What really happened at the Quezon City Food Festival?

foreword: this is coming from someone na napagod kalalakad, at naubusan ng pagkain. expect some anger haha 

Around 4pm. Maginhawa x Masaya 

honestly, i was one of those who were overly excited about this event. it was a definite must-go. a food fest at Maginhawa? are you kidding me? it's already a food haven over there and staging a festival in that popular street will be such a gastronomic adventure. 

i only learned about the fest a month or so before the actual event and by that time it has already made an incredible hype. their facebook page was full of teasers that effectively invited over 10,000 likes in less than 3 months! everyone was excited! who wouldn't be?

the vision their agenda gave me looked exciting at first glance, a concert during the day, fireworks display at night, a street full of food, and a 2km road closure. wait, what?

they had to close the entire stretch of Maginhawa from Masaya St. to V.Luna Extension to better regulate the fest. i was griping at this thought at first, specially when i was made to walk some 500m to jeckie's house. argh, i was in such a sour mood i even confronted the marshalls to express my disappointment. obviously, that didn't work cos i was just bitching out. and bitching out never worked. take note. 

by the way, i'm writing this super late after learning so much about DPOP's Professional Blogging Summit, so taking my learnings into account.... I SHALL (try) NOT (to) HATE. keyword: try

you know how hard it is to not rant when you're so pissed off by a certain experience right? so i waited for my furrowed brows to come down and tried to look at the event in a different light. naks. let's not be partial. haha

okay, let's break it down:

THE GOOD

• as a frustrated designer, i found the online teasers and ads very well designed. that included the posters, the infographics, the commemorative plates, and everything they shared digitally. hehe it's one of the reasons why i enjoyed promoting the event. i'm very partial with the design haha

• they hosted a lot of pre-event giveaways and promos! aaaand as much as i'd love to join, i was discouraged by the amount of people actively participating... so there goes my totally diminished chances of winning.

• they picked a very good place to hold a food fest. diba diba? haha

• i believe everyone was well informed about the event... the place, the road blocks, possible detours, who to contact as an exhibitor, tent prices, etc. it's all in their fb page.

• i must say, kudos to their PR/Advertising team. they did a really good job promoting the event. i think the idea of a Quezon City Food Festival was unique and exciting so it's no surprise it was such a success.

• i called it a success because from the organizers' view, well that's something to add to their booming portfolio of events handled/designed/executed/headed/etc. i just hope it adds the value they hoped to get from it. >:|

• from a purveyor's standpoint, amassing an incredible amount of foot traffic meant money, money, and money. i bet every single tent sold out, even those who have never sold out ever since. hahaha!

THE BAD

it was literally The Hunger Games when dusk came about. so many stalls have sold out. there were just SO MANY PEOPLE and SO LITTLE FOOD left to appease everyone's growling tummies (ours included).

i was already at the place by 4pm but decided to take a nap at jeckie's first. we came out around 8:30pm and we're already so freaking late. no more Big B, and everyone's kindof wrapping up their tents already. only chance you get to, uhm, enjoy the night is to buy booze, but then again, NOT ENOUGH SEATS. and can i just add that it's also TOO DARK FOR A FESTIVAL. i thought it was because a lot of stalls started packing up early, but then again, they're not supposed to be our major source of light...rrrright?

another thing, the promised WIFI WAS NOWHERE TO BE FELT. pinalampas ko na lang cos i know better than to rely on public wifi for big events like this, but it seems like even the Smart stalls didn't know they were offering free wifi coverage. when i inquired to ask for some 2 booths, the free internet they were promoting was the one which needs data connection (text FREE to 9999). and that's hardly the wifi the poster was boasting about.

anyhow, we gave up scouting for food when we reached this point:

the crowd has already gone to a toxic level i swear i wouldn't have survived that bottle neck without fits of rage and lots of elbowing. chos. i'm not that violent... and hungry. haha

THE UGLY

i'm not sure how to differentiate the bad from the ugly haha kelangan ko lang kumpletohin talaga haha.

in the end, we just came back to their house and ate hotdogs with the family. hihi i'd say it's still fun, after all, it's the company that's really going to save your day! we watched TV all night (but i slept halfway) and waited for the fireworks display. tsss, we could've sold those hotdogs out haha!

oh the fireworks! that's something good right? >XD haha back to the ugly things...

i feel like the organizers don't feel sorry enough for causing so much trouble to a freaking lot of people. a lot of angry posts were littered over their facebook wall, and while some of them got a personal reply from one of the organizers, it still didn't feel right. and i read some really negative posts were deleted too.

yes. i was kindof expecting an apology post or something addressed to everyone, but i guess if they think it was a success, it'll be up to their prides to issue something as humbling as that.  they posted a thank you photo though. nope. that's not an apology.

on a critical note, the success of the event cannot be concurred as a fact when a major fraction of their service endpoint isn't happy! and that's us! aaaargh. it's so frustrating when only the capitalists are being served! kainis!

TO THE ORGANIZERS

i hope you learn from this experience. rest assured that i still believe that you all want us to be happy and that half of the bad things i emphasized up there (read: bold red) are out of your hand. you surely cannot be blamed for that, right? how could you have known there'll be thousands upon thousands of hungrybods coming for food? and how could the business owners have prepared for that multitude? then again, you pulled the people in, you're kindof responsible.

hmmm, next time what about putting up a facebook event parallel to the page just to get a headcount of the people joining? >XD also you could setup something banchetto style that wouldn't take an entire street. i think that would be enough. but i guess you wanted to involve the entire food circuit so err, oh well. >XD

as for the bad stuff in blue, i blame you for that! :P

in all honesty i didn't the enjoy the event, but i can't hide the fact that i'm still positive about a 2nd QC Food Fest next year, simply because there's already so much points for improvement that there's no reason not to improve. hehe

whew! were you also there? how did you find it?