festivals - what has your experience been

so I am fairly new to FP for other people (my kids, I have been doing for 2 years). I was thinking about trying to get into some festivals in our area.

There was the "Taste of Marietta" today here in Georgia (metro Atlanta). I saw they had advertised that a face painter was going to be there. I thought it was a great place to meet someone in the business and maybe introduce myself, hoping I could learn a thing or two.

By the time I got down there, the face painter had cleared out long before I arrived (I say that because I didn't see anyone with FP on).

Some problems that I saw were - there were two areas that "Kid Zone" One area had several LARGE jump houses, plus several other kid rides.
The face painter was set up down a side street and was hidden by two smaller jump houses.
The face painter was charging $3.00 for half a face and $5.00 for full face - I think it was severely under market prices. The festival said that the food items would be between $.50 - $4.00 - so I think the festival may have set the FP prices.

My question - when you do a fair/festival can you arrange with the people where your booth goes? I mean, if the FP was on the side closer to the main event on the other side of the jumpy houses, he/she would have more foot traffic.
Also, have you ever had a festival dictate what you can charge?

I will be researching it more, but wanted to know what your experiences have been.

Thanks!

In my experience, it just depends on the event. Some of the directors and coordinators are mad cool and will let you kinda pick where you set up, and others may have your area clearly marked with chalk and tape before you even arrive. Talk to them ahead of time, they are normal people. Shoot em an email, give em a call. Ask them what their policy is. They will be happy to let you know how they do things.

if there is any room for negotiations in arranging to be there, ASK to be put near the rides or kids' area if there is one. Busier events won't really leave room for that kind of thing (you get whatever booth we give you), but it never hurts to try and ask for it.

When I did the outdoor festivals, Most times they had a line or two on the application for special requests (if you wanted to have your booth next to a friend, a certain location ect..), but the requests were not a guarantee.