Stall holders slam Seaside Festival hike in pitch fees

Thursday 16 March 2017

Owners of small local businesses have slammed organisers of the annual Havre des Pas Seaside Festival after it emerged that stall costs had almost tripled, which they fear will be used to subsidise entertainment brought over from the UK.

Under new rules implemented by the Havre des Pas Improvement Group, smaller craft stalls’ pitch fees have doubled from around £45 to £100, while food and alcohol outlets have seen their costs soar from £200-300 to up to £600-900.

According to small business owners, both the price hike and need to pay up front for next year's pitches will slash profits – something, they say, that could price out small craftspeople from taking part, as they only tend to trade in the summer months.

But organisers say that the prices rises are necessary just to enable the event to go ahead without losing money. 

Jayne Grant of the Local Stall Holders Committee told Express: “The problem is that when we trade this year, on top of the pitch fees I’m paying for, we’ll have to retain pitch fees for next year. We’re paying out thousands and thousands at the beginning of the year, when we haven’t been able to trade for five to six months.

“People out there who design their own items in Jersey won’t have the opportunity to get into these events because they’re way too expensive. They are small stall owners who want to go out into the community and enjoy their summer by showing people their products and their talents, but don’t have fixed premises where they can advertise themselves... They don’t sell a huge amount, but they are purposefully put together for these events… Huge overheads might mean they can’t get the opportunity to go anymore.”

Pictured: Local food stalls appear along the road at the 2016 Seaside Festival.

Concerns were also expressed that their fee hike was being used to subsidise bringing over UK-based tribute acts – allegedly Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers – rather than promoting local talent as the festival had previously done.

“We’re losing our community event. That hasn’t got anything to do with Jersey. If a holidaymaker comes down to that, it’s just going to look like some tacky boardwalk party. There’ll be no culture in it at all,” Ms Grant added.

But Constable Simon Crowcroft said that he was “disappointed in the attitude of some people to this”, who were not showing appreciation for enormous amount of work to keep annual festival going after it was nearly cancelled for good in 2015.

VIDEO: Havre des Pas Seaside Festival in full swing last summer.

He commented: “If people aren’t happy with the measures that the group are taking to make the festival pay for itself, they need to bear in mind that the festival very nearly didn’t happen a couple of years ago. The reality is that an event attended by more than 10,000 people last year requires quite a lot of expenditure just to make sufficient security, public toilets and everything else.

“With the £2 entrance fee as well, that means that the Parish of St Helier isn’t going to have to pick up the bill.”

Pictured: Stallholders entertain crowds on the beach at last year's festival.

He added that the UK music acts would compliment local ones – as previously seen in the Halkett Hoedown and Jersey Live – and that £900 fees for stalls only selling alcohol were “absolutely reasonable”, as “…that’s not what we want to encourage.”

Sarah Burns, owner of Havre des Pas-based Prince’s Bar and a regular attendee at the Havre des Pas Improvement Group, said that she considered the fee – which she volunteers to pay on behalf of the bar –  “an investment in trade."

She added that she was “looking forward” to this year’s festival and that it would be, “…good to have something different” with the addition of UK acts. 

“It’s still a community festival… and the organisers are doing a really good job with that.”