As I said I'm just putting forward what I have picked up as local perceptions.
I knew that the festival was on OK. I saw it in the local press, on the internet in several places, and heard about it on at least three radio programs, however, I still ran into local folkies who were not sure if it was on, or had forgotten about it.
The most often heard remark was that they hadn't seen any posters.
Now I haven't been in the area for that many years but I have been told that there have never been any posters up locally. This fits in with the emphasis on advertising in a way to get "outsiders" to come to the festival, but even for them it must be a bit disquieting to not find any local advertising.
Perhaps some of those AA signs that you see for events would be appropriate; It's not just vehicle owners that take note of them.

Yes, we have a fair number of prima-donna types around in the Lancaster area I'm afraid, but then we do have a lot of musicians so I expect the ratio is fairly normal:)
How many festival attendees knew that there was a session in the Victoria on Monday night, by the way?