Abstract

This article explores the nature of extraordinary experiences through a netnographic analysis of the views of committed attendees at the 2005 Sidmouth Folk Festival. After uncertainty over finance and the withdrawal of the previous event management company, the festival eventually went ahead under a different, collaborative organization and on a reduced scale. The new format was vigorously debated by posters to an Internet message board, Mudcat Cafe, providing a wide-ranging and unprompted set of opinions on the criteria for a successful festival. To provide a framework for analyzing these responses, a holistic prism model was developed from the literature to bring together the main external and internal elements of the festival experience: "Design and Programming," "Physical Organization," "Social Interaction," "Personal Benefits," "Symbolic Meanings," and "Cultural Communication." This was used to analyze the messages and explore the way in which festival-goers evaluate their experience. The findings support the view that festivals provide a space and time away from everyday life in which intense extraordinary experiences can be created and shared. These are evaluated through a subjective response to the whole event, interpreted within the broader narrative context of the consumer's life and their values.