For anyone who attends anoutdoor music festival or special event in New Orleans:You know you love it. We know you really do; you keep coming back for more. Virtually every festival in New Orleans has grown in size over the past few years, thanks to you.

Do you know how much work it takes to produce a big festival? First, you have to find the right location, make sure that it will work for the event; that it has the right electrical,water, parking, internet and other infrastructure you need for the event.Can you get a permit? What about working with sanitation and police? Do you need multiple permits? Is it agated event where you’ll sell tickets?

Think about all the booths, tents and staging and lighting and sound equipment, technicians to install everything. Then there’s organizing the people who will work at the event, and finding the vendors and musicians, and negotiating fees. There are transportation issues. Most festivals, in order to survive, have sponsors that they must acquire and cater to; this requires a staff. Festivals usually involve a lot of volunteer effort, too. You’ve got to pay legal and accounting fees, and taxes. Marketing, promotion and advertising are pretty important too. Putting on a festival is a massive undertaking, even if it’s a small one. It’s a fast-growing business.

According to the website Hyperbot: “The American music festival scene is growing as established festivals sell out early and new festivals put in strong performances across the nation. In the past, American festival promoters cited the example of Europe, but UK music festivals are now seeing a downturn due to oversaturation. Still, future growth in the US seems likely as niche festivals emerge, combining music, arts and technology.” Both the Jazz Fest and French Quarter Fest are bursting at the seams, leaving room for other events, such as the Buku Festival that recently took place in New Orleans and sold out in advance.

But you have to have a steely-eyed determination, and a lot of passion for what you do, to keep a festival going and growing over the years. It’s a very tough profession. An entire day’s worth of revenue from beverages and/or ticket sales can be wiped with one little rain shower. If you’re not a risk-taker, it’s not for you.

So remember how hard it is to put on Jazz Fest if you get a little sound bleed from another stage, or a band doesn’t show up. Festival production is anything but predictable. Unless the festival just really sucks, cut the promoters a little slack, and be grateful that someone had the fortitude to keep the festival alive. My profound respect is given to anyone who produces festivals. I feel your pain (and passion). Producing a festival is almost as hard as producing a magazine (!)—except we do it every month, just on a smaller scale. We do it out of passion and love for our music and culture, and our desire to share it with you, our readers.