Dark Lord Day History Thread

Thanks, this is exactly the stuff I am looking for. It's hard to keep everything straight.

 

One of the main things I need is attendance for each year, especially 2009 and 2012. If anyone has data on how many tickets were sold those years that would be great. I realize in 2009, tickets could be counterfeited, so the number of tickets sold only helps so much. I realize accurate numbers may be difficult, but at least close estimates would be nice. Here's what I have so far:

2004: ~50 people
2005 ~100 people
2006: ~500-1,000 people
2007: ~2,000-3,000 people
2008: ~4,500-5,000 people
2009: ? (I would guess greater than 5k but less than 10k or about there)
2010: ~ 10,000 - 12,000 people
2011: ~ 6,000 people
2012: ? (I would guess greater than 6k and less than 10k)
2013: ~9,000-10,000
2014: ~10,000 (NWI Times reported 7,500, but perhaps that does not account for GA)

As far as allotments go this is what I have:

2004: no limit?
2005: no limit?
2006: 6 per person
2007: 6 per person
2008: 6 per person, but was cut to 1 per person late in the day before selling out
2009: 4 per ticket. People with multiple tickets could get multiple allotments. I heard allotments were cut later in the day due to counterfeit tickets, does anyone have info on that?
2010: 4 per ticket (could get 1 bottle of 2009 + 3 2010s, or 4 2010's). Could you get multiple allotments as an individual if you had more than one ticket? I believe you could this year.
2011: 4 per person + 1 BA if you won the scratch off
2012: 4 per person + 1 BA if you won the scratch off
2013: 3 per person + 1 BA if you won the scratch off
2014: 4 per person + 1 BA if you won the scratch off

 

Looks like 2012 was about 6,000 tickets sold, just like 2011. So that should be a pretty accurate number for 2012.

It was 2010 that allotment was cut due to counterfeit tickets, not 2009 as speculated in the previous post. After some research, in 2009 it sounds like the bottle line cleared out around 4pm, and at that point they brought out more Golden Tickets for sale so anyone there could get an allotment. Also, this year was rainy and many people cleared out by late afternoon which probably explains why there were 2009 bottles left over for sale in 2010. In 2010, realizing they weren't going to have enough beer for everyone with tickets (they were honoring counterfeits b/c many people purchased them unknowingly) they cut the allotment from 4 to 3 around 3pm.

Good info on 2009: http://chicagoist.com/2009/04/27/dark_lord_day_improvements_show_pro.php#photo-13

Good info on 2010: http://hoosierbeergeek.blogspot.com/2010/04/dark-lord-day-2010.html

Still don't have an attendance number on 2009, but I am guessing it is closer to the 5,000 mark. It sounds like many people who purchased two tickets, used both to end up with two allotments.

2010 must have been when people wised up to how easy it was to counterfeit the tickets, and the attendance number exploded.

 

Ticket Sales Info

2004-2008
No tickets necessary.

2009
First year "Golden Tickets" were required to purchase an allotment of Dark Lord.

• Tickets were $10
• Tickets were sold directly through DarkLordDay.com
• A lottery signup was required to purchase tickets, then FFF would e-mail you when tickets were available. You had a set amount of time to purchase your tickets if your name was selected. If you missed your time window, another winner was selected and emailed. Emails went out early in the AM on a Tuesday, Saint Patrick's day 3/17/2009.
• You could purchase two tickets per person, four per household.
• Tickets sold out in approximately 4 hours.
• If you had multiple tickets, you could use them to get multiple allotments as an individual.
• Tickets were transferable.
• Tickets guaranteed an allotment of 4 bottles per ticket.
• Tickets included one pour of Dark Lord, could upgrade to a BA Dark Lord for $5.
• The ticket you received was the actual "Golden Ticket" and was not numbered/bar-coded.
• Additional Golden Tickets were sold at DLD around 4pm, after the line cleared and there were still bottles remaining.

Here is the original announcement from Three Floyds regarding the Golden Ticket system

Interesting to note they originally said up to 1 case per ticket. This was cut to 4 bottles per person however.

2010

• Tickets were $10
• Tickets were sold through a Shopify site setup by Three Floyds
• Tickets were sold on Wednesday, St Patrick's Day 3/17/2010.
• People stayed up all night in anticipation of the Tweet going out early in the morning, as lottery emails had gone out early in the AM in 2009. The tickets did not actually go on sale until around 7pm Central.
• The large demand caused the Shopify site to crash. Some users were able to complete orders without major issue, but others were unable to get the site to load.
• You could purchase two tickets per person.
• Tickets sold out in under 1 hour.
• Tickets guaranteed an allotment of 4 bottles per ticket. (However the allotment was cut to 3 late in the day due to counterfeits)
• Tickets were transferable.
  
• Tickets included one pour of Dark Lord on draft, could upgrade to a BA Dark Lord for $5.
• You could use multiple tickets to get multiple allotments as an individual.
• The ticket you received was the actual "Golden Ticket" and was not numbered/bar-coded.
• Counterfeiting was an issue this year.

Will do 2011-2014 in a new post.

 

Ticket Sales Info (cont)

2011

Several big changes this year including using an actual ticket broker, with bar-coded tickets to prevent counterfeits, and requiring a ticket for entry into the festival. They limited one allocation per person this year, and split the tickets into different group time slots to help spread out the line. No pour of Dark Lord included with tickets this year.

• Tickets were $10
• Tickets went on sale Saturday March 19, 2011 at 1pm Central.
  
• Tickets were sold through Music Today.
• Tickets sold out in about 23 minutes.
• You could purchase two tickets per person, however an individual could only use one ticket.
• A ticket was required for admission to the festival. Three Floyds property was enclosed with a fence to keep others out.
• Ticket holders received a Golden Ticket scratch off, for the chance to purchase a BA Dark Lord variant.
• Tickets were split between 3 Group times. A, B, C
• Tickets guaranteed an allotment of 4 bottles of Dark Lord, but did not get you a pour of Dark Lord on draft.

Original Info from Three Floyds Regarding 2011 Tickets