http://www.telluridenews.com/articles/2011/04/06/news/doc4d9bb9a08f32d550770248.txtBluegrass Festival merchant passes
sell out in an hour and a half
By Kathrine Warren
Staff Reporter
Published: Tuesday, April 5, 2011 11:02 PM CDT
Another Telluride Bluegrass Festival ticket record was broken on Friday morning with merchant passes selling out in an hour and a half.
As in past years, Planet Bluegrass allocated 200 merchant passes for those in Telluride or Mountain Village with a business license to purchase for their employees for the festival, which has already seen a quick sell-out of four-day and single-day tickets.
“We tried to do the right thing,” said Brian Eyster, director of communications for Planet Bluegrass. “We expected them to go fast, but not this fast.”
Planet Bluegrass notified merchants last Tuesday in an e-mail that tickets would go on sale Friday at 9 a.m. and they would be sold over the phone.
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“We have 20 phone lines coming into the office,” Ester said. “All 20 lines were full until 10:30.”
They had a list of the licensed businesses from Mountain Village and Telluride and made sure each person ordering passes was on the list. Buyers were limited to four passes, which are good for up to 16 people.
(Merchant passes are designed to let up to four employees to share one pass to enjoy the festival between shifts.)
Eyster pointed out that in past years merchants have bought only one or two passes, but this year there were more tickets per order.
Planet Bluegrass staff went into the sale knowing it would be a fast sell-out, but once again was surprised with how quickly the tickets were snatched.
“Based on the number of calls [we received earlier that week] we knew the demand was going to be high,” Eyster said. “Usually they don’t even sell out.”
In the years that merchant passes have sold out, it’s not until the end of May or even the week of the festival, which is held in mid-June.
Regular four-day passes sold out online on March 19 and locals four-day passes sold out just a few days later. Single day tickets are all but gone, except for a handful of Thursday tickets.
Nightgrass tickets will become available online by the end of April.
On Friday, Michelle Davis, owner of Aromaspa, wrote a letter to the Daily Planet editor after not being able to get through on the phone lines.
“We have been buying merchant passes for 15 years and none of us can go this year,” she wrote. “The very people who bear the good and the bad of the festival are not being allowed to attend the festival. While no one saw this coming it is not too late for the town to make an exception to help the merchants.”
Mayor Stu Fraser said he has been fielding phone calls and e-mails from locals who have been left hanging by the unprecedented ticket sales.
He said he has already been in conversation with Planet Bluegrass and Craig Ferguson, the promoter’s president, before last Friday.
“We were aware that passes and daily tickets had sold out rather quickly,” Fraser said. “We wanted to wait until we could get a better idea of the actual picture.”
He said there is a possibility to allow for more ticket sales, but they need to do some tricky calculations.
“It’s an exercise in figuring out what has been sold and the normal non-show rate is, and then we will be coming up with some sort of answer,” he said.
But at this point, there is still no guarantee that more tickets will become available.
“Our hands are tied at this point,” Eyster said. The festival is allotted 11,500 wristbands and they sell roughly 10,000 tickets and the remainder includes performers and crew.
“We keep close tabs on all of that,” he said.
Last week the Town of Telluride authorized Telluride Music Company to sell 75 additional four-day passes at the local’s discount to give more locals a chance at four-days.
“We are talking in earnest,” Fraser said. “Craig doesn’t typically like to ask for additional tickets because he is usually right at the maximum that we allow.”
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