Paint (and More) by Numbers: Geofencing technology offers better idea of Artsfest visitor demographics

In preparing for this year’s Artsfest on historic Walnut Street, set for May 6-7, organizers are outfitted with a little more knowledge than they had going into previous events.

Last year’s festival had an estimated attendance of 22,000, boosted by nice weather, said Leslie Forrester, executive director of the Springfield Regional Arts Council Inc., which runs the event.

Forrester said geofencing of arts festival visitors in 2022 revealed that 17% of visitors were out-of-towners, and of this group, 81% had an overnight stay.

The average length of stay for Artsfest visitors was 2.3 days, according to data collected by the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau Inc. Eighty-nine artist vendors from throughout the country account for some, but not all, of these.

It’s useful information, according to Forrester.

“We don’t know if they were in town for Artsfest specifically – geofencing data doesn’t tell us that, and that’s an important detail – but we know they came and spent a lot of time here,” she said, referring to visitation to the city.

It’s rich information for promoting the festival to more attendees, Forrester said, noting the technology tracked the location of mobile devices along Walnut Street during the two-day festival.

“Gathering that data tells us what kind of draw the festival has,” she said. “It helps us understand where the market is, and where to target new audiences in the future.”

She added that depending on weather, the festival is anticipated to draw 20,000-25,000 attendees, a figure that is on the rise from prepandemic attendance that averaged 15,000-18,000 annually.

“We are seeing an uptick in attendance, especially in the spring for an outdoor event,” Forrester said. “We have been more intentional about targeting visitors from the region, in Joplin and Branson-Hollister markets.”

She added that a lot of the work is done through social media, aided by word-of-mouth and return visitors to the event that is in its 43rd year.

“It has a reputation that keeps people coming back year after year,” she said, noting this year’s festival will have 108 artists, compared with 89 in 2022.

By obtaining visitor data, the picture of festival visitors is becoming clearer. Forester said a new ticketing software being used by SRAC, Ticket Spice, also provides attendee data, including ZIP codes.

What is geofencing?
Megan Buchbinder, marketing director for the Springfield CVB, said her organization geofenced Walnut Street during the time of the festival. That means as people entered the seven-block perimeter with phones or other mobile devices, CVB software received a ping to record their attendance.

Out-of-town visitors were generally classified as those with homes 50 or more miles away from Springfield. To be recorded as qualified visitors, the out-of-towners who pinged within the festival venue remained in the city longer than four hours but less than two weeks, and their device pinged at least five times while they were moving around, rather than, say, coming to Springfield and staying in a hospital for several days, Buchbinder said.

When someone falls within these parameters of a qualified visitor, their visit becomes a trackable data point, which, when joined with others, has much to teach those who keep an eye on visitation to the Queen City.

“Maybe they went to Wonders of Wildlife and spent three hours there, then had lunch somewhere else before going to Walnut Street and Artsfest,” Buchbinder said, adding that pings from their devices provided all of that information to give a complete picture of their visit. A chorus of pings from many visitors helps to show what a typical visitor experience might be like.

CVB pays for a subscription to the visitor intelligence software, called Voyage, operated through Madden Media.

“It not only allows us to track down points of interest that we geofence; it will also give us information on where the visitors came from, how long they stayed in the market and the other places they go,” Buchbinder said.

While it is tempting to do the math and arrive at an economic impact figure for the possible 3,740 out-of-town visitors, Buchbinder said it is not clear whether visitors were already in town or came for Artsfest, or whether they stayed in a hotel, with friends or by some other arrangement.

She noted the software provides a sampling, rather than exact numbers, for visitors, and she cautioned that the data isn’t intended to show the visitor impact but rather to inform marketing decisions.

Marketing Springfield
Buchbinder said out-of-town visitors are important to local businesses.

“We have so many restaurants in Springfield, there’s no way our current population would be able to sustain all of them,” she said. “We know that our visitors and transient residents are dining at those.”

In fact, there are 616 active, licensed restaurants in Springfield, account to the city.

Artsfest gives a boost to downtown restaurants and shops, Buchbinder said.

“Events like this are so important, not just from a travel and tourism perspective, but for the local economy,” she said.

Forrester said festival attendance is growing, and the SRAC is being intentional about it through use of the geofencing data.

“We don’t have a lot of marketing money, but we do a lot of in-market work to get locals to attend,” she said. “We’re pushing regionally now, looking at the southwestern chunk of Missouri, and northern Arkansas and Oklahoma as well.”

While individual visitors came from many parts of the United States, according to data, a large number came from the region.

“Our main focus is the regional draw,” Forrester said.

She added that Springfield has a strong arts community that already does the work of drawing visitors from the broader region. She cited recent Broadway touring shows like “Legally Blonde” and “Hamilton” at Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts and productions by Springfield Little Theatre and others at The Landers Theatre.

“The high-quality things they’re bringing in have established Springfield as a regional cultural hub,” she said. “Art is not just happening on the coasts, but also in the middle of the country. We have a cultural vibrancy that visitors appreciate.”

She added that travelers on Route 66 find that if they stop in Springfield, they can enjoy a full complement of cultural assets.

“Cultural tourists are looking for authentic experiences. They want to experience the community as a local would,” she said.

Forrester said the 43-year-old Artsfest event has the cultural authenticity these visitors crave, as it is homegrown and organized by locals.

Buchbinder agreed.

“They’re looking for that unique community culture,” she said. “They want to see what differentiates Springfield from any other place, and you can’t talk about Springfield and not talk about outdoor activities.

“Artsfest is where the outdoors and the arts collide.”

Capitalizing on the fest
Jennifer Murvin is co-owner of Pagination Bookshop LLC with her partner, Kory Cooper. Murvin said Artsfest – whose main stage is just outside the bookshop’s door in the 1100 block of East Walnut Street – feels like a holiday. It packs the punch of a holiday, too, with the store seeing three times its typical weekend sales from the foot traffic the festival generates.

“One of my favorite things is that a lot of the performers know our shop is right there, and the ballerinas come through and change in the bathroom,” she said. “They run through and giggle, and there’s just this lively energy.”

Many people discover the store for the first time during Artsfest.

“Sometimes, people will think we’re only there for Artsfest,” she said. “We tell them, ‘No, we’re here all the time! Please come back!’

“It’s nice when people kind of stumble upon us and walk in with their flower arrangements or a bag with a painting in it. It’s just such a joyful time.”

Rusty Worley, executive director of the Downtown Springfield Association, said a business doesn’t have to be located right on the festival venue, like Pagination Bookshop or Ebbets Field restaurant, to benefit from the festival.

“There are businesses and artists who use it as a way to remind people of their year-round presence,” he said, citing as examples Formed collective gallery and Crystalline Velvet artisanal jewelry shop.

“There are those businesses who come back year after year and participate,” he said. “They know it really is an opportunity for the community to be reminded of their storefront and what they do.”

Forrester said some business owners gain exposure by volunteering while wearing their company names on their clothing.

“What a great opportunity to have face time with a lot of people while helping out with a really important community event,” she said.

For the bookshop, Murvin said learning how best to embrace the festival has been a process.

“We tried to do poetry readings and other events,” she said, noting that having such events indoors made some people feel like they couldn’t shop, while having them outdoors made them hard to hear because of proximity to the main stage.

“We mostly lean in to being open and being a resource for performers and visitors,” she said.

She added that a lot of planning goes into the store’s approach to Artsfest weekend.

“I always make sure I have a lot more puzzles, stickers, kids’ plushies,” she said. “I curate for Artsfest – I try to make sure I have a lot of kids’ art books every year. It’s something I really plan for.”

The event, which runs 10 a.m.-5 p.m. May 6-7, costs $5 for visitors ages 6 and up.