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ABSTRACT
What are the benefits that visitors gain from participating in a non-profit food festival? Festival benefit is defined here as the ultimate value that people place on what they believe they have gained from observation or participation in activities and interaction with settings provided by festivals. Previous research has mainly focused on motivations for attending events, which are the drive side of the behaviour. The benefits, which represent the outcome from the event consumption, are left in the dark. The perceived benefits from consumption are most likely what the visitors take away, convey into word of mouth, and partly rely on for deciding to revisit the event. Thus, perceived benefits may be a better foundation for event design improvements, marketing, and event policies. The context of this study was the Stavanger Food Festival (Gladmatfestivalen), an annual event in Stavanger, Norway. Data were collected from visitors by questionnaires including 20 “benefit questions”, (5 points Likert-type scales), and 17 questions asking for festival participation habits and demographics. A total number of 350 respondents filled the questionnaires “in situ”. Data from exhibitors and owners were collected by semi-structured interviews. Six “Benefit factors” could be extracted when applying Orthogonal solutions with Varimax rotation, accounting for 50% of the variance. Six factor-based sum-scores were computed, named (1) Meeting the performers, (2) Tradition and celebration; (3) Buying and tasting; (4) Food enjoyment and atmosphere; (5) Networking and socialising; and (6) Personal pride and identity. The most important benefit factors as judged from average mean score values were Food enjoyment and atmosphere, Buying and tasting, and Tradition and celebration. Frequency of attendance predicted factors 2, 4, 5, and 6. Age predicted factor 6, while level of education predicted factors 2 and 5. The event has gained a “folk festival” ambience, overriding the initial intention of the event and contributing to the well-being of the regional residents.