The Moon Festival is an important holiday on many Asian calendars. This festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, is held each September (which is mid-spring here in Australia) to honour cultural traditions. In many Asian cultures, it all starts with a one-day public holiday, held on a particular date in the Chinese Han and Vietnamese calendars, when the moon appears fullest and brightest.
There are many fun and interesting ways you can celebrate the Moon Festival with your community. We’ve talked to some of Eventbrite’s event creators who host Moon Festival events and gleaned some unique and successful ideas about creating community group events. Read on to find out everything you need to know about organising a popular and environmentally sustainable Moon Festival.
Ideas for a Moon Festival in your community
The Moon Festival is celebrated worldwide as a family day full of gift-giving. One of the important traditions is that people share and enjoy mooncakes after big family dinners while drinking tea and admiring the moon. Round, sweet mooncakes are often given as gifts to friends, family, and co-workers.
Queensland University of Technology’s Student Engagement and Sport team holds an annual Moon Festival at the Gardens Point campus in Brisbane. A collective viewing of the moonrise follows an afternoon of free mooncake tastings, food stalls, workshops, and cultural entertainment such as dragon dances. In Sydney, at the Conservatorium of Music, event creator Iris Pipa Studio showcases its students with an Amazonite Moon Festival Concert.
Back in Queensland at the Eight Mile Plains Methodist Church, cultures come together every year for their Mid-Autumn (Mooncake) Festival Evangelistic Night. Here, church services and celebrations are offered in both English and Mandarin, and everyone is welcome.
If you’d like more helpful how-to info and industry insights about fool proof festival operations, head to our event checklist where you’ll find information about things like how to manage your technology and staffing resources wisely.
How to make your Moon Festival more sustainable
Sustainability is a growing concern — and as an event organiser, you want to do everything you can to minimise the rubbish your event creates. For example, using electronic tickets will not only reduce the carbon footprint of your event but will also keep your environmentally-motivated customers happy and make clean up that much easier.
The more attendees you have, the more impactful your sustainability initiatives become. With the shift in consumer attitudes around waste, biodegradable and compostable plastics are becoming more commonplace. If you ask food vendors to only use compostable serving ware (ie plates, cutlery, bowls, boxes, hot drink cups and lids, etc), you should also follow through by providing the appropriate bins for attendees to dispose of these items so they can be composted correctly.
Another low-cost solution is to offer dishwashing services where possible, so that multi-use plates and crockery can be cleaned and reused without creating any landfill. Encourage attendees to join the “Rewash Revolution” by bringing their own serving ware. For those who don’t, charge a small deposit for their crockery which they can get back when it’s returned for washing. Attendees who bring their own serving ware don’t pay the deposit at all and can access free dishwashing.
Some especially waste-conscious festival organisers use volunteers to help guide patrons on how to do the right thing when disposing of their recyclable and compostable items. For more practical and innovative ideas that we’ve gleaned from our super event creators, head to our Simple Guide to a Plastic-Free Festival, and read on to find out about effective festival promotion for Moon Festivals.
How to promote your festival
As always, promoting your event is important! Read on for tips on advertising community events using tools such as a festival website.
Be social
Promoting your event through social media can be an inexpensive and easy way to reach your audience. Think about which social networks your target audience spends time on, as well as what aspects of your event will be most enticing. You might even think about engaging with a Social Influencer to reach more people. Read Your Event’s Complete Social Media Advertising Calendar for more help putting together a solid social media marketing strategy.
Try out different ticketing options
Getting your ticketing options right can make the difference between holding an event with lots of atmosphere and excitement, or having an event that doesn’t quite meet the mark.
Selling tickets in advance, as well as at the door, gives you a better idea about how many people will attend your event, as well as peace of mind for your sponsors and vendors. It also makes it easier to gather data about your attendees, such as their age, demographic and location. This information can be invaluable for ongoing marketing opportunities.
Don’t forget about different ticket types. To increase your profits, think about selling limited VIP tickets that offer attendees a premium experience for a higher price, or offer group ticketing options to encourage people to book for their friends as well.
Use social media
The Chinese Traditional Cultural Festival held in September at the Metropolitan Meat Market Melbourne aims to spread and promote traditional Chinese culture through professional stage performances in a heritage-listed marketplace that has been sumptuously restored and transformed into an art centre and historical venue. The Moon Festival here allows people from all cultures to experience authentic Chinese culture and cuisine while maximising cultural exchange between different countries.
The organisers use Eventbrite technology to promote the festival by embedding their YouTube promo video on their event page. For the easiest social media promotion all in one place, try out Eventbrite Boost.
Start organising your festival
With all of these great ideas for Moon Festival events, and the organisation, ticketing, and marketing tools available through Eventbrite, you’ll be prepped and ready to plan your own event. Sign up with Eventbrite today and let us help you to grow your events with confidence – our tools enable you to take special care of the details of event management and promotion.
