The screenshot opening this post is when I first found out that Yuletide was leaving Devon .
Now Savvy Main Line has given us the scoop:
Yuletide has left the Main Line and will leapfrog the river to Lafayette Hill.
After considering Valley Forge Military Academy, Cabrini and Eastern College, Yuletide’s father-son founders, Rob and Jes Bickhart, inked a deal with the last venue they toured: Union League Liberty Hill golf club…. “If we had to do it over, would we have gone to the Devon Horse Show? Probably not,” Jes Bickhart tells SAVVY….A warm-weather venue, Devon required pricey winterizing and was simply too big, he says. Devon is 15 acres; Liberty Hill is five.
The smaller footprint “allows us to maximize our holiday decorations,” Bickhart says.
Having only 500 people at Yuletide Devon on a weeknight felt desolate. “But 500 people on a Wednesday night at the Union League will feel cozy,” he enthuses.
There have been rumblings that Devon’s brass was unhappy with Yuletide.
Sources shared concerns about the festival’s white “snow” cover and the possibility of broken glass from a wine vendor (glass is a no-no near horse show rings) affecting horses’ footing. Guaranteeing horse safety is critical to a show of Devon’s caliber.
But the horse show’s leadership has mostly refused comment.
“They had a one-year lease and we wish them well,” is about all Devon Horse Show President/CEO Wayne Grafton would tell us on the record….As for those other rumblings, i.e. that Yuletide didn’t draw the expected crowds and, as a result, couldn’t pay some contractors, Bickhart admits they’re true.
Yuletide attracted 80,000 people last year – a far cry from the Bickharts’ anticipated 120,000+. “But we owe our contractors “hundreds of thousands of dollars, not millions.” And no one has sued, he says.
SAVVY interviewed multiple, behind-the-scenes event production contractors who told us they weren’t paid in full – one even created the fictitious email account “Christmas Justice” to talk to us. But no one would go the record and one source retracted her words altogether.
According to Bickhart, Yuletide did $3 million in revenue last year and anyone who wasn’t paid in full is now being paid in installments….The festivals’ investors have not yet been paid, he says. Most are deep-pocketed Main Line associates of Rob Bickhart, who belongs to the Union League. “We’re on good terms with our investors,” says his son.
Several things stick out at first and foremost is what was said in the Philadelphia last year when this event was debuting at Devon horse show :
So how does having a three-year agreement go to a one year lease?
I always wondered when it came to this if they set themselves up to fail at Devon or Devon set them up to fail?
I know when it was announced last year that the equestrian community was kind of up in arms about it because of the importance of the ring to the actual Devon Horse Show.
At first, I was excited at the idea of this because I love Christmas markets. I love Christmas things. I love Christmas. I love Christmas decorations. I love vintage and antique Christmas. Etc etc.
But then we learned how much it would cost to go and then we found out that parking was you know like $50 a car. Tickets to enter were also not inexpensive- they were $34.99 for adults last year and tickets for children ages 3 through 8 were advertised at like $22.99, while children under the age of 3 got in free. Season passes were available for $89.99 for an adult and $59.99 for juniors. And then there was parking gouging wasn’t there?
As a friend of mine noted:
Plus they initially charged 50 bucks for parking (later lowered to $30) . That’s what the horse show now charges, which is ridiculous for the horse show as well. But the horse show is the oldest in the country and benefits Bryn Mawr Hospital as its largest donor. Yuletide at Devon is a strictly for-profit endeavor.
And that always bothered me is that they were doing this and charging these prices and there was no nonprofit component. something at Christmas, you expect to have some sort of a nonprofit component don’t you ? It’s the season of giving except for these people it was the season of giving to themselves, apparently wasn’t it ?
Other people remarked that it was the kind of event the people who like to see themselves on Instagram took selfies for. Christmas and the holidays isn’t about social media influencers. I mean, it’s nice to see everybody’s holiday photos but that’s not what we’re talking about here, we’re talking about “influencers.”
I wrote about this event three times.
To sum it all up: I kept trying to look for reasons to like this event. I love Christmas, I wanted to love this event. I tried to keep an open mind but the event couldn’t get out of their own way.
I knew vendors, I could have gone for free, but every time I heard a review from personal friends who ponied up their Christmas gold to go, reviews were lukewarm to disastrous to flat out negative.
There were plenty of fluffy social media reviews from wannabe and self proclaimed influencers who like always we’re there for the free, and the selfies. And then there were the influencer adjacent like certain classes of professionals and service providers who thought they had to write puffy fluffy posts when the real time chatter was they didn’t actually have a good time were the way to go…maybe they should have just been honest? I mean do they think people don’t talk when they say they had a crap time but post it was a good as the Rockettes or something?
And that was what was so amusing to me about Yuletide – there was so much whispering behind hands. Much as is the case with Devon Horse Show today. Why not just be honest? Life is expensive at times, as well as short. Why not just say how you feel even if not 100% positive? And that is such a social media thing: unicorns farting rainbows only. Ever.
So other things. After Yuletide at Devon was done people started about the condition of the inside of the ring at Devon Horse Show. They call that the footing right? Is it true that this had to be pulled out and replaced? That is very expensive if true isn’t it?
And did they have to really use magnets to make sure there were no metal bits where expensive horses were eventually to tread?
Also when people have money you expect them to pay their bills right? So that means paying the service people and vendors right? This was like a cashless event, so you swiped and paid for everything except each vendor did not have their own point of sale did they? Money went to Yuletide and Yuletide paid out after? Or didn’t so much as per Savvy? Can you imagine being a small business and still not being paid what is owed even now? After shelling out to be a part of it?
People also constantly commented how empty the event was, even during times it was free.
Now Yuletide’s moving to a Union League owned golf club for 2024- it’s now Yuletide at Union League Liberty Hill, 800 Ridge Pike, Lafayette Hill. AKA “the other side of the river” and I think that is what I once knew as the ACE Golf Club. It’s not particularly easy nor convenient to get to unless you live over in that section of Montgomery County. Ticket prices are dropped sort of but I am still left with the “meh” of it all.
I am amused by the categorization of the investors by Yuletide’s owners. How long do they expect the investors to be understanding?
Also I noted something else interesting that they said to Savvy:
And if all goes well, the Philly burbs will be just the beginning. The two hope to bring Yuletide to Pittsburgh and Washington, DC next year.
So like Sesame Place but Christmas? Okayyyy (tacky much?)
Also at the bottom of the website for Yuletide it says “Spectacle Reality Inc”? What’s that?
Can’t find much….
https://www.bizapedia.com/de/spectacle-reality-inc.html
https://importkey.com/i/spectacle-reality-inc
I hope people enjoy themselves if they give Yuletide another go in Lafayette Hill this year but I still don’t think it’s worth it for me. Too many unanswered questions. Too much about the money and not the season.
I will continue to highlight true holiday traditions and events.
Thank you Savvy for the write up and of course this news once again brings up all of the questions swirling around Devon Horse Show and leadership doesn’t it?
