McFarlane Promotions

I have attended a few McF events, primarily at Borrego Springs, for the fall BS festival. It’s the typical crafts faire with a patriotic parade and then a car show afterwards. The car show was poorly organzied. Parking worked out ok, but at the end some received trophies, but with no announcements or even introduction of the cars. Mediocre organization and poor ending. I would not recommend attending the BS show in October if you’re showing a vehicle.

Never again. VIP = F U. Wait in line to get into the bar where your have already prepaid for your drink outside the venue. Fuck McFadden in particular. The bouncer Daniel was taking bribe after bribe for early entry but wouldn’t let the VIP passes in. Wanna feel like a tool? Buy a ticket to a Mcfarlane event.

I have to give this place some love and here is why… almost every tasting, festival, VIP party or even car shows that you go to in the Gaslamp is put on by these fine folks. They work their butts off to be simply the hidden faces behind the scenes ensuring that you have a blast!
Believe me this is no easy task and I have seen them in action. Contracts, vendors, permits, biz owners, and even shutting down entire city blocks is an everyday routine for McFarlane Promotions.
Give it up for them because without them, Downtown would be A LOT less fun.

This year’s (2011) San Diego Halloween block party in the downtown Gaslamp district was put on by McFarlane Promotions. I can’t even begin to tell you what a disappointment this event was. But I must.
I paid for the VIP upgrade from the get-​go; online. I saw all types of deals being offered with drink discounts, private restrooms, and discounts on parking (a real downtown hassle). This sold it for me. I’ll pay the additional $ 25 upgrade fee.
I’ve been to several downtown events in the same fashion (ShamROCK, Mardi Gras) and have absolutely loved it. This is also partly why I truly was let down by this event this year.
As I walked up to the main gate, I was greeted by throngs of people in and out of costumes. No formal line to actually walk through-​just a gaggle of people. As I stood in the mob, getting passed by people behind me regularly due to the nature of the pushing and shoving that occurs in those situations, I actually began to move forward. It took us about 20 minutes to make it through. But this was not before being moved out of our line by an Elite security guard forcing everyone with «VIP to the left!» I would pass through the security guards to find the general admission line blowing through patrons as our security guard struggled to work the driver license reader machine she was operating. We showed our tickets, our driver licenses, etc. and finally made our way in! But did we?
We continued moving forward and were again greeted by another set of Elite security guards at tables. I showed my ticket again and they pointed and directed us to a group of EZ-​Up tents where we had to pick up wristbands in order to get in. We walked over to the tents and again stood in a new mob-​esque «line.» As we waited for the line to move, the gentleman behind the table shouted back to us and a handful of other party-​goers that he wasn’t going to accept anyone else beyond the person he was helping because it wasn’t apart of the «line» (ever heard of stanchions, McFarlane Promotions?) which we moved to and this took another 20 minutes to get through.
Once we got our wristbands we also picked up a map. The man who placed my wristband around my wrist grabbed mine and others’ wrists and pulled us to the side he wanted us to go to in order to exit. A simple, «Exit to the left» would have been just as efficient. As I looked through the map I could see that many (all) of the discounts or free alcohol/​no cover specials advertised for VIP’s were outside the block-​party, often blocks away from the party! Why did I spend the extra money again?!
At this point we were furious. This would have been SOMEWHAT understandable if we had shown up at 11pm. But it was 8:00pm! We showed up early in order to avoid this type of hassle! By this point we simply wanted to drown our anger with cold, delicious alcohol. We began our search for the VIP drink specials. We pass several alcohol tents and did not see any VIP specials. We finally come to one tent which exclusively serves VIP guests. A dollar-​off beers for VIP’s. This and the tent was the only one of it’s kind in the entire party. This means that if I’m listening to music or dancing on one half of the party and want some more libations I’m compelled to cross the hoards of costume-​donned people in order to save a buck. Really?
At this point it had been building up and I just needed to use the restroom. I look around and see a porta-​potty standing alone on one side of the sidewalk. As I approach a staff-​member from somewhere stops me and advises the facility was for staff-​only. He directs me to the mass of porta-​pottys on the east end of the party. Each time I had to go, I walked through the tiny corridor of a street to access them and am funneled through ever so tightly among the other restroom-​goers. As the night dragged on, the crowd became larger and larger and yet again I’m back in a mob of people shoving their way through to get to a bathroom.
Most of the go-​go dancers that were either in cages or up on a stage were simply moving back and forth. The dancers I remember from the previously mentioned events were actually dancing. Most were nice to look at, but not quite the same as gyrating and grinding up in the cages.
As the night came to a close, I look through my lanyard that was given when I checked into the VIP booth at the beginning of the night to confirm that I’d be out of the party and walking blocks before hitting one of the discounted deals mentioned for VIP guests. Yep-​too far.
My girlfriend and I walked back to our car to call it a night and to reflect on whether or not to attend another party «organized» (a term I’m using VERY loosely) by McFarlane Promotions.