22/06/2025
Public Statement Regarding Today’s Event Experience
Today, our team attended a local event after paying a £60 pitch fee and turning down other opportunities to be there — including a profitable one in Beddington. We spent hours preparing: packing materials, loading signage, organizing staff, and traveling to the site. But upon arrival, we were surprised and disappointed to find not just another face painting tent with multiple artists, but also a separate glitter tattoo stand.
This direct competition, placed without warning, meant we painted no children for the majority of the day. Our staff lost a day’s work, and we as a business took a financial hit — not just in the pitch fee, but also in the income we could have earned elsewhere.
We feel strongly that booking multiple traders offering the same service is irresponsible unless footfall is guaranteed to be extremely high. For many of us, this is not a hobby — it’s our livelihood. We’re professionals offering a service that adds value and attraction to an event. Yet time and time again, small businesses are expected to pay high pitch fees while being treated as an afterthought.
It’s particularly disheartening because we returned to local events this year to reconnect with our community — but this kind of poor planning and disregard for traders is exactly why many of us stopped doing events in the first place. It’s not only disorganised — it feels greedy.
If you want entertainment like face painting at your event, consider supporting us properly — through sponsorship, booking us as entertainment, or ensuring fair trading conditions. We are here to make a living, not to work for exposure or gamble with our time and resources.
We share this not just for ourselves, but for the many other small businesses who face the same struggles.
Thank you to those who continue to support local traders with fairness and respect.
— ABC face paints