AleFest's continued ticket woes and the risk of becoming too successful

Also: Successful comedy. Successful pizza. Bear tracks.

Hey, did you know the plural form of octopus is not, in fact, octopi? I sure do after writing this story Friday that used the term rather than the apparently proper form, octopuses. Nothing will generate emails faster than using the wrong plural form of a sea creature, apparently.

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I started my Saturday logging on to a group chat and opening the website for Kiwanis AleFest in our annual attempt to get tickets. And, as has become tradition, the website for selling tickets didn’t work — as people refreshed and refreshed and refreshed they were continuously greeted with the need for a password. Then tickets became briefly available for some people who snapped up tickets and not for others. Personally, I got some in a cart and was booted off, then told there were none available for 15 minutes or so until eventually snagging one (yay me!) And I definitely wasn’t alone:

I want to make something clear here: This is not a post complaining about the ticket sales, or the organizers, or laying blame. I have been the person in charge of setting up online ticket sales for events and the technology for doing so is incredibly frustrating — and that’s if you are are organizing an event that doesn’t have hundreds of people poised over their keyboards ready to snap up every available ticket at the first chance they get. No, this is an expression of sympathy: AleFest is the only locally organized event that I can think of that prompts group chats of people trying to get tickets with a frenzy similar to that of, say, a Taylor Swift concert:

This is a volunteer-run, volunteer-organized event (disclosure: There is none, I don’t know any of the people involved). And while I’m sure it is great to have it grow into something so successful, having something you do in your spare time grow into a massive success is, ironically, a terribly stressful experience. Anyone who has started administrating a wildly successful Facebook group will tell you the same thing — you do a good enough job that people start to think of what you’re doing as a professional space and start placing professional expectations on you, like the ability to respond 24/7, or to come up with a set of rules that will please everyone — all while you’re trying to do your normal job and maybe take a weekend off once in a while. Taking it back into the realm of ticket-selling — are you aware of anyone having a good ticket-buying experience for an event for an event that attracts more attendees than there are spaces available? I’m not, which is why headlines about Ticketmaster effing up are so prevalent. Even if everything runs as smoothly as possible, people are going to be left upset about not being able to get them — and some of those people are going to lash out. I saw this post from one of the volunteers involved with AleFest and this is not how someone should be feeling about helping create one of the most highly-anticipated local events of the year:

And it goes beyond this: They’ve had to turn comments off on their Facebook and Instagram posts about ticket sales not because of the abuse but because of scammers and bots using them in past year’s to try and take advantage of people desperate for tickets. Again, this is professional-level stuff for a volunteer-run event.

The organization has put out a note of apology and says they are looking for a better solution for tickets next year to which I say godspeed because it really is a difficult problem to solve and I just hope they don’t feel too defeated by their own success. Cheers to them.

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A comedy homecoming

Speaking of success, I ended my Saturday at the Hungry for Laughs show put on by Prince George’s own Alex Mackenzie. If you don’t know his story yet, Mackenzie was making six figures working at a mill in town but was, in his own words, miserable:

I had everything that society told me I needed; I had been a home owner since I was 20 years old, had a nice vehicle and a six-figure job. But I was unhappy. I was stuck at a job I did not enjoy. Working 40 to 60 hours a week to pay bills that never seemed to end. Fortunately for me I had found stand up comedy.  I began doing stand up comedy shortly after my 26th birthday. It was always just a hobby of mine. In the beginning I would perform once a month at one of the local venues in my hometown. I had the opportunity to open for professional comedians from all over the country. It was inspiring to meet these people who were making a living doing something they love rather than having a job to pay the bills. As the years past comedy began to pull me closer and closer. Eventually in my hometown a comedy club opened. This gave me the opportunity to get on stage every week, sometimes multiple times in a night. This is when my love for comedy really started to grow. I then began going on the road with professional comics travelling across BC and Alberta and opening for some of the top names in Canadian Comedy. 

That prompted him to quit his job, sell his home, move into an RV and devote himself to making a go of it professionally. And he’s done it, touring internationally and recording a special that was picked up by Amazon Prime. Last night’s show was at the CN Centre and one of the things that really came through is he has a genuine affection for this city. It can be easy for people to be bitter or make it the butt of their jokes — especially when he literally has an escape story — but instead his set was rooted in a genuine love for the community and the people here. One of the sweeter moments was when one of the other performers said when she first met him, he told her he was going to bring her back to his hometown to perform and he would perform in the CN Centre one day — a dream he made come true last night. You love to see it.

Here’s his special, performed at the Prince George Playhouse:

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Free pizza!

Now that I have your attention…. free pizza:

Also, speaking of being too successful… they had to close down orders pretty quick, it seems.

The bears are still about:

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Quick news:

• Not Prince George specific but I’m sure relevant: the U.S. Department of Agriculture has updated its hardiness zones for which plants can thrive in which places and things that used to only grow further south can now survive far further north as the average temperature has risen so much over the past decade.

• What should be done with the soon-to-be closed Youth Custody Centre? The head of a woman’s resource group suggests a women’s detox centre/treatment program to complement the existing men’s program at Baldy Hughes, while the mayor says something to do with mental health/addiction for youth, while noting (correctly) the decision will ultimately be up to the province.

• Nine months after being unceremoniously and controversially dumped as the school district superintendent, Cindy Heitmann has been sworn in as the first female president of the College of New Caledonia. Lheidli T’enneh chief Dolleen Logan helped lead the swearing-in ceremony and says she was shocked by the school board’s decision to let her go and relieved to hear she would still be playing a role in education in the community. I might be reading too much into this but the fact that Heitmann is being described as a strong ally for Indigenous education while the current school board chair has expressed skepticism and disdain for “wokeness” is something I’m noting.

• I’m not noting every Cougar’s game but coming back from a 4-1 deficit to win is pretty good. So is a rookie goalie recording four shutouts in seven starts. So is a team forward getting a three-year NHL contract. If this team isn’t enough to get the fans back then I’m not sure what will.

• Nine new security guards are being hired for the hospital which by all accounts is very much needed, which is a very sad thing.

• This is further afield but a rough few days for Dawson Creek, with a homicide followed by a police standoff resulting in another death.

• B.C. Transit is about to bring the future of 15 years ago to the city with cashless bus payments.

• Have old equipment that you think should be fixable but don’t know how? A repair cafe is coming to the librarty next month.

• This is a fun one: A band from Miami is looking for unique venues across Canada to perform in.

• New houses keep getting built.

• A preview of Theatre Northwest’s Miracle on 34th Street.

• St. Vincent de Paul offering Prince George families a Christmas hamper.

• Meals on Wheels fundraiser a huge success.

• Somebody bought a winning lottery ticket.

Today’s song:

I binged the new Scott Pilgrim series and I am officially at an age where songs and bands that I think of as modern and were released while I was an adult are actually nostalgia-core and hitting classic/retro status. But 2000s-era Canadian indie still hits different.

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