OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS ─ Nothing ruins a weekend festival faster than drenching rain, but what creates disappointment for festival-goers can quickly result in financial disaster for festival organizers.
Buskerfest, an annual celebration of street performing in Lawrence, Kansas, recently faced an uncertain weather forecast, worrying both festival organizers and performers who make most of their money for the weekend from tips from the audience.
Mat Ricardo, a world-renowned street performer sponsored at Buskerfest by Vortex Insurance, came all the way from England to delight the audience in Lawrence. A street performer for more than 30 years, Ricardo is familiar with the havoc the weather can play with a street festival.
“This is the nature of street performing,” Ricardo says. “You learn very quickly to not stress about the things you can’t control. And weather is the number one thing. I can spend literally a whole day on planes to get here, arrive here feeling really bummed out and tired and get myself together and if it rains, it’s like that was all for nothing. But you can’t feel depressed about that. Not my fault. It’s not your fault.”
It might not be anyone’s fault, but it is a lost weekend of revenue. The weather in Lawrence turned out to be beautiful for Buskerfest, where Ricardo was able to wow the crowd with his signature Extraordinary Gentleman act. But if the rain had shown up, the event was insured by a weather insurance policy from Vortex, which would have helped recover lost revenues.
No matter the location, outdoor fair and festival organizers can benefit from Vortex Weather Insurance to keep one bad weather weekend from ending their ability to put on future events. And that can keep performers like Mat Ricardo delighting fans for years to come.
ABOUT VORTEX WEATHER INSURANCE:
Vortex Weather Insurance (dba Vortex Insurance Agency, LLC) is a data-driven weather risk insurtech that offers businesses a variety of affordable parametric weather index insurance products, including supplemental hurricane insurance. Since 2008, Vortex has provided insurance for outdoor events ranging from fairs and festivals, motorsports, youth sports, parades, professional golf tournaments and golf clubs to outdoor theaters and concerts, haunted houses and holiday light events. Insurance is underwritten by Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance USA, Inc. (MSU), admitted in all 50 states and has an AM Best rating of A+ (Superior). Weather or not … Vortex it. Contact us at vortexinsurance.com.
