Crowd Control

Had a HUGE event this weekend. Thousands of people at a giant Agritourism farm...an unbelievable pumpkin patch/apple orchard/cidermill/animal interaction/haunted house/giant corn maze/live entertainment/hayrides and "cow train" ride/playground...you name it; this place has it all. Hundreds of kids to paint and my line was never less than an hour long. At peak mid-afternoon it was 2 hours long. I was under a huge circus tent so I didn't need my own festival tent. I had little kiddie traffic cones, a kiddie stop sign, a "The Line Starts Here" sign, a "Good Manners Zone" sign...and STILL had problems. I had no line manager on Saturday. On Sunday my teenage son helped out...which I might as well say I had NO help on Sunday, either. My new pvc pipe banner stand was knocked over and fell apart about a dozen times. I couldn't keep parents OR kids from crowding around my table, leaning on it, touching my supplies, spilling my drink. It was a nightmare. It was a paid event and the whole place is run very efficiently and smoothly...except for my stupid face painting area! I made a boatload of money in tips but my stress level on Saturday was pretty high. I was thinking of ordering some plastic pillars (called stanchions) that I can tie rope through and keep folks in line. Seems like it might be worth it just to keep my sanity. Anybody else use something like that? Would love some feedback and/or advice.

I used to have stanchions made from plywood and pipes, but I would say that if they knocked over and didn't notice your banner stand, they'll most likely just trip over and knock down your stanchions as well.

My main suggestion would be to position your table against the "back" where people won't be walking through, put your chair where you need it in relation to that (even if you feel kind of sideways) and try to position some chairs or other "stuff" like your banners, etc. to define a space for you and the current customer only. What the line does outside of your space is not your concern while you are painting. I make a point of not being responsible for policing the line. When the kids ask me who is next I say, "I don't know. Where did my one straight line go?" Let them duke it out

Thanks, Perry. I did have a sanctioned off area for myself and the current customer. I made every effort to have this run smoothly because I have had crowd issues before. i think my main frustration is the fact that it seems many parents today don't try to reign their kids in. My banner stand didn't get knocked over because people didn't see it...it was because kids were playing with it and it was sectioned off with the little traffic cones and my "the line starts here" was ignored and from there utter chaos ensued. I tried in the nicest possible way to ask people to please keep the line behind the stop sign...and they would...for about 10 minutes and then it was right back to chaos again. I was ready to run away to the wine tasting tent!!!!
Also, stanchions available only online?

I had some issues this past weekend, too!
Sheesh! I don't mind an audience, but DON'T TOUCH the STUFF!!
My sister was working line control, and she's really good with kids. And even SHE had to repeat herself over and over...

I use surveyor's tape to tie off - the neon colour plastic ribbon. Can usually find it in hardware stores. Sometimes I score some crime scene tape (that's good for Halloween)... it doesn't stop all of them, but it helps. If I get people invading my space I stop, stand up and yell...

I generally don't have problems ... maybe it is because Canadians are more polite and have some of that British love of queueing? Or it could be me... I've been told I'm intimidating... can't imagine why

Even at my busiest festivals they line up in a long crooked line, sitting on the grass, standing, putting up their lawn chairs... but in a line.

I always use my tables as barriers, try to create an "L" or "T" with the display on the end nearest the line, then set-up behind it. My kit is kept to my side of the table and I screen off from the other side with my buckets and signs so little hands can't get at my stuff. I then use the surveyor's tape to make fences - two strands about 10 inches apart makes the point that it is a barrier to most people.

And mom tells them to get out too... nothing like an old lady in a wheel chair to scare the little kids out of the tent.

Love it Shannon!!

I'm going to try it at the next gig.

You might invest in a small battery powered bullhorn...the kids at school shut right up and fly right when I yell on that thing.

Tazers.....hehe

When ever a youngster gets under foot, I just say "please stand over here, I don't want to step on you accidently, dilibertly, now that's a different issue". Usually the parents take the hint

Ugh, I feel your pain. I have a similar gig till Halloween. I have my own tent and I'm right next to the jumping pillow so there are lots of "Rabid" children hopped up on cotton candy and mini donuts running around and THROUGH my tent. I also posted it somewhere else on the forum, I had a guy change his poopy kid IN my tent when I took a break and went to wash my hands. I had two kids that were sisters shoving each other and fighting about who was going to go first...they kept knocking into the chair the kid I was painting was sitting in, the table where my supplies were....my water was sloshing around...I finally said loudly "if you don't stop pushing each other I won't paint either of you!" The older one started crying and they both left my line and I could hear their mom asking why they changed their minds....they said "She's mean and she yelled at us!". I really didn't care at that point if I got their business or not.

I don't have any suggestions for you but I'm sure glad this thread is here, I'll be watching for ideas on controlling my line .

I would just hire Shannon Fennell to keep my line courteous. I would pay her by giving her my husband. He would be a great practice head for Shannon because he shaves his head right down to the hardwood. My hubby is 6'3" and he could help keep order in the line.
xoxo
Lisa

Why are you always trying to give me your husband????

It's a safe bet... You really don't want him. I really do want him. I feel it appears that I am being magnanimous by offering you a great practice head, when you really don't need the practice. I still get to keep him after I offer you something you don't want or need. It's like buying a scooter for granny.
Also, your responses to my offers are so damned funny.
xoxo
Lisa
fesspenter

And here I am...a lonely middle-aged maid with 4 cats, a worthless 15 year old (gotta love 'em!) and no man for anyone to argue over... Oh, who am I kidding...I just need a man so I can have a line manager... and maybe to clean out the garage, too.
Maybe an air horn will keep the boogers in line...

STACIA!!! HAHAHA you're mean...... That is me everyday. I say it nice once. ONLY ONCE!!!! you get up all in my grill again, you are not gonna like it.

This last weekend I had a cheap skate Mom say she wanted spiderman for her son, but wouldn't pay the $10, she said $5 only.
I said then he gets half a face.
she says fine
so I finish and the kid yells at me to finish!!! and yells and yells and yells. and refuses to get out of the seat. Mom lets him yell.

I ask for my money from cheap A$$ Mom. Pick the kid up and tell him to yell at Mom, she said he only gets half painted.

then calmly invite the next child in the seat and pretend I cant hear them in the background.

I love my half walls for my tent..... they are roughly 3'x10' of fabric that mom has sewn a casing on the top and bottom to put a cord through each - the cord is flexible because it is finger knitting (corking?) that we did in Girl Guides many many years ago - and I have 3 of the walls. Basically I can wall off a tent so that there are "windows" but no accidental walk through. If I want out in a hurry, it's not like I couldn't roll over the wall (I know how flexible the cord is), and it's not like it hurts our ventilation. If we want shade we put a tarp from the top down or have a full wall of tarp or our "proper" walls. The half walls keep people out, give us a presence that looks impressive, but still let people watch - we often end up with a line of people "just watching" - and that's where parents and siblings get sent too - to the "window".

Oooh, Noella that sounds fabulous. How does it do in the wind? I have a banner that I bungee across the back of the tent up high, but that seems to catch the wind much like the sidewalls- does having it down low do the same or strudy it up? I'd love to see a picture if you have one.

I knew I was going to get asked for a picture..... found one from an event this summer (I don't often do pics at an event, but this one my brother - who is a photographer - was the one doing the work and I offered to fill in for 5 minutes so he could take photos for me). We are using two half walls and a full wall at this one (as well as shelves that are setup with the banner).

Oh and the wind catches it a bit sure - but we just move away from the edge that is behaving like a sail and billowing in - it protects us from the worst of the wind, but mostly it is to keep people out, not the wind....

We used to use cords and poles etc to keep people out - but they didn't bother - they ducked under, around whatever.... but with the fabric there, while I know they *could* get through, they don't seem to ever try....

Holy cow...

$5 for half a face, and she lets him scream some parents....

Thanks for that Noella- It is a little different than I had pictured, so the picture helps a ton. now I wonder if using a loosely woven or mesh material would sort out the wind issue. hmm.

I use 3 half walls on my tent..to keep the kids out..they are white tarps 10x6 and i can fold the in half to make half walls or use them full...i like the fact i can use them to block out the kids but they can still see the face painting..love the half walls..

i got my tarps on ebay..and use the bungie cords with the balls on the ends to put them on the poles of the tent..

That is too hilarious....

I have pondered this myself many times.

I don't know why parents will let kids get so close to the chair that the kid who is in it can't get out. I have an "on deck" chair, and the next in line sits in it, but once I get busy and don't have a line manager, it ends up with kids standing in front of it and behind it. Tonight, I told a child who was going to be next to sit in the chair, and he said "but I just got out of it, and I am after him...told him to sit back down, or the girl he let sit after him was going next...and THEN the parent says something about staying in the line, but watched him walk up to the very back of the chair, when the last kid who got out had to almost hurdle the kid who sat down next. It's like the people who don't let people off the elevator before they try to get on.

I wonder if netting would work for the tent walls?