Attendees unhappy with crowded, ‘unorganized' Tioga event

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Permalink Reply by Kristin Foster on December 4, 2012 at 2:47pm

I did and I am that person exactly that the article was written about.  Unhappy with the crowded unorganized event.  I went all the way to Keystone Heights to pick up the boyfriend's daughter to bring her there.  She got pelted in the head with a giant "snow ball".  We waited from 0645 to 0830 in a long line of slowly moving cars to arrive to stand on a patch of dirty slippery ice with hundreds and hundreds of people.  I feared losing my Evie in the crowd of kids at Candyland and wouldn't let   her play. 

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Permalink Reply by Audry Pettit on December 4, 2012 at 4:18pm

It was definitely not well planned. Luckily we live right across the street, so we just walked over. I never would have waited in that massive line of cars. Ridiculous!

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Permalink Reply by Marizel on December 4, 2012 at 6:09pm

We were stuck in that long line of cars. By 7:35 we were only on newberry and 96th and barely moving. Decided it wasn't worth it and turned around.

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Permalink Reply by Kristen Shimeall Cooper on December 5, 2012 at 2:20pm

I don't think Tioga ever expected that many people. I am actually very disappointed that the only coverage this event got was negative.  I run a nonprofit and we have events throughout the year and it is so stressful when you have a much bigger turnout than expected (and that can be a difference of 50 people at my events...I can't even imagine a difference of thousands) but I do believe that with this being a free event that people can't really complain and if they weren't comfortable or felt like it was not safe, then they should be responsible for themselves and their family and go home, I know that would be disappointing when you had planned on attending an event but when you're dealing with a free event, you can't be mad when it wasn't what you thought it would be. I give kudos to Tioga for trying to offer something that they thought would be fun for families and making it financially possible for anyone to come and attend because there are not many places that offer a fun evening for free anymore but I guess that next year Tioga should charge admission and donate that money to charity.   

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Permalink Reply by Kristin Foster on December 5, 2012 at 6:49pm

Well I tried to spend money at that Blue highway and there was an hour and a half wait. I tried to spend money on cookies and cocoa and there were not any to buy. I tried to go into TCBY and into STARBucks and couldn't even get into the doors. I tried to go into some Deli place and it was closed. I tried to buy Dominoes pizza and the line wasn't worth standing in. I would have loved to have spent some money at Town of Tioga but instead had to leave and go to CiCi's pizza. Believe you me, not my first choice.


I think if they had spent a little money on some police officers for parking like the churches do on Sundays that hire an overtime unit or two manipulate the traffic lights and show people where to park then this event might have been fun instead of pure misery. I went to the trunk or treating at Trinity United Methodist church at Halloween (free) and boy it was crowded and there were a ton of cars but those OT officers showed up and whammo they got people parked and traffic moving!


I go to Community Events all the time. I inadvertently ended up on the front page of the paper Sunday at the Thomas Center Event. The Thomas center was free ( and we spent money on the horse rides). I go to free events all the time and usually give vendors money and that was singularly hands down the worst event I have ever been to and really what was there for them to charge money for? to stand on the The dirty patch of ice?


I really don't think the issue was money at all. I think that we are all Floridians and we never ever get to see snow and that is why half the town flocked there. It was probably a lot of people like me. People with little kids who had dreams of making snow angels and snow men and thought mistakenly we were going to take them to this event and see their faces light up in wonder and we sorely disappointed our children and we blamed Tioga for getting our/their hopes up

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Pierson on December 6, 2012 at 11:08pm

We went. I heard something happened to the snow machine but I don't know. Anyhow, I think for the snow attraction, the venue is probably too small unless you charge admission to limit the crowd size. Touch A Truck used the fair grounds, and Sun Country is a small venue that charges for a Halloween Event for an example of size comparison. I personally enjoyed the atmosphere, which reminded me of going to Disney World. I would recommend, having all the shops and vendors stay open during an event like that, it was difficult to find a bathroom for the young children. Also, more food options or street vendors as the line for a pizza was 25-40 minutes long and we had to leave early to get there so no time for dinner. So, host a Christmas event again, NIX the ice chunks, keep the snow-bubble machines those were great! More food, and mark the area the choo choo train will be driving through so my 4 year old doesn't get in the way.

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Permalink Reply by Kathy M. on December 7, 2012 at 10:26am

Ditto :)

Marizel said:

We were stuck in that long line of cars. By 7:35 we were only on newberry and 96th and barely moving. Decided it wasn't worth it and turned around.

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Permalink Reply by Barbara Paredes on December 8, 2012 at 5:15am

The thing is you CAN get somewhat of an idea of turn out based on your advertisements. They WAY over advertised for this event. Facebook pages, tv commercials, radio commercials and even flyers in mailboxes in all kinds of neighborhoods.

 

I waited for an hour and a half and never even got in. Total chaos and huge safety issues. Glad I did not get in.

Kristen Shimeall Cooper said:

I don't think Tioga ever expected that many people. I am actually very disappointed that the only coverage this event got was negative.  I run a nonprofit and we have events throughout the year and it is so stressful when you have a much bigger turnout than expected (and that can be a difference of 50 people at my events...I can't even imagine a difference of thousands) but I do believe that with this being a free event that people can't really complain and if they weren't comfortable or felt like it was not safe, then they should be responsible for themselves and their family and go home, I know that would be disappointing when you had planned on attending an event but when you're dealing with a free event, you can't be mad when it wasn't what you thought it would be. I give kudos to Tioga for trying to offer something that they thought would be fun for families and making it financially possible for anyone to come and attend because there are not many places that offer a fun evening for free anymore but I guess that next year Tioga should charge admission and donate that money to charity.   

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