We have some incredible events lined up for you once again next year so stay tuned for details!!

Any way you slice it; visitors can expect to have bushels of fun at the Long Grove Apple Fest, on September 30, October 1st and October 2nd. Celebrate fall’s favorite fruit and the many delicious ways to enjoy it ‘rom Long Grove’s famous brown bag apple pies and apple cider donuts to hot apple cider, caramel apple lattes, apple martinis, and more!

Village restaurants and outdoor food booths will carry a wide range of apple-inspired treats. Visitors will enjoy outdoor ambiance and the many activities staged throughout the historic village.

Click Here For More Info

StarEvents is driven to produce the finest summer festivals throughout the Midwest. Our mission is to showcase the arts while providing an affordable and entertaining venue for residents to enjoy their summer.

We combine interactive and experiential components throughout our events to offer a unique variety of talent. Our Festivals are carefully designed to provide a vehicle to highlight the abundant talent that thrives throughout the area. Live music, theater, dance, and more is presented on our main stages. Culinary trades are showcased throughout the season as well as educational, cultural, and ethnically diverse components to engage the audience.

Our series of community celebrations are strategically positioned throughout some of the best neighborhoods in the Midwest. We look for convenient and easily accessed venues that can showcase the area while creating a positive economic impact. We strive to enhance the vibrancy of our neighborhoods.

Our summer festivals are primarily designed to raise money and awareness for local non-profit groups. Our clients utilize the proceeds to produce programs that benefit the residents year-round. No other fund-raising vehicle offers the potential benefits that a festival can produce.

Benefits Include:

Raise Money for Non-Profit Groups

Inexpensive Entertainment

Ability to Showcase each Community

Powerful Marketing Vehicle for Local Businesses

Venue for Artisans to highlight their wares

And Much More!

StarEvents has spent the better part of 15 years developing and producing special events. Founded in 1996, StarEvents has raised over $6,000,000 for local charities. We have made a positive economic impact throughout the city in a variety of neighborhoods. Our energy and results feed off of our supporters.

We hope that you can find a weekend to join us this summer. Your contribution to our summer festival season is greatly appreciated. We look forward to seeing you soon.

The Quick and simple way to increase your visibility and generate traffic to your business.

Google is a HUGE entity that can make or break your business. They are the largest search engine on the planet… and offer an amazing amount of FREE tools that can help your business. This page is designed to share how to use their “Google Maps” feature.

A little background: StarEvents was recently sent a letter and a window sticker (look to the right) to put on our window. The letter says that Google users found our business thousands of times over the past few months.

The great thing about this is it’s FREE.

The Google window sticker has a bar code that allows for people to use their cameras or (smart) phones to scan in and instantly get to my business listing on Google.

They can go there and write reviews, see our hours of operation, add as one of their favorite places, etc. This is amazing! As I update my listing with Google, people can have access to it immediately.

You can set up your account now – for FREE

You can create a Google account and then create a listing that includes a map with your business address. Put in your hours of operation and all other important information about your business. You can also add photos and videos.

Create a FREE account in about 2 minutes. Google does a great job of walking you through the process at: www.Google.com/localbusinesscenter

If you have a Gmail account… you can log in immediately… if not, just create one and get started. It’s a great tool that will help your business.

If this has been helpful for you, do us a favor a post a response below.

Here’s to your Success!!!

Cultural CLOUT…

Meet the tastemakers behind the city’s best art, music, theater and restaurants. Fighting the crowds at the latest restaurant, checking out free concerts at Millennium Park, getting turned on to an exciting new artist at the Art Institute: These are the experiences that make living in this city so awesome. But who decides which eatery should get the early buzz, which band should be booked and which artists should get their own shows? The city’s most powerful patrons, critics, publicists, curators and promoters, that’s who. And what influences their decisions may surprise you.

John Barry, StarEvents

By Jake Malooley

It’s summer in the city. You’re stan

ding in the middle of a crowded, closed-off street somewhere, anywhere on the North Side, washing down a gyro and elephant ear with a cup of beer. On a stage in front of you, a hard-rocking band is pumping out Rick Springfield’s Jessie’s Girl. A blond dude in khaki shorts and a light-blue polo you feel as if you’ve seen this guy dozens of times raises his cup and yells, Whoo!

There are about 39 main neighborhood street fests from May through September, according to the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. Almost all of them are produced by just two private companies: StarEvents and Special Events Management.

John Barry, StarEvents’ 43-year-old founder. Barry, who’s tan and handsome in the Robert Mitchum mold, has been producing street fetes among them Andersonville Midsommarfest, Wrigleyville Summerfest and Chicago Summerfest for 15 years. (Not sure about the Robert Mitchum comment… but Thanks!)

Hanging on the walls in the bathroom at StarEvents are promo posters from Mayfest, Rock Around the Block, Retro on Roscoe and other StarEvents fests dating back to the late ’90s. It’s hard not to notice a pattern among the stage lineups: Cover acts dominate prime spots. Barry concedes that Sixteen Candles, Hairbangers Ball, Mike & Joe, Too White Crew and Maggie Speaks are the go-to acts. (Jake spent a long time in the bathroom… got a match?)

When you’re drawing a crowd of 20-, 30-, 50,000+ people, you need to appeal to as many people as possible, he says. Cover bands play what the crowds know. And when you’re drinking with your friends on the street and enjoying a hot dog, Livin’ on a Prayer’ can be a fun thing to hear. Come to any of our fests and you’ll probably hear that song a couple of times from different bands, because they all share the same set list. But it works.

Despite being competitors, Barry and Zemola agree that most people don’t understand summer street fests are fund-aisers especially the scoundrels who sidestep the recommended gate donation (usually $5). Neighborhood orgs such as chambers of commerce, charities and churches tap StarEvents to help fill their coffers. ‘These events cost a lot of money anywhere from $50,000 to a quarter of a million dollars (and up) Barry says. ‘When you’ve got that kind of money on the line and you’re a local charity, you’d best find a way to reduce the risk as much as possible.

Tried-and-tested bands, vendors and artisans get considered for the next year, Barry says, and some he hires for many events. ‘If you have a return rate of 80 percent, you’re doing well.’

One of StarEvents’ summer-fest outliers is the Taste of Randolph Street. The foodie-centric fest spurns cover bands and traveling vendors. (Jam Productions, an entity that books national acts at venues like the Park West and the Riviera, produced it in years past.) Barry says it’s going to be one of his big events of the year.

Barry attends every festival he produces. In a decade and a half, he’s been to more than 200. I’ve sang ‘Jessie’s Girl’ a thousand times over, Barry says. I love the outcome. Any of our nonprofit clients can do so much more because of the money we raise for them. That’s a cool job.

NOTE: We slightly revised the Article – Click “Time Out” Link for Original Article)

Facebook is the cool platform to stay connected. We have a great “Fan Page” to check out where you can keep informed on all the upcoming festivals in Chicago.

Click Here – Chicago Festivals 2010

This page is loaded with links, descriptions, photos, and much more. It will be a great place to find out which events made the cut. Check it out today.

Hey – if you could hit the ‘LIKE’ button… we would appreciate it!

Join us today… INSTANTLY…. The StarEvents user WiFi experience in digital out-of-home, web, and mobile to distill your feedback and requests for how we can make our events bigger and better. Send your post now and get engaged.

Save Your Business and Drive Traffic the Smart Way

Customers are the key to keeping your doors open. Sometimes finding them is even more difficult then getting them to buy something. Building a solid clientele and building relationships with your herd can save your shop and create long-term results.

I have worked with hundreds of businesses in every niche over the past 15 years and most are not around today. Many of the businesses I know of have no clue on how best to market their products and services to the general public. They have no idea on what the best practices are to position their business properly in this market to ensure success.

Like lemmings, most businesses are just following what other do – just to ultimately realize that it does not work. Sometimes it’s too late when they do realize the effects of bad advertising and marketing. Even if it wored, most businesses do not know how to evaluate the results. Not understanding the true cost of obtaining customer is a real business killer.

Businesses get a storefront, pick a name, a product or service, and print some collateral material. If they can afford it, they use television, radio, and print advertising and HOPE it will drive traffic. The ‘HOPE’ philosophy in marketing is oh so common and typically not effective.

The simple formula for a business to look at is pretty simple. Take the cost of an advertisement and divide it by the number of customers it has attracted to the offer. The answer would equal how much it costs to get a customer. Then, taking that number and subtract it from the profit created from selling the product or service. This is the Magic number, or at least a start to understanding the matrix.

Smart business owners try to take that magic number and decrease the cost of customer acquisition and/or increase the profit generated. Bussinesses also focus on how to find a better advertising vehicle and a quicker way to secure a profit while building a stronger relationship with the customer.

Once a business looks at what a customer is worth and the cost to obtain a customer, they can use those figures to work on the numbers and make them better. Until they get this under control as a business, they will not be able to evaluate marketing and advertising or optimize their income and results. A little time spent to understand this and a business can avoid the Mortar Bombshell that explodes their dreams and often times destroys their business.

Let’s look at a quick example: say that I can make $200 profit each year from a customer … and I know that it costs $100 to get a loyal customer. Simple math says I make $100 profit. If the average customer continues buying for 5 years … then I actually make $900 off of the initial $100 investment to obtain that customer. Worth it? You bet!

If you look at the above example, and I knew my numbers, I could spend $2400 to obtain a single customer … and I’d still make $100. Worth it? YES.

How do you get the biggest bang for your marketing dollars. What type of advertising works best and finds the most likely candidates that will buy your product or service? Looking at all different advertising vehicles is important, but there is only one advertising vehicle that is untapped, unused, and typically overlooked. In my opinion, the best and most effective way to build a relationship, and typically the least expensive, is FACE-TO-FACE marketing!

The outcome of simple marketing is to build awareness, gain a customer, sell stuff, and make friends. Sales and marketing executives would agree that face-to-face is the best way to achieve the desired outcomes. Being in front of a potential client can allow the customer to see, feel, touch, and experience your product. A relationship can be achieved when you greet someone, shake their hand, and share a conversation.

Now, what type of advertising can provide a face-to-face interaction? Television, radio, and print can not! They are very expensive and put your message out to a wide audience that is not targeted enough. A television ad for local businesses, brick and mortar stores, does not work well in this competitive marketplace because it reaches too far and wide and is too costly. If you are a dry cleaner, bank, bakery, or convenience store – why would someone drive many miles to do business with you?

What marketing vehicle focuses like a laser on your target customer? How can you reach that red-zone on the bullseye of your market? The one to three mile radius around your local business is typically the area where most (70% – 80%) customers come from. What vehicle can put you in front of, allow face to face selling, and provide an audience that lives, works, and shops within the hot-zone of your business….? Give up?

A community celebration. Most neighborhood festivals, block parties, and music festivals draw from a local range of 1 – 3 miles for the majority of the attendance. This is the same target you need to be reaching. If you are fortunate enough to have a festival that takes place near your business, you should look into participating. Typically you can buy a booth space and get situated in the heart of the event.

When I compare this vehicle of marketing to others, it wins everytime – hands down! It offers the ability to showcase your product and get it in people’s hands, tell them face-to-face about your service, and engage potential customers in a conversation. It throws your marketing message out to an audience that makes the most sense.

Questions that you need to ask are; does the vehicle I market with reach my target audience? Does my advertising provide a way to build a relationship? Does my advertising provide an interactive experience? Does the marketing dollars I’m spending provide a face-to-face experience with potential customers? Hopefully the answer is YES!

Ask yourself, does the vehicle I market with reach my target audience? Does your advertising provide a way to build a relationship? Does your advertising provide an interactive experience? Does the marketing dollars your spending provide a face-to-face experience with potential customers?

Don’t let the Brick and Mortar Bomb explode on your business. You can beat this downturn in the economy and actually build your business. Focus on a few metrics, and look into spending your advertising dollars on participating in the right advertising vehicle. If you are lucky enough to be situated in an area that hosts a festival, call them and become a sponsor, buy a booth, and support the local market. Get in front of potential clients – FACE-to-FACE!

About the Author

John E. Barry is the Festival Expert that creates positive economic impact with Summer Festivals.