A Revolutionary Thank You

Off To A Good Start

We want to thank all of the guests who supported “Revolutionary Evenings” this year.  Of the six shows we performed, we had a few full houses, and overall, we achieved  50% of our capacity, which is very good for a first year dinner theater effort around here.  In the early years of “Sleepy Hollow,” (now decades ago), it was difficult filling the house for a few nights, but when you keep plugging away, the word gets out and this year, I’m fairly sure we will sell out 21 performances. Thanks to you first-timers, we stand a pretty good chance of hitting 100% on Revolutionary Evenings next year.

Our goal is to become a year round living history admission farm, where different shows, and different eras–featuring both indoor and outdoor performances–fill up the entire calendar.  There is a twist, of course: what other theater lets you pick a few apples during the performance?  You can’t even do that on Broadway or in Vegas.  (So take that Cirque Du Soleil.)

We are rapidly finding out that you value us as a “planned” and “buy ahead” destination, with the possible exception of the fall Harvest crowd, which is largely walk-on public.  I believe the troubled history of restaurants in Oak Glen bears this out a bit.   Up here, the pure food service business is feast or famine.  During the “feast” periods, our Hawk’s Head Tavern had a two hour waiting list, but we still had empty tables because families might be a half mile away, in a distant orchard, when their name came up.   On a Thursday in late July, however, you might have the whole tavern to yourself.

We’re going to be changing our structure over the next year and likely moving to a 100% admission model, with a broad selection of programs and prices, from $5 to $500, depending on the season, the length of stay, and the offering.   We have a core staff that is family to us, and we need to make sure we can not only offer them hours, but a future as well.  As one old timer up here observed several years ago:  “It used to be, up here in Oak Glen, that people would ask me: ‘What can we buy?’  Now they ask me: ‘What can we do?'”

We need to begin honoring that reality.  During this recession, even huge attractions around the country are beginning to see declining attendance, and that’s all the more reason to make sure we offer you fun, life-affirming, patriotic living-history challenges for normal, America-loving people.  I’m writing up a voluminous memo on the subject for those of you who want to weigh in.  Send us a line at info@rileysfarm.com.

Thanks again!  See you soon!   (All we ask is that you tell 5,000 of your closest friends about us)

Categorised in: Farm Journal

This post was written by Jim Riley