Atlanta Jazz Festival brings in big bucks for many vendors

For the festival’s 20 food and 60 art vendors, this weekend is a major moneymaker, and a way for them to expose their brands to crowds they would otherwise not reach.

Artist Dinett Hok, who is selling her work at the festival for the first time this year, had it put to her this way: it’s like Christmas, or Black Friday, for vendors.

“I asked one of the vendors that had been doing this for five years how it was,” Hok said, who makes fine art with real flowers. “He said: ‘Just to put it like this: If you are in the red as a business owner, this is going to put you in (the) green.’”

For its 48-year existence, the Atlanta Jazz Festival has not charged admission. It is funded by corporate sponsorships, donations to the nonprofit created to support the festival and fees paid by its vendors, among other line items.

Free admission has a number of perks, one being that there is more money in the pockets of attendees, who, in theory, might feel less guilty about spending tens, if not hundreds, of dollars on food, drinks and pieces from the art exhibition.

Credit: John Stephens

Credit: John Stephens

This year, the cost for a vendor booth with access to a 20-amp power hook for lighting is $1,150 for three days with a $15 application fee. A larger booth is $2,250. The vendor must bring their own tent, tables, chairs and, naturally, their own merchandise.

Though the fee is more expensive than smaller, more local shows, it is significantly less than others Hok has had to pay. For bigger shows like the New York Art Expo and Spectrum Miami during Art Basel, Hok has paid anywhere between $6,000 and $10,000.

For the number of people expected to attend, Hok thought the $1,150 fee was justified. She made her first sale five minutes before the exhibition even opened, the first in an undetermined goal for the weekend.

“I’m the type of person that I don’t want to put any number in my head,” Hok said. “But it was a good start making a sale as soon as I opened.”

For food vendors, the base fees start at $1,100 for a pushcart or single-item vendor like lemonade or ice cream. The smallest booth space will cost $1,800, which is the same cost as a food truck or trailer. The base fee for the largest option is $4,000.

That is, of course, if the restaurant doesn’t make a little more than a fifth of those fees in total sales. If 22% of the food vendor’s sales is more than that base fee, they must pay that sales percentage to the event company helping to book vendors for the festival, Premier Events. This money then goes back to the cost of producing the festival.

Williamson Bros. BBQ is one of a number of food vendors with spots at the festival. This is one of their largest events of the year and they’ve prepared accordingly, said Sawyer Williamson, a partner with the restaurant.

It’s a multiday affair. Administrative work began Tuesday, which entailed ordering the food. Raw meat was delivered Thursday. On Friday, it was trimmed, rubbed and wet seasoned. Very early this morning, it was smoked for service for later this afternoon, Williamson said.

For today, the restaurant prepared about 300 slabs of ribs. Depending on how many the restaurant sells, they’ll adjust for Sunday and Monday. The goal is to sell 1,000 slabs, which was the most amount they’ve sold at the festival in years past.

Williamson said they are well-equipped to handle crowds of this size. Large event catering is a big part of the company. They fed more than 1,000 people more than 30 times last year.

“Our competitive advantage in the market is the larger head counts for lesser budgets,” Williamson said. “You need a bunch of people fed? We’ll do it,” he said. “And we’ll do it at a great rate.”

More information about the Atlanta Jazz Festival

Fifteen artists are scheduled to perform for this year’s 48th annual festival. Headliners for today included English songwriter Marsha Ambrosius; Grammy Award-winning composer Derrick Hodge; Atlanta’s own Khari Cabral & Jiva; Oakland, California-based vocalist and composer Aneesa Strings; and Japanese trumpeter Takuya Kuroda playing slots throughout the afternoon.

On Sunday, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, New York City vocalist Andromeda Turre and Russell Gunn & Blackhawk will headline. The following day: singer Dianne Reeves and The Joe Gransden Big Band will headline.