2006 Statistics & Report
VABook! 2006 Draws Record Crowds and Fills Hotels
The Virginia Festival of the Book (VABook!) is pleased to announce that the audience for the twelfth annual Charlottesville event has increased to a new record attendance total of 26,433.
"If you were in Charlottesville, you felt it," said Program Director Nancy Damon. The city brimmed with excitement from readings, panels and performances by Michael Connelly, Rita Dove, Barbara Ehrenreich, John Hope Franklin, Amy Goodman, Jane Hirshfield, Barbara Kingsolver, John McCutcheon, Gregory Orr, Mary Doria Russell, Art Spiegelman, and Judith Viorst, just to name a few.
Several programs had an attendance of 500 or more people: "Making History: John Hope Franklin and Rita Dove," "Festival Luncheon: Judith Viorst," "Independent Media: Amy Goodman," and "Words and Music: John McCutcheon and Barbara Kingsolver, hosted by David Baldacci." The McCutcheon-Kingsolver benefit raised $48,000 and has the distinction of having the largest audience for a book festival event: 824 people were on hand in the Paramount Theater to enjoy poetry, music, and a cameo appearance by Virginia Poet Laureate Rita Dove.
VABook! has become a highly anticipated tourist destination. Mark Shore of the Charlottesville Convention and Business Bureau reported that on Friday of the Festival, there were only five hotel rooms available in Charlottesville. This traffic translates into sales for local restaurants, shops, and bookstores as well.
"The community and the book center may be financially richer," said a Charlottesville Daily Progress editorial of April 4, "but we are culturally enriched as well."
There have never been so many ways to be access the VABook! 2006’s many rich offerings if you could not be in attendance during the festival. Select programs are available on the University of Virginia Web Communications Podcasting site and are appearing on C-SPAN2’s Book TV on weekends this spring and summer.
Planning has already begun for next year. The thirteenth annual Virginia Festival of the Book will be held March 21-25, 2007.
Statistics
Source: Returned program evaluations. Percentages tabulated from total number of respondents to each question. Sample size 3,831.
| Festival Rating - "Great" or"Excellent" | 95% | |
| Number public programs | 155 | |
| Number of youth programs | 75 | |
| Average attendance | ||
| At an adult program | 96 | |
| At a youth & family program | 178 | |
| Number of participants | 338 | |
| Authors and writers | 315 | |
| Publishers, editors, and other professionals | 23 | |
| Total audience | 26,433 | |
| Audience profile | ||
| From Charlottesville/ Albemarle | 69% | |
| Other Virginia | 21% | |
| Out-of-state — from 32 states (AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, HI, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, WI, WV) |
9% | |
| Other countries and U.S. territories (Canada, France, Germany, Holland, India, UK, Puerto Rico) |
1% | |
| Out-of-area audience staying overnight in hotels | 27% | |
| Percent of attendees buying at least 1 – 5 books | 61% | |
| How Festival information obtained (multiple responses per survey possible) |
||
| Received Advance Program | 19% | |
| Newspaper coverage | 21% | |
| Word of mouth | 22% | |
| Web site | 15% | |
| Radio/TV | 7% | |
| Magazine | 2% | |
| Other (friends, school, co-worker, etc.) | 14% | |
Reactions to the Festival
"This year’s Virginia Festival of the Book was the most popular in the annual event’s 12-year history, featuring a slate of venerable authors, attracting sold-out crowds and ultimately, quenching the book-loving thirst of thousands of bibliophiles."
Melanie Mayhew, The Daily Progress
April 2, 2006
"[VABook!] is turning Charlottesville into a kind of literary Camelot."
Rita Dove, quoted in The Cavalier Daily
April 5, 2006
Join our email list to stay informed about developments and events
Our Sponsors:
Virginia Festival of the Book is a program of the
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
145 Ednam Drive, Charlottesville, VA 22903
phone: (434)924-6890 | fax: (434) 296-4714 | vabook@virginia.edu