Crowd Control

So yesterday I painted for four hours at a big Mexican culture festival and it was utTER CHAOS. The crowd kept circling around me and they refused to get into a line, it was just a huge mob of people. I stopped multiple times to ask them to get into a line and they completely refused. They literally just stared at me like I was speaking Q*bert-ese. There was also a language barrier because while I'm Mexican I CANNOT speak Spanish, the people at the table I was working for spoke Spanish but they were too busy to constantly help me organize the line. This also wasn't the kind of event where I could have a tent and full set up to control the line.

I've spent the last 30 minutes reading past crowd management posts on here, I haven't seen a recent one though and thought I could spark up a new discussion with hopefully some tips!

Bring something with you to draw a line, or at least a perimeter around your space bubble.

Ouch! That sounds like a tough few hours, I can't say I've ever had a similar situation (queuing is quintessentially British). I'm not sure what you could do if they refused to listen to you!

That being said with crowding children I tell them that they have to be in a line to be painted, I would maybe lay some coloured painters tape in a line that they have to stand on and try and convey that across the language barrier.

I would be tempted to just let them crowd if they really want to, set up a line on the floor all around yourself and anyone who comes over it (except for kid + parent) gets a "No!", then do your thing in a little bubble of calm!

Also Line Manager, Line Manager, Line Manager!

P.s. I had a sneaky look at your website and I LOVE those Mickey Balloons and the Castle... definitely going to try those out

if you aren't able to get another person to be a line manager, the next best thing is to try to make a barricade around you with tables, chairs, any other objects on hand.

if you can, have the table backed up against a wall or another table, and place other objects beside you, so the only open space people can approach you is a path in front of you, to get into the chair to be painted.

in addition, from my experience, without physical barriers, kids will crowd around you to watch, lean on the table, jostle the table and your arm, and you will spend the whole time asking or telling them to move back, in vain.

I have a 2'x4' piece of black Coroplast. I scored and folded it like an accordian. I put some grommets in each corner. It is a display board for my glitter tattoos. I use it as a 'wall' at the back of a table, to keep little fingers out of my paint. I can bungee cord it to the side of a tent, or on a table top. I keep it in the car, always, just in case I am not placed near a wall. It does blow over if outside, and not bungeed to something. I can also put my IKEA acrylic folding mirror on the other side of the coroplast, to get children out of my chair quickly to look at themselves in the mirror.

Happy Painting!

Ah, one of the loveliest aspects of latin gigs! Everyone appreciates you & wants to be close and cozy to watch! STANCHIONS!! Have the venue provide them for line control. They probably won't work perfectly, but it will help. Set them close to one another, so they form a single/double line and "Y" them out to you at the end. Give/Post your options so they've got their choices made before they get to you. Don't forget to close the line so you have time to finish those waiting before you have to scoot.

Thanks for your advice everyone! Looking into investing barricade materials now lol

and don't touch the paints!

I have poker chips, with numbers, or I paint numbers on kids hands (the problem with this is that ofter the paint goes off or you forget the last number you draw, or you are so busy to paint the numbers) so chips work wonderful for me, you can even ask a mom or a helper to give the numbers out.