I Can Promise

You’ve likely heard by now that the Treeline Music Festival - formerly known as Roots & Blues - cancelled unexpectedly late last week. We found out via social media just like everyone else in the world…and like everyone else in the world, we were totally stunned by the news. And because our local news always likes to visit me because I basically have an opinion on everything, one station stopped by on Saturday to get my opinion. I didn’t watch the final interview, but I saw the thumbnail image of me at PJP Nifong with the headline that the festival cancellation “leaves local business in shambles”. That’s dramatic, right? But since I’m fairly dramatic by nature, I can’t fault it.

So, I personally wouldn’t choose the word “shambles”, but my very first selfish thought was about how we were going to recover those sales that we count on heavily in our year-end goal setting. Treeline, f/k/a Roots and Blues, was always our first solid push into the fall season. It is always SO MUCH WORK, but never once has all the work not been worth it for sales or revenue. And aside from dollars, meeting new people who eventually visit one of our stores is worth so much we can’t even put a value on.

Perhaps because I was on the news to discuss it, a few people have asked if I know anything about the festival decision making. I do not. The reporter asked me if I felt bad for the festival owners and I actually laughed because I feel bad when we close orders for Thanksgiving and someone calls to order and I have to say no. ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THAT? I feel awful for them. That had to be a Sophie’s Choice of a decision. And because we live in a world of constant online opinion, the worst part would have been reading - or trying to avoid reading - all the comments on social media. The truth is that only a few people in town know what it costs to put on a festival like Treeline and if the overall cost outweigh the benefits, why would we expect the owners to move forward? I can promise that whatever number I put in my head for the cost of running Treeline, I should take that number and add 40%. I was once on the national news to discuss pecan prices, so I would probably have to take to my bed when if I saw what it costs for 100 porta-potties to be delivered, cleaned regularly, and then removed once the weekend is finished. And look, Salt-N-Pepa may have been at their height in the 1980s, but I can promise Salt-N-Pepa doesn’t travel to Columbia for cheap, even in 2023.

So anyway, that was a long way to say I feel bad for the owners of the festival and all the people who were excited to go. And for us because we were hopeful to sell a few thousand tarts over the course of a few days. Earlier today, I sent Jason a link to the Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival and said “don’t hate me, but…” That festival always promises big crowds and perhaps we could make up some of the lost revenue from our normal Roots and Blues sales. Except we’ve never done it and we have no clue how many tarts to bake. And that spurned a discussion about whether we are too set in our ways in our advancing age of nine fall baking seasons. Which is the long way to say we don’t know what the heck to do. Please be kind in your comments.