Saffire Blog

Welcome Heart O’ Texas Fair and Rodeo!

Our team couldn’t be more thrilled to announce our partnership with the Heart O’ Texas Fair and Rodeo in Waco. It was clear from our very first meeting that HOT Fair was ready for something new and really caught the vision for what Saffire could do for their event. Even though we hadn’t made … Continue reading “Welcome Heart O’ Texas Fair and Rodeo!”

Our team couldn’t be more thrilled to announce our partnership with the Heart O’ Texas Fair and Rodeo in Waco. It was clear from our very first meeting that HOT Fair was ready for something new and really caught the vision for what Saffire could do for their event.

Even though we hadn’t made the official announcement, we were glad Wes, Jarrod, J.D., Melinda, Devin, Michelle and Charles were able to join us for dinner in Las Vegas during IAFE. It was a great chance for us to all get to know one another before we get started on this new project.

We’ll be working with HOT Fair to create an entire new online presence for their event located at the Extraco Events Center in McLennan County. The 2012 Heart O’ Texas Fair & Rodeo will be October 4-13.

Don’t you think Emily Dressen and Jarrod Metzgar look great in their Saffire t-shirts?

Welcome to Saffire, HOT Fair!

Brazos Valley Fair & Expo is Live!

Saffire and the Brazos Valley Fair & Expo are pleased to announce a partnership as we work together to create an online presence for the first annual Brazos Valley Fair & Expo event, scheduled for Fall 2012. Saffire has designed and launched the website for the event. The Brazos Valley Fair & Expo is a … Continue reading “Brazos Valley Fair & Expo is Live!”

Saffire and the Brazos Valley Fair & Expo are pleased to announce a partnership as we work together to create an online presence for the first annual Brazos Valley Fair & Expo event, scheduled for Fall 2012. Saffire has designed and launched the website for the event.

The Brazos Valley Fair & Expo is a brand new, mid-sized fair committed to “Showcasing Agriculture, Education and Youth to Enhance our Texas Culture.” The event will be held September 6-9, 2012 and will include a carnival, rodeo, junior livestock show, open livestock show, family-friendly exhibits, music and entertainment.

The website for the event is now accessible at www.brazosvalleyfair.com. The site is designed for easy consumer interaction.

“We didn’t know what to expect from web development companies since this is our first event specific website,” said Karl Hengst, Assistant Manager of the Brazos Valley Fair & Expo, “but after the team at Saffire walked us through a demo of their software, we knew it was the right choice. We saw all the functionality and how user-friendly their sites were, and we felt at ease instantly. They answered a lot of questions we didn’t even know we had! We are excited about the future of this partnership with Saffire.”

“We are thrilled to work with the team at the Brazos Valley Fair & Expo to help create and fulfill their vision for this event,” said Kendra Wright, President of Saffire. “And even though this is a brand new event, the fair industry has been buzzing with excitement about its launch for quite a while. We are looking forward to being a part of this new venture and helping them live up to all the hype.”

The Brazos Valley Fair & Expo website includes ecommerce functionality, content management and sponsor, vendor and volunteer administration. It also incorporates an interactive event schedule to help people find and share the events they want to attend.

The Brazos Valley Fair & Expo maintains a cohesive look and feel across their entire online presence by including a blog, Facebook, Twitter and email marketing designed template. It also includes a mobile version of the website so people can access information about the fair from wherever they are.

Congrats to the team at Brazos Valley! It’s been a pleasure working with you and we can’t wait to see what’s next.

Welcome Belton’s 4th of July Celebration and PRCA Rodeo

Our team is happy to join with the Belton Chamber of Commerce to announce our partnership to market the 4th of July Celebration and PRCA Rodeo. The 4th of July Celebration is a long-standing annual event in the Belton community, celebrating its 87th year this summer. The event includes a kick-off BBQ, a nightly PRCA … Continue reading “Welcome Belton’s 4th of July Celebration and PRCA Rodeo”

Our team is happy to join with the Belton Chamber of Commerce to announce our partnership to market the 4th of July Celebration and PRCA Rodeo.

The 4th of July Celebration is a long-standing annual event in the Belton community, celebrating its 87^th year this summer. The event includes a kick-off BBQ, a nightly PRCA sanctioned rodeo, as well as a parade, patriotic program and festival.

It has even received the honor of being named “One of 10 Great Places to Fly Your Patriotic Colors on July 4th” by USA Today.

When the Belton Chamber of Commerce decided it was time for a new 4^th of July Celebration website, they chose to work with Saffire.

“We believe Saffire is the right match to bring our July 4th Celebration and its historic traditions to life online, year round and reach a new generation,” said Stephanie O’Banion, President and CEO of Belton Chamber of Commerce.

The 4^th of July Celebration website will incorporate an interactive events schedule to help people find and share the events they want to attend. The Celebration will also enhance their overall online presence with a cohesive look and feel including a blog, Facebook, Twitter and email marketing template.

It will also include a mobile version of the website so people can access information about the Celebration from wherever they are.

We think this is a perfect match and we can’t wait to help create the website this important event deserves.

The new 4^th of July Celebration website is expected to launch in early summer 2011, so stay tuned for more details!

South Texas State Fair Website is Live!

It’s a Good Time to Have a Great Time at the Fair! And we couldn’t agree more. We recently launched a new Saffire Website for YMBL and the South Texas State Fair. Take a look! This project presented some new challenges to our team and we were happy to provide YMBL with everything they were … Continue reading “South Texas State Fair Website is Live!”

It’s a Good Time to Have a Great Time at the Fair! And we couldn’t agree more.

We recently launched a new Saffire Website for YMBL and the South Texas State Fair. Take a look!

This project presented some new challenges to our team and we were happy to provide YMBL with everything they were looking for in a webssite.

Because the focus of the website changes so drastically between fair season and the rest of the year, we created two very different designs for the site. We wanted customers to know the focus immediately once arriving on the site so they could find what they were looking for quickly. You’ll want to check out their site again in a few weeks to see the year-round design.

We incorporated our ecommerce platform into their site so they could sell tickets online for the first time. They can now accept payment online for tickets, vendors, sponsors and YMBL memberships.

This was our first time to create a “Member’s Only” section for one of our event websites. The Member’s Only section allows YMBL members to update their profiles, pay for memberships and see upcoming community events as well as member specific events.

Now, you’ll just have to trust us on how good the Member’s Only section looks, because we can’t show you. After all, it is Member’s Only!

We also helped The South Texas State Fair expand their reach with social media and already has over 100 Facebook fans!

Chris Colletti and his team at YMBL were a pleasure to work with and we can’t wait to hear about their successful event this year.

Rodeo Austin Goes Mobile

We couldn’t help ourselves. We simply had to release a new mobile site for Rodeo Austin. We spent years telling clients “not yet” when they asked about mobile sites, but now that the stars have aligned so that the time is right, we were excited to help them get on the mobile bandwagon! The Rodeo … Continue reading “Rodeo Austin Goes Mobile”

Event ecommerce and more on Rodeo Austin's mobile site — Mobile Event Website

We couldn’t help ourselves. We simply had to release a new mobile site for Rodeo Austin.

We spent years telling clients “not yet” when they asked about mobile sites, but now that the stars have aligned so that the time is right, we were excited to help them get on the mobile bandwagon!

The Rodeo Austin mobile event website released today. We’re super proud of it. From this site, you can:

See a calendar of events by date, event type or location
Get directions
Buy tickets
Sign up for updates

Please visit this new mobile event website from your smartphone at http://m.rodeoaustin.com.

New and Improved Rodeo Austin Website

We just launched several updates to the Rodeo Austin website for this event season, all of which are now in Saffire Websites. As you can see from the slideshow, we kept all that was great about the site and just made it better. VIEW ALL EVENTS TAKING PLACE AT A SPECIFIC LOCATION MORE FLEXIBILITY FOR … Continue reading “New and Improved Rodeo Austin Website”

We just launched several updates to the Rodeo Austin website for this event season, all of which are now in Saffire Websites.

As you can see from the slideshow, we kept all that was great about the site and just made it better.

VIEW ALL EVENTS TAKING PLACE AT A SPECIFIC LOCATION
MORE FLEXIBILITY FOR EVENT DETAIL PAGES
ADD SPECIFIC ITEMS TO SELL ASSOCIATED WITH AN EVENT
IMPROVE THE USERS EXPERIENCE ON THE SITE

We added a “Locations” page so you can view all events taking place at a particular location.

We also added a lot of options for Rodeo Austin to control an event page, including all the new tabs in the Admin Site view above like specific event sponsors, important PDFs, URLs, Results and even the order in which all these new features appear on the page.

We also added a way for you to associate particular “Items” with an event. This can be used in several ways, including selling tickets from various price levels, different times of an event and even different dates of an event. This allows Rodeo Austin to give their customers even more specific information about an event.

Overall, we are so happy with the site improvements and glad we were able to make the site more user friendly for both visitors and Rodeo Austin!

They Like Us, They Really Like Us!

I love award ceremonies. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s seeing and hearing from stars when they’re vulnerable but trying really hard. Maybe it’s seeing George Clooney in a suit. Or maybe it’s just because I love movies and music, so the Oscars, Globes and Grammies are all on my Tivo list (and I even … Continue reading “They Like Us, They Really Like Us!”

I love award ceremonies. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s seeing and hearing from stars when they’re vulnerable but trying really hard. Maybe it’s seeing George Clooney in a suit. Or maybe it’s just because I love movies and music, so the Oscars, Globes and Grammies are all on my Tivo list (and I even forgive my son Hudson for being born during the entire span of the Grammies two years ago).

But awards have started to take on a new meaning with Saffire. We’ve entered Rodeo Austin, a Saffire Client Pro website we did last year and the craziest thing has happened.

We have won every award we entered.

I’m not trying to brag, but I’ve got to tell you; it’s felt pretty good. It’s made me feel validated for thinking there was a place for us in the fair and rodeo industry!

I couldn’t be more excited about our offering. And it’s awesome to have so many others confirm that they like it too.

Next time, I’ll tell you why we decided to launch Saffire in the first place. Stay tuned!