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Festivals are chock-full of sights to see, music to enjoy, art to take in, crafts to buy, and energetic crowds of people milling around. They’re exciting, dizzying, and full of risks. After all, you never know when someone at an outdoor fest will head to the hospital due to heatstroke, or if a guest will trip on an artist’s paint box and get hurt.
Get Thimble’s Festival Insurance to protect yourself from the financial consequences of claims for third-party injuries and property damage (we’ll explain these terms below) and host a fun fete.
What is Festival Insurance?
Festival Insurance is a type of special event insurance that protects you from the financial consequences of accidents that can occur while you are organizing or hosting a festival. These can include incidents that lead to bodily injury to the attendees, venue owners, and passerby or to damage to an attendee’s, venue owner’s, and passerby’s personal property.
Festival Insurance moves the party forward by providing the investigation and defense of claims, if needed, and can pay sums that you are legally obligated to pay because of injuries or property damage.
What does Festival Insurance cover?
Thimble’s Festival Insurance covers small, low-risk gatherings such as art, craft, and music festivals. You can plan a successful fest by planning quality entertainment—and by protecting yourself with the right insurance coverage.
You want a professional legal team on your side when facing a suit. Your Festival Insurance arranges the defense and investigation of claims even when such claims are groundless, false or fraudulent.
Event insurance can provide protection for a variety of claims including:
- Third-party, non-employee bodily injury: A vendor may be moving a box when an unsuspecting guest who is looking the other way trips on it and falls. If a guest gets hurt while at the festival you planned, you could be liable for their medical expenses as well as consequential damages.
- Third-party property damage: People bring a lot of valuable items to festivals, including clothing, jewelry, and small personal electronic devices. If a guest’s personal property is damaged or destroyed, you could be held liable. Third-party property damage can also help pay for any damage done to the venue while your event is happening.
- Damages from liquor liability: Who doesn’t enjoy a cold drink on a hot festival day? But if you allow alcohol consumption at the event, you may be liable for any injuries or damages incurred because you provided it. Thimble’s Festival Insurance includes liquor liability coverage for BYOB events. If your festival is selling alcohol, you’ll likely need to purchase additional liquor liability coverage, which will raise your premium.
- Personal and advertising injury:: Let’s say that someone reads the advertising for your festival and accuses you of intellectual property infringement. You could be liable for the offense.
How much does Festival Insurance cost?
Putting on a great festival doesn’t need to break the bank. Thimble’s Festival Insurance is priced so that you can afford to protect yourself from claims that will cost a lot more than tickets to the season’s hottest show.
Pricing will vary depending on your location, the number of people attending, how long the festival is, and whether or not you will be selling alcohol. Here is a range of Thimble’s Festival Insurance costs for one day, without additional liquor liability coverage included:
Who needs Festival Insurance?
Any person or business that is sponsoring, planning, or hosting a festival needs Festival Insurance.
Besides protecting you, insurance is a common requirement for venues. For example, you may want to gather the community at a small local festival, but the park you’re eying won’t say yes until they know you’re insured. Most venues want to see at least a $1 million limit for general liability coverage on the policy of the festival organizer to satisfy insurance requirements.
While it may seem like a chore, venues want you insured for good reason: Accidents happen when large groups of people gather and they want to minimize their liability as much as possible. With Festival Insurance, you can focus on making sure everyone has a good time instead of worrying about what could go wrong and affect you financially.
What other insurance might you need for a festival?
Organizing a festival requires a lot of moving parts. While you’ll want to obtain Festival Insurance, you may need other insurance for full-spectrum coverage.
For example, you may also need business equipment protection for the event, which provides coverage for your business property when it’s away from your business premises. For example, you might be organizing a music festival where you own the lighting, stage, and sound equipment. If something accidentally happens to them—say the equipment is stolen—this can help cover the cost of replacement.
Should you hire anyone directly, you will likely need workers’ compensation insurance. This is a must in most states and protects workers who get a work-related injury or develop an illness because of their job.
Often, festival organizers contract vendors to run food booths, clean and perform other tasks. In this case, you will want the vendors to get their own general liability insurance, list you as an Additional Insured on their policy, and provide you with a Certificate of Insurance as proof of valid, active insurance. As the Additional Insured, you are protected if you’re named in a lawsuit stemming from the vendor’s actions.
Keep the festivities alive
While festivals are a great way to gather like-minded people in your community, they have innate risks. If anyone at the event gets hurt or their stuff is damaged, they will look to the organizers to make it right and pay for their injuries or damages.
Don’t get stuck without the right coverage in place. Leave us your email to be in the know when Festival Insurance via Thimble is available in your area.
Festival Insurance FAQs
What if I only need Insurance for a few hours?
Thimble’s special event insurance is designed for short-term needs. Our policies will cover your event for one day up to two weeks. That includes set-up and breakdown time. Cancel your policy anytime before the policy goes into effect to get a refund.
Do I need Festival Insurance if my event is held on my property?
Liability exists even if you aren’t at a big venue, and you’ll want to have protection for your event. Check with your homeowners insurance provider to see if your policy needs to be amended to cover this eventor if you should get specialized event insurance to make sure you are protected for your big day.
What are Thimble’s Festival event coverage policy limits?
Our liability limits start at $1 million per occurrence with a $1 million aggregate. You can increase the liability limits to $2 million per occurrence with a $2 million aggregate if you choose.
Does Festival Insurance via Thimble cover event cancellation?
No. Our policies do not cover event cancellation. However, your event insurance policy is fully refundable as long as it is canceled before the policy start date/time.
Cleaners and Janitors insurance protects your business from lawsuits, if you or your property accidentally hurts a third party or damages their property.
Bodily Injury 
Property Damage 
Legal Defense 
Medical Payments
Covered Activities
- Car / Boat / Vehicle Washing or Detailing
- Housekeepers
- Janitorial Services including Carpet and Window Cleaning
- Office Cleaning
- Pressure Washing
Optional Add-Ons
- Exterior Painting
- Floor Waxing
- HVAC
- Plastering
- Plumbing (other than a leaky faucet or toilet)
- Snow / Ice Removal
Excluded Activities
- Inspectors
- Floor waxing during business hours or in commercial buildings with heavy foot traffic(malls, grocery / convenience / drug stores, hospitals, airports)
- Performing Work over Three Stories in Height(30 Feet)
What's Not Covered by Your Policy
- Activities Involving Firearms
- Performing Work over Three Stories in Height (30 feet)
- Work on 10 or More New Homes or New Residential Units in Any One Project or Development
- See full policy for details
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