Flavors of 4th Street

This is a fun event that is helmed by the Bloomington Independent Restaurant Association.
How it Works: Buy a ticket and then enjoy the live entertainment along with being able to get ‘samples’ of food from the restaurants for just $ 1/​item. 4 – 5 ‘samples’ totally make a meal. The goal of the event it to get people (especially new IU students) to know about the many independent restaurants that are located next to campus. A great concept and a fun event.
What is Great: 1) Music — the live world music was great! 2) Food — I loved being able to try items that I had not had before, I trying new items at old favorite restaurants will greatly increase my patronage as I know more of what I can get, move craves = more visits, 3) Restaurant Entry — I liked that for some of the restaurants, you had to enter the building to go to the food — it was a good mix of on the street and in the restaurant, 4) Beer/​Wine Tent — I didn’t patron it but it looked like they had a nice selection, 5) Safety — the organizers did a great job laying out an emergency plan, there was a brief note on the ‘program’ to let us all know what to do in the event of a emergency — rad, 6) Volunteers — I feel like I spotted a lot of event volunteers — and volunteers make every event better!
Room for Improvement: 1) Better Name — I heard a LOT of people referring to this as ‘4^th Street Fest’ — which is a completely different event entirely — there is a branding issue here — I think words like ‘international’ and ‘independent’ are more important than the location, 2) Ticket Price — I understand that the point of this event is to get students to know about the restaurants but with an entry of $ 5 for students and a whopping $ 10 for everybody else, the price bias is just crazy — I think the double fee for those who are not students is a great way to make enemies, I mean, you are basically asking non-​students to not come… which is crazy, 3) Participation — I was a little bummed out that some of the restaurants didn’t participate, 4) Marketing — I could have used a Facebook event or just more direct awareness coming from the BIRA FB page.