The parking issue is certainly a valid one, and one that I *do* include in some contracts!!

If there is no viable parking nearby--say, at a festival being held inside a park--then I specify that we must be *met* at the parking site by a golf cart, or whatever they have, to transport instruments inside to the stage area. I set up a time with the organizers.

When you have a full-size digital piano, a couple of hammered dulcimers, and a stand-up bass, walking several blocks is *not* an option!

One of the venues our folk club does annually as a "community service" (local free festival) was notoriously bad for having no parking for the performers, and not concerning themselves with *how* we managed to get our instruments into the park. By the time we were all set up, it took the first half hour to get over the grouchy mood brought on by lugging all this equipment in, sometimes a mile or more! I started including, as part of our 'agreement,' that we needed reserved parking near the park entrance, and then we needed to be met by a vehicle to cart instruments and equipment inside. After our performance, we needed our things taken back to our cars.

Oddly enough, this move brought us better treatment by the festival management OVERALL, not just in the area of setting up and taking down. I think we were not valued because we provided our music for free, and by making some (quite reasonable) demands, we earned ourselves a little respect, too.

Denise:^)