The job of 'spreading chairs and collecting money' during the festival season

Nghe An has dozens of major festivals every year, mainly concentrated in the Spring, with many cultural activities, sports competitions, and folk games, exciting and attractive, attracting tens of thousands of participants. Festival-related services such as selling food, clothing, toys, and games with prizes are also flourishing... including the service of renting seats to watch the festival.

Volleyball tournaments always attract viewers at traditional festivals. Photo: Huy Thu

Up and down the festival

According to professionals, when traditional festivals are restored and associated with sports competitions, especially men's and women's volleyball tournaments, beauty contests, and elegant youth competitions attract a large number of viewers, the demand for seats increases, and a service of renting seats to watch festivals has arisen.

At first, only a few people around the festival areas, such as Cuong Temple Festival (Dien Chau), Duc Hoang Temple Festival, Gam Temple Festival (Yen Thanh)... took advantage of the off-season to earn extra income. They mainly moved the plastic and wooden chairs that their families had available to place around the sports field for spectators.

After that, seeing that business was going well, many people bought more plastic chairs and stainless steel chairs to rent professionally. Families who followed the profession bought from 100 to 250, 300 chairs to take to festivals in the province from the lowlands to the mountains to rent. The number of people providing this service in Yen Thanh and Dien Chau districts is increasing. Currently, in festivals, there are often both people renting chairs professionally and people near the relics taking the opportunity to bring chairs to "take advantage".

People spread chairs for rent around the sports fields at the 2023 Cuong Temple Festival. Photo: Huy Thu

Ms. Dinh Thi Hoa (52 years old), from Phuc Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) who attended the Cuong Temple Festival in Dien An commune (Dien Chau) said that on this occasion, she brought 100 plastic chairs to Cuong temple for guests to rent. According to Ms. Hoa, to get a spot to place chairs around the sports fields, people with chairs must come early, before the festival officially takes place. To be more precise, when sports tournaments start, even though there are no renters yet, chair owners must spread out chairs to reserve seats.

At the 2023 Cuong Temple Festival, on the 4 sports fields, there were dozens of people providing chair rental services, mainly women, some families with both husband and wife working in the profession. They came from many districts, of which more than 2/3 of the chair rental workers came from Yen Thanh district.

The chairs are marked with names or symbols to confirm the owner. Photo: Huy Thu

According to Ms. Hoa, the Cuong Temple Festival takes place at the same time as the Gam Temple Festival, but this year the festival is in a rice-growing area, so the organizers limit the number of chairs brought into the yard, so people who provide this service have gathered at Cuong Temple. From early morning, around the sports fields in the Cuong Temple area, plastic chairs and stainless steel chairs have been spread out by people.

Chair rentals here follow the principle of “first come, first served”. Chair owners manage their chairs by arranging them in certain areas. Each chair has a name or symbol written on it. In addition to the chairs spread out on the court, chair owners often set up stacks of spare chairs around the court.

Each person or each working group usually spreads chairs in a certain area for easy monitoring and management. Photo: Huy Thu

According to people in the profession, in the semi-finals and finals of volleyball, when there are many spectators, the seats on the field are often rented out, sometimes there are no seats left, especially at festivals, spectators stack chairs on top of each other, and bring many items into the field to create more standing space. Guests using chairs to sit or stand will have to pay the chair owner. The chair owner usually collects money when handing over the chair to the guest. "If you return the chair and then take the money, you won't be able to collect the money after the match," said Ms. Hoa. Some chair owners also offer additional services such as selling drinks, milk, etc.

Mr. Tran Van Hoa (19 years old), from Dien My commune (Dien Chau), went to cheer for his commune's volleyball team at the Cuong Temple Festival and shared: Going to watch volleyball only costs 10,000 VND to have a seat for the whole session, no need to stand and get tired legs, very convenient.

After sports matches, people who rent chairs often sit around the field watching the chairs. Photo: Huy Thu

The hardships of the "chair spreading" profession

During the sports competition, the chair owners have to carry chairs, change chairs, arrange chairs, and collect money. This year, at the Cuong Temple Festival, the organizers do not allow chairs to be stacked on top of each other to avoid accidents, so people standing outside do not rent more chairs, and there are more chairs left than in previous years. Those in the profession say that bringing a large number of chairs to the festival sometimes makes you lose your appetite and sleep, hoping that many people will rent them. Renting chairs at night to watch the opening ceremony, mass art performances, and elegant youth competitions is the most complicated, sometimes you do not get paid and even lose your chairs.

“The locals who live near the relics bring chairs to the stadium during the competition, and go home for lunch and dinner, while we who live far away are quite lazy. During the day we eat hastily, at noon we sit and watch the chairs, afraid of losing them, and at night we fold the chairs to sleep or sleep on the tarp with street vendors,” Ms. Hoa shared.

People who rent chairs from Yen Thanh district take a nap on carts and on the walls at the Cuong Temple Festival. Photo: Huy Thu

To move hundreds of chairs over a distance of tens of kilometers, even hundreds of kilometers, they stack the chairs together, tie them into long ropes and arrange them on motorbikes. According to the locals, if they hire a car to transport the chairs to the festival, it is not known whether they can rent them out or not, sometimes "the cost of sawing them is more than the cost of wood".

Mr. Nguyen Van Duong, from Yen Thanh district, rents chairs at Cuong temple. He said that his family has been doing this business for nearly ten years. He and his wife bought and transported more than a hundred plastic chairs to all festivals in the province for rent. In the past few days, after leaving Bach Ma temple in Thanh Chuong district, he and his wife went to Lang Vac relic site (Thai Hoa town). Right after the festival ended, the couple transported the chairs all night, arriving at Phuc Thanh commune at 12 midnight.

Stack of chairs to watch sports competitions at Duc Hoang Temple Festival (Yen Thanh). Photo: Huy Thu

Mr. Duong said that volleyball tournaments at festivals always attract a lot of spectators. At some festivals, the people working in the field do not have enough chairs to rent. Inside the yard, guests sit on chairs. Outside, guests stack 2 or even 3 chairs on top of each other. In addition to plastic chairs, stainless steel chairs, folding chairs, local people also bring scaffolding, tire carts, tractors, cars, etc. to the festival to rent out "standing stilts". The Duc Hoang Temple Festival in Phuc Thanh Commune (Yen Thanh) has many ways to stand and watch the festival, all types of rental chairs are in high demand.

Depending on the location of the chair, the chair rental price fluctuates around 10,000 VND. At some festivals, the organizers control the chair rental price, making it impossible for chair owners to collect money as they wish. During festivals, sports tournaments that usually last 3-4 days also bring a significant source of income for people in the profession. Mr. Nguyen Van Duc in Dien An commune (Dien Chau) shared: If the festival is crowded, with hundreds of chairs, each competition session, you can earn millions of dong.

People bring items to the festival to create standing beams for rent. Photo: Huy Thu

The profession of “spreading chairs to collect money” attracts many people during the festival season. They go from place to place to serve festival-goers, regardless of the difficulties and hardships. Recently, localities have stepped up the regulation of festival activities to ensure the safety of festival-goers, especially the regulation of not allowing chairs to be stacked on top of each other, not allowing scaffolding to be carried into the yard… causing people who work as “chair-spreaders” to change their way of thinking and working.