Case Study
How the Burnet Chamber of Commerce Cut Vendor Check-in time by 50% for their 60,000+ Person Music Festival using Eventeny
Highlights
Manages 300+ vendors for the Bluebonnet Festival and 170+ vendors for Christmas on the SquareCut vendor check-in from more than 5 hours down to 2.5 hours using QR code check-in
Replaced printing and hand-cutting vendor photos into Word documents for 400+ paper applications with one digital review and approval process
3 events, 60,000+ people, one chamber running it all
The Burnet Chamber of Commerce runs the Burnet Bluebonnet Festival, a three-day event in Burnet, Texas that draws 50,000 to 60,000 people for free live music, a carnival, and more than 300 vendors across two stages.
The chamber also runs Christmas on the Square, a one-day event each December with about 170 vendors, and Jackson Street Jams, a free monthly summer concert series. Kristi Buck has run all three as the chamber's events director for two years. Kristi typically fills more than 300 vendor spots and still carries a waitlist of 150 to 200.
“Check-in was probably over a five hour period, and we had cars lined up for seven straight city blocks... we were blocking one of our main highways coming into town.”
Before Eventeny:
Copy, paste, print, and repeat (400+ times)
When Kristi started, the chamber ran its vendor applications through WordPress. Every application came in as a printout which she cut and pasted vendor photos into. Kristi then repeated this process more than 400 applicants a year before sending the stack to her review committee.
Vendor placement lived on paper maps she inherited, built in Canva. Any last-minute cancellation or swap meant redrawing the map by hand and sending an updated copy to the city, risking mistakes creeping in.
Then came check-in. Vendor information sat in envelopes with stickers, sorted by hand, while her team dug through paperwork with cars idling in line.
"There's got to be a better way to do this"
The impact:
Vendor check-in time cut by 50%
Vendor applications, photos, and acceptance or waitlist decisions live on one screen. Kristi's review committee can log in, vote yes or no through a built-in survey, and she handles final approval and placement from there.
The team can move a vendor booth and the change shows up everywhere at once. Notes attached to each vendor record track things like failed card charges and outreach attempts, so there's a record if a vendor disputes a decision later.
The Bluebonnet Festival vendor check-in team uses Eventeny on their phones to confirm arrivals in real time and flag anyone who hasn't checked in yet.
This year they got more than 300 vendors checked in, unloaded, and set up in 2.5 hours, down from a check-in process that used to run past 5 and back up traffic onto the highway.
“The check-in with the QR code was so much easier... I walked away, they had all 300 vendors we had on the square unloading or set up, all within 2.5 hours.”
Why Kristi tells other chambers about Eventeny
Kristi's most common obstacle is the phrase “it's always been done this way.” In her time at the Burnet Chamber, she’s learned that the best way to modernize is by implementing changes in small doses.
One of those changes, Eventeny, has already paid off: faster check-ins, fewer reprinted maps, and a system she can reuse year after year instead of starting over.
Since joining us in 2025, Kristi has already recommended Eventeny to several chambers who reached out to ask what she was using and why. With the time she used to spend rebuilding applications and maps from scratch each year, she can focus on recruiting vendors and enhancing the attendee experience across all three festivals hosted by Burnet Chamber of Commerce.