Kentucky Colonels Reunion-BBQ
June 12th, 2008 adminOnly 4 times over the last 50 years or so did it rain on our parade (BBQ). One of those years was 1996, the first year the Platters appeared as the musical entertainment. Nearly 5,600 tickets were sold for the event that year. The Platters returned in 2002. The weather was sunny, the high temperature 72. Ticket sales that year came to an even 3,500. T
he chart accompanying this post shows BBQ ticket sales for the last 21 years. As you can see, ticket sales and attendance have been waning for a long time. During the years of the decline, several efforts have been made in an attempt to recover the days of grandeur when 8,000 or so people attended. We toyed with the food menu (added a country ham sandwich for example); Expensive entertainment was added (i.e. The Platters in ’96, the Kingston Trio in 2001), and yes in 2005 we moved the location back to Louisville. Nothing worked. Our conclusion, very reluctantly arrived at, is that the day after Derby and after 3 full weeks of festival activities, is no longer a great time to hold such an event. We are exploring alternative event formats and dates.