Group Event Evaluation Investigation Project The Bluewater Festival - Case Study Example

Group Event Evaluation Research Project Name: Institution: Professor: Course: Date of Submission: Group Event Evaluation Research Project The Bluewater Festival Introduction The Bluewater Festival takes place during Easter Week. The major events of the festival would begin on 16th Saturday and run for a whole week to the Sunday 24th of April. However, the event would not set off without the obvious preliminaries that draw in the mood for the actual activities in the Bluewater Festival. These preliminaries begin on the eve of Good Friday in which there is a race between Brisbane and Gladstone commencing at exactly noon (Fredline, Jago & Deery, 2003). The preliminaries start off from Moreton Bay, just off shore of the Shorncliffe Pier. Nevertheless, there are a number of activities which must be undertaken to mark the Bluewater Festive. Before the preliminaries still there are events that involve patrons having fun. They enjoy a wide range of activities including the Brisbane to Gladstone Launch Party, Victoria Newton’s Moonlight Theatre, and The Bluewater Art Exhibition. On Saturday, major festival events commence in Lower Moora Park at Shorncliffe. These in most cases entail a big fireworks exhibition, live leisure, promotions, food stands and trips (Fredline, Jago & Deery, 2003). This years Bluewater Festival marks the 14th year in operation and as it appears, the activities get better and better. This forms a variety of major events, subsections of events that include community festivals and ultimately the mega event of the day marks the peak of the festival. It is however imperative to note that the festival is free of charge for the local community. This paper carries out an evaluation of this event and its impacts to the local community in a number of fields. This may include the environmental effects of the event to the local community, economic impact, social and political effects of the festival to the surrounding community. This will be carried out using a number of secondary sources carried out on similar events in the past and how they were evaluated. Literature Review In the contemporary society, there is a lot of evidence on the work done about the impacts of social events on the community and how the community perceives the effects. As realized on the wider field of view, events like the Bluewater Festival impact both positively and negatively to the local community (Schlenker, Foley & Getz, 2010). Following this, there is need for more data to be explored in the field of how events carried out by people can affect the well-being of the society. Most of the people in the society concerned with planning for the social events only focus on the positive side of the events and overlook the negative impacts of these events. To establish the negative and positive impacts of social events to the local community, it is imperative that data is made available. Looking at the Bluewater Festival, it is true that the event holds both positive and negative impacts to the community around. Impacts to be Assessed and Assessment Techniques Most of the current literature review on the effects of social events to the community around focuses on the economic impact of the events. When a number of comparisons are however made, it is noted that consistency is required in the establishment of the effects of events on the society (Jones et al, 2008). This in most cases runs from the environmental effects in terms of environmental pollution as a result of the activities carried out. In most events like the world cup events so far carried out in different places around the world, pollution has been of primary focus. When people meet from different environmental backgrounds, it is evident that they hold perceptions about the environment in a different manner. This is seen in the way they little the environment for the local community. This ends up polluting the land, air and water from around the community’s residential area. Aesthetic value is ultimately lost which discourages events like tourism since the attraction centres could have been tempered with. On the other hand, mega events like sporting activities affect the local communities’ life. Available research indicates that the local communities are affected socially. The way of life of the society is altered following the integration of different communities meeting and exchanging values as well as beliefs. This may include the transformation in language use, mode of dressing as well as family ties being tempered with. Roles may also be exchanged in the event of interaction between different communities. However, as it stands out, the mega events give the local talents an opportunity to exploit their talent and therefore encourage interpersonal growth and development. This has an eventual impact on the economic growth at individual level as well as national level. The Bluewater Festival may lead to the pollution of water on one side as it encourages development of transportation routes to the venue of the event. This has been well noted during the World Cup held in Korea where transport routes had to be developed leading to the playgrounds (Gardiner & Chalip, 2006). For them purpose of this event; Bluewater Festival, the paper will assess the environmental impacts to the local community especially the noise which causes disruptions of the local community’s peace of mind. It will also assess the effect of the event on the transportation routes leading to the area and how the society around perceive these impacts. Social life which forms the pillar of the residents in the Bluewater region is as well paramount in the assessment (Slavin, 2010). This focuses on the social life following the interaction between people from different regions hence hold diverse views on lifestyle. Since the local community participates actively in the activities of the Bluewater Festival, it is important to assess how the event promotes local talent and the social responsibility promotion thereof. The final issue that this research focuses on is the economic effect of the event to the local community. This is divided into the pre-event and post-event economic effects. The research will dwell on interviewing people from the local community to establish their perceptions on the impacts of the Bluewater Festival to the society. Since the event has been major in the region for more than ten years, it is easier to find data on how people get affected since most of them have had an experience during every year’s Easter Holiday. On the other hand, the experience from secondary sources will be vital in finding out the impacts of such events on the local community so that it can be assessed on the possible effects of the Bluewater Festival impact to the community around. This will involve the consultation of such materials as on the impact of major sporting events to the society, the impact of the 2002 world cup to South Korea, and finally the environmental impact of social events especially solid waste deposit (Lee, 2010). Assessment Results From the existing literature, it is clear that social events have had both positive and negative impacts to the local community (Schlenker, Foley & Getz, 2010). However, most planners have focused on the positive side overlooking the negative effects. This research however considers all the sides of the coin so that possible solutions to future impacts of the Bluewater Festival can be gotten rid of. On the positive side of the story, Bluewater Festival has a possible positive effect to the local community as they perform during the festival. The first thing involves increased revenue for the local community as they sell their products more. The festival is associated with food stall which are ran by the local community people (ELARD, 2004). In addition, there is an increase in employment opportunities when the society around get chance to construct and improve the transportation routes to the festival venue. This raises the living standards of the community. Economic empowerment is associated with improved infrastructure like the roads leading to the venues as well as communication facilities. On the other hand, since the festival is carried out annually and involves people from different socio-economic backgrounds, there is evidence that the society is affected socially. A good example is the case of fireworks that are done during the night. They have social effects especially to the teenagers and the family at large. Most people will be attracted to watch such events which reverse family attention that may eventually raise tension and conflicts among family members. Similarly, fireworks cause noise pollution to the surrounding society which finds it hard to sleep at night. It is even worse given the fact that such mega events like Bluewater festival overlap into the night. In addition, social impacts may involve reinvigorating existing facilities during the festival. This creates a bad image for future tourism activities as well as holding of such festival at the same place (Small, Edwards & Sheridan, 2005). On the larger social impacts of the festival, the culture of the community is prone to degenerate because of the close interaction of people from different societies. Family respect is tempered with as well as roles of different people in the community are transformed. It has an implication that morals are eroded through the social structure being exchanges from one community to another (ELARD, 2004). The operation of the event up to night time poses security problems especially give that there are only three guards assigned to man the place during the event. The region has also been assign three high risk offices and just three policemen. This number is too much far little as compared to the large population that participates in the festival. There are possibilities of antisocial behaviour arising especially criminal acts during the festival. This requires that security be ensured which has not yet been achieved for the Bluewater Festival. In the budgeting for the upcoming event just like other areas like football on the universal scene, the local community usually strain in terms of financial support. For the Bluewater Festival, it is realized that limited funds are given in by the Sandgate council as well as sponsors for the event. This forces the local community to strain in making the event successful on limited finances. From the data available about the event, very huge numbers of people attend using a wide range of means (Small, Edwards & Sheridan, 2005). These vary from pedestrians to those who drive into the venue. As a result, there is a problem on the transportation routes leading to the venue following traffic jams. The residents get it hard to enter and leave their houses. This has evidently raised tension from the local community that find the event as being a burden to them. Although the region has incorporated transportation management systems, these have not been sufficiently utilized. It is attributed to the high population of people attending the festival. The parking is as well insufficient following the universal attraction of the event to many people. Since the region where the festival takes place is situated near the sea, there is limited lighting following scarcity in electricity. The dark state of the area increases chances of antisocial behaviour in which people may get hurt. Contrary to this, the activity is not environmentally friendly. There is damping of solid waste into the area which leads to land and water pollution. The region therefore becomes unsuitable for residential activities to take place. Although to some extent the area has good sanitation following adequate toilets, the rubbish bins are insufficient which increases solid was disposal into the water. The eventual effect is pollution of these waters causing a conflict between the planners of the event and the local community (Brown & Massey, 2001). Discussion and Conclusion From the result and findings of the possible effects of the Bluewater Festival, it has been realized that there are possibilities of local communities conflicting with most of the activities happening in the region (Brown & Massey, 2001). Much research in the past on social events and the impacts on people from the locality has focused on the positive effect overlooking the negative implications of the events to the society. Economic impact sets off the stage by having much research. This research adds to the possibility of having negative effects as a result of such social events like the Bluewater Festival. Since the festival has a wide range of effect to the local people both before, during and after the event, it is important that the society from around the area is consulted to find out their perception about the activity before starting off. This would help in reducing financial constraints to the people around as well as the municipal council of the area (Kim, Gursoy & Lee, 2004). The paper has however achieved in investigating the economic, social and environmental impacts of the Bluewater Festival from the data available on the local region of the event. However, it is clear that there are a number of flaws or limitations to the research design. This includes the period for the investigation of the event. It might not yield many results since the event has been taking place for a long period of time now. 14 years are sufficient enough to have realized some change if the previous researcher could have been serious in the solution finding process to the many problems surrounding the event. However, since there has never been notable change in the region yet it is an annual event, there are minimal chances for a change now. Nevertheless, it is important to encourage the planners to involve the local community in decision making during and before every year’s event so that solutions are gotten prior to the setting off of the festival (Kim, Gursoy & Lee, 2004). References: Fredline, L., Jago, L. & Deery, M. (2003). The Development of a Generic Scale to Measure the Social Impact of Event. “Event Management,” Vol. 8, pp. 23–37 Kim, H. J., Gursoy, D. & Lee, S. (2004). The Impact of the 2002 World Cup on South Korea: Comparison of Pre-games and Post-games. “Tourism Management” 27 (2006) 86–96 Earth Link and Advanced Resources Development (ELARD). (2004). Environmental Impact Assessment: Solid Waste Treatment Centre. “Hbaline Solid Waste Treatment Plant” Brown, A. & Massey, J. (2001). Literature Review: The Impact of Major Sporting Events. MIPC June 2001 Small, K., Edwards, D. & Sheridan, L. (2005). A Flexible Framework for Evaluating the Socio-Cultural Impacts of a (Small) Festival. “International Journal of Event Management Research” Volume 1, Number 1, 2005 Schlenker, K., Foley, C. & Getz, D. (2010). Encore Festival and Event Evaluation Kit: Review and Redevelopment. CRC for Sustainable Tourism Pty Ltd. ISBN: 9781921785146 (pbk) 9781921785641 (pdf) Lee, S. (2010). A Review of Economic Impact Studies on Sporting Events. “The Sports Journal”. Retrieved from: http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/review-economic- impact-study-sport-events Slavin, M. (2010). A beginners guide to the social impacts of the Olympics. “Games Monitor”. Retrieved from: http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/node/333 Jones, R., et al (2008). Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Special Events: Examination of Nine Special Events in Western Australia. “CRC for Sustainable Tourism Pty Ltd”. ISBN: 9781920965983 (pdf), 9781920965976 (pbk) Gardiner, S. & Chalip, L. (2006). Leveraging a Mega Event When Not the Host City: Lessons from Pre-Olympic Training. “CRC for Sustainable Tourism Pty Ltd”. ISBN 1 902704 32 9 The Website for the articles: http://www.business.uts.edu.au/acem/resources/social.html Read More