festival has been actively working toward establishing its individual, not for profit identity over the past 24 months. RedFest Vice President, Bruce Smith said, “Interestingly, questions about Festival organisation and sponsorship identified the large kudos Redland City Council receives for this event. As a sponsor, Redland City Council was identified as the organising party by 37.9%, whilst only 35.9% identified Redland Spring Festival Inc as the organising party.” As a result of this, the committee intends to correct this perception and highlight that RedFest is an event run by the community for the community, whilst still acknowledging the generosity of all sponsors.

The data collected and analysed by the UQ students leads to the conclusion that the Spring Festival has both economic and socio-cultural benefits for the local Redland community. The results of this study indicate a small economic benefit is brought to the region as a whole and that it offers locals the opportunity to come together as a community to celebrate its distinctive land and seascape.