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Recovery and festivals
Recovery is the “process of restoring, rebuilding, and reshaping the physical, social, economic and natural environment through pre-event planning and post-event actions” (Smith & Wenger, 2007, p. 237).
In general, festivals are implemented for a variety of reasons including destination brand and image enhancement, community engagement and development, and to provide new experiences for residents and visitors (Getz, 2007). Festivals implemented after a disaster, which include new events as well as the re-establishment of traditional festivals, can contribute to recovery and be a signal that recovery is occurring (Kimura, 2016; Takakura, 2019).
Increasingly, the involvement of a wider cross-section of the community in a “whole community” approach to disaster response and recovery is becoming a valued approach to disaster and emergency management (Linnenluecke and McKnight, 2017).
Recent research found that Festivals contribute to recovery in two key ways:
1. The festival as an experience is an oasis for processing at the individual, community, and societal levels. Attendees and organizers value the time, space, and experience offered by a festival, which offers both an escape and an opportunity to revive individuals and communities.
“It was healing for people. It was actually good to come around the fire for entertainment and warmth to bring the community together.” (research participant)
2. The festival as an organization is a highly connected network hub that can facilitate resource sharing and integration. Festivals, through their social capital, have access to diverse tangible and intangible resources and festival organizations seem uniquely capable of integrating resources.
“We all float in the same ecosystem, but this is the only time that we would ever really all come together.” (research participant)
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