Q: Why do volunteers have to purchase their own admission?

A: We, Sweet Pea as a board, understand the concern regarding volunteers purchasing their own admission. In fact, there have been several discussions over the years about how we could offer free admissions. The policy set forth by the original founders back in 1978 has remained unchanged for a couple of reasons:

1) Sweet Pea is run by hundreds of volunteers. Some of these volunteers give an hour of their time to do a job such as delivering posters to local businesses and other volunteers give hundreds of hours through the course of a year by being on the board (all volunteers, including board members, no matter how many hours they've given pay their own admission). Sweet Pea's policy is to recognize all volunteers and contributors equally no matter the amount of time volunteered or the dollar value of items contributed. This recognition is in the form of our annual thank you ad that runs in the Chronicle in August.

2) Fiscally, the Festival cannot afford to offer free admissions to the hundreds of volunteers that give varying amounts of time.

3) Giving admission bands to those who give of their time is a form of compensation; no longer making this a volunteer organization.

Sweet Pea's mission is to promote and cultivate the arts. If a net gain is realized from a festival it is given back to the community in the form of grants for the arts and art education, special projects, and park improvements. Due to increasing operational costs, Sweet Pea has not realized a net gain in the recent past. Unfortunately, giving free admission to hundreds of volunteers would be further detrimental to the ability for Sweet Pea to support the arts community.

Q: Why did the admission price go up in 2011?

A:  Sweet Pea has not raised admission prices for 5 years. During this time the cost of many things has increased and we found ourselves in a position of not being able to cover the basic expenses of operating this wonderful community event.

The Sweet Pea Festival is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with no corporate sponsorship.  Our only sponsor is the community members that attend the festival.  Admission fees account for 67% of the festival’s income and are used to pay expenses such as performer fees, merchandise, and operational and support fees (such as park lease, rent, wages, sanitation and security services, utilities, stage, sound and lights, etc.)

Our board of directors has worked very hard to keep our admission fees as low as possible over the years to keep the event affordable while ensuring the expenses of putting on the event are covered.  We believe that $12 for three days of entertainment is an excellent value.  During those three days you have the opportunity to see 2 Shakespeare in the Parks productions, 5 main stage music acts, 6 local bands, numerous dance and theatre productions, family entertainment such as storytellers, magicians, stunt and comedy shows, activities for children such as puppet making, t-shirt tie-dying, and mask making, and over 100 arts and crafts vendors.  If you compare our admission fee to ticket prices for other local entertainment I think you will find that Sweet Pea is an excellent value. 

Again, Sweet Pea is unique in the fact that we have no corporate sponsors, which eliminates commercialism in the park, keeping the park marketing- and advertising-free.  Also, whenever a net gain is realized, the funds are given back to the community in the form of grants for the arts and art education, special projects, and park improvements. 

Q: Where is Jacobs Crossing?

A: Jacobs Crossing is located at 424 E. Main on the south side of the street. If you're familiar with the old Bozeman Police Dept and the Western Cafe, Jacobs crossing is across the street. Look for the sweet pea windsocks at the entrance to Sugar and Sage.

Q: Where can I find information about the adult 5 and 10K runs?

A: Registration information for the "Bozeman Classic" is available at: http://www.winddrinkers.org/classic/classic.html.

Q: What do I need to do to have an arts & crafts booth?

A: The Sweet Pea arts and crafts show is a juried event. Artists submit pictures of their work to Sweet Pea, via an online application service, in early February. Jurors select the participants and artists are notified at the beginning of April. The selection process has already taken place for 2011. If you are interested in participating in the future, please watch our website for details in late January 2012. For more information see the application instructions.

Q: Who runs the Sweet Pea Festival?

A: The Sweet Pea Festival would not be possible without the 1500+ volunteers from the community.

Q: Where do the profits go?

A: All proceeds from the Sweet Pea Festival are given back to the community! Sweet Pea is a non-profit organization. All money raised above what is needed to put the Festival on is given back to the community as grants for the arts, arts education, and special projects.

Q: Who sponsors the Sweet Pea Festival?

A: Sweet Pea is not corporately sponsored. You, the festival-goer, sponsor 100% of the Festival through admissions, merchandise sales, and entry fees. By not having a corporate sponsor, the programming control stays with the volunteers that run the Festival

Q: What is not permitted at the Festival?

A: No alcohol, pets, smoking, unauthorized vendors, vehicles