Spotlight Events Entertainment

Be aware these folks are exaggerating the gate count when reporting «37,000» people come to their Sarasota Pumpkin Festival. And after running this show for 3 years — you will NOT find a vendor/​retailer who had done it twice for good reasons. If you make your booth fee back, or even come close to it, you can say you had a successful show at a Spotlight event. The majority say the Sarasota Pumpkin Festival was the worst show they have EVER done.
They do not have a clue how to position the food vendors or retail vendors (you don’t put 2 pizza trucks side by side or hat retailers across from each other for example). They require vendors bring 100 ft electrical cords but if not able to reach and use the junction box, will not give refund for paid electric service. Also regarding the wiring, they do not cover large wires crossing sidewalks (where’s the city code enforcer for that?) and several adults & children were observed to stumble and trip. The retail vendors were segregated off to the right side of the park with no signage or mention in their constant patter of activities and shows. People were ‘herded’ to the amusement section in droves for rides that cost $ 5 to $ 7 each on top of the high admission price.
The various food and retail vendors pay a huge amount of money for this particular 3 day event ($ 400 to $ 800) for their space but get nothing in return in promotion or assistance. Vendors were required to buy ice and bottled water on premises and there was no special price as promised on the show contract to vendors. Advertising the retailers is nil on their promotional materials but they want craftspeople to come to fill out their event.
I won’t touch on their «free admission» tickets or the Lazarus Foundation questions that were raised in 2013 and highlighted on Sarasota’s Channel 7’s newswatch.