Atlanta Dogwood Festival’s Testimonial
For over 80-years the Atlanta Dogwood Festival welcomes spring with its nationally renowned Fine Artist Market, live music, kids village, and several other entertainment options for the entire family to enjoy. Daytime temperatures typically average around 70 degrees making the festival a perfect way to spend the whole day outdoors. That is unless of course, it rains.
2018 Atlanta Dogwood Festival
Brian Hill, Executive Director, knows all too well how successful the Atlanta Dogwood Festival can be with ideal weather conditions. He also knows how much can be lost if an unwelcome rain event occurs during peak attendance periods, which is what happened in 2018. The first two days of the festival were fantastic–80-degree days with plenty of sunshine, which brought in huge crowds, but Sunday was a different story. An early morning storm came through and ended just as the festival was opening. Another storm hit around noon, causing many of the patrons to leave. Others changed their plans and did not attend at all.
Putting a Rain Plan Into Place
What should have been a very successful event did not turn out that way. In the weeks and months that followed, Hill knew that there had to be a change. A better plan needed to be put in place to help protect the festival’s financial future if this were to occur again. In 2018, Hill had purchased a weather insurance policy from a broker. The policy was not designed to provide the coverage the festival needed. It was time to move forward and find a new source for weather insurance.
In 2019 Hill decided to put that plan in action. It started by contacting Vortex Insurance Agency to investigate rain insurance options.
2019 Atlanta Dogwood Festival
Sunshine with temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s began the 2019 Atlanta Dogwood Festival. The crowds streamed in, and the day ran as planned. The third day of the festival was a different story. Like a bad recurring dream, the weather took a turn. Heavy and uninvited the rain started at 8 am, and only got worse as the morning progressed into the noon hour. Like the previous year, the rain caused people to change plans or stay home. The critical difference this time was the weather risk plan was written by Vortex to give the festival the coverage it needed to protect its assets and revenue.
A Successful Festival Despite the Rain
The amount of rainfall on the last day of the festival triggered the festival’s weather insurance policy. Vortex processed the claim, and the Atlanta Dogwood Festival received their payment within the week. Rain could have ruined another year, but instead, the result was much more satisfying.
“[Vortex Weather Insurance] was our best decision….We went from being in the red to being in the black.” – Brian Hill, Atlanta Dogwood Festival’s Executive Director
