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Lead up to The Wickerman Festival: Blog 1
13th Jul 2008
Well. The fun started today and i'm so excited about it I have decided it's best I share it with you. In some respect we prepare for The Wickerman Festival from the day after the festival finishes the year before, but today we got the paintbrushes out and got our hands dirty. 14 days from now it will all be over, the dust will be settling and the million dollar question on everyones lips will be, was it worth it?
This year Skiddle.com (that's errr us) return with our showcase arena, which I'm very excited to say this year includes 4 mega DJ's, in the shape of MR C, Tim Sheridan, Xpress 2 and Greg Vickers! Whilst each of these names means something different to someone, they are all people that have influenced and educated my musical journey that I have lived in the past 10 years. So it's a pleasure to put them on in the tent alongside my friends who in my opinion, are just as talented as the superstars.
We are also providing the entire online and telephone ticketing system for this years festival, in which we took our current ticketing system and improved it, enabling us to email the ticket to the customer instead of posting it which is then ready to be scanned upon arrival at the gate. This has speeded up the distribution of tickets, eliminated a postage bill and track ticket sales a lot easier. We are extremely pleased with the system and I am looking forward to seeing it in action very very soon! Skiddle.com reached the finals in the 2008 BIBAS for our e-ticketing system, the best bit of the night being Tony Hadley performing 'gold'. Brilliant.
The festival is very important to me, I guess for a number of reasons. The one that always gets me is the sheer beauty of the festival site and its location. I used to go camping with my parents in Kircudbright, which is just a 10 min drive from the farm. Simply put, I love the area, there is really quite a special feeling when I return.
I've had 3 or 4 visits back to the area since last years festival, and recently took some friends camping to introduce them to the area. We really enjoyed our break away, to breathe in some fresh scottish air, drink some cold scottish lager and generally just have some fun. A bit like the festival itself then!
In 5 days time I start the journey from Manchester to Wickerman 2008. Stopping off in Carlisle to lend a marquee to The Cumberland Show and do some last minute promotion, once that is out of the way we should be in Dundrennan for Saturday. The marquees are a new addition to my collection, both of which you will see at the festival this year, one acting as a chill out area complete with hammocks and massages, and the other is a massive dome, which we are using as a second tent this year allowing us to introduce promoters For No Reason and Mutant Frequencies to our lineup. We'll talk more about that later. We have had the marquees up a couple of times so far to give them a try, including Christmas Day. I'm a bit like that you see. Both the structures are inflatable which makes them unique to say the least, do make sure you come check them out in the skiddle.com showcase arena.
So back to the fun. Today we made seats and painted them green, we took an old battered piano and painted it gold. Tony Hadley would be so proud. We've started to sort boxes out so we can pack vans. I've been driving a van for the first time which has been fun. Last year I couldn't drive at all, so driving a van up to the site will be brilliant - for everyone who has driven me round in the past 3 years at least!
Finally just a thank you to everyone who is involved in the process that is The Wickerman Festival, Skiddle's involvement in the fest is a dream come true to me, it's a pleasure to be involved in such a magnificent event, but i simply couldn't do it without my excellent support team, better known as my friends and loved ones. I plan to update this blog as much as I can before and during the festival, as you can imagine we are MASSIVELY busy at the moment, but well a problem shared and all that ;o)
The Wickerman Festival takes place on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th July 2008 with Kt Tunstall, The Fall, Gary Numan and loads loads more. Check the listing for details, and check back here for updates!
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Comments about this news item
Jessss_
touching hahaha !