Vendor ticket system not popular at BamaJam

BamaJam food/drink tickets
16 tickets cost $10
1 ticket has a value of 62.5 cents
Most all beverages are 5 tickets or $3.13
Mixed drinks are 8 tickets or $5
Large corndogs are 12 tickets or $7.50

COFFEE COUNTY — Your money is no good over here at BamaJam.

No, things aren’t free, but food and beverage vendors do not accept cash. Festivalgoers must instead buy tickets which are redeemable for lemonade, corn dogs, boiled peanuts, cold beer and anything else consumable.

Both vendors and music fans called the process an inconvenience. The sale of food and beverage tickets drew as many complaints Friday as the heat.

“Get rid of the carnival tickets,” suggested Charles Mann of Slapout, near Wetumpka. “This ain’t no fair.”

Bo Panks of Pearl River, La., agreed.

“It’s a pain in the butt,” he said. “Cash is the way to go. Just the aggravation of going to get a ticket ….”

Panks shakes his head. He also suggested people be told at the gate that they will need to purchase the tickets so they are not surprised.

Billy Graham, vice president of Ronnie Gilley Enterprises, said organizers found out the first day they did not have enough ticket sale locations and increased them. As far as the ticket idea, he said it’s new to a lot of people.

“People are not accustomed to it,” Graham said. “It was chaos at first because people had to find a place to buy them. We added nine more sales tables, so there are about 12 places to buy tickets now and we put them close to the vendors.”

Tom Rao of Slidell, La., said he thinks the ticket system keeps the vendors honest.

“There’s less germs on tickets (compared to money),” he said.

His wife, Karen Rao, said it doesn’t matter to her since all the vendors seem to be selling their food and beverages for the same price, er, number of tickets.

Buzz Wampler of Gold Concessions out of Tampa said the ticket system “stinks.”

“People see we sell a sandwich for seven tickets, and they think that’s $7, which sounds like a lot,” Wampler said. “People have been real frustrated. They come up for food and we have to send them to a ticket counter. It makes them mad.”

Ryan Freymuller of Mickey’s Nuts out of Tampa, Fla., said he has done only two shows or events that use tickets over cash. As a vendor, he said the reason festivals use the ticket system is to guarantee festival organizers will get their percentage of sales.

“There may be something to that,” Freymuller said. “Tickets are to make sure nobody is getting swindled.”

Freymuller is paying a $1,750 fee or 30 percent of sales, whichever is greater, for BamaJam vendor privileges.

“I better make more than $1,750,” he said.

Vendors need not worry too much about the inconvenience. On the second day, operations are running smoother. And it’s not like festivalgoers, who are not allowed to bring in food or beverages, can afford to go thirsty.

“I got no problem with it,” said L.Z. Davis of Marianna, Fla. “Prices are fairly reasonable.”