Is there a way to get a better crowd at the festivals?

Not sure if it will work, but maybe try replacing the kareoke bar with a night club, regular bar or a coffee shop? The different venues do seem to attract different crowds.

@Arzekial Oh, that's a good idea! I usually have my Sims learn to sing (I'm a singer myself), so I send them to the karaoke bars fairly often. But there are at least three places in San Myshuno where Sims can sing karaoke. Swapping one of the karaoke bars for another gathering place might be fun.

Thanks for the suggestion!

I've put another storey on top of the karaoke bar with a dancing floor, now more people are gathering there.

make a club gathering

So far I've replaced Waterside Warble with a café and filled the apartments in San Myshuno with a slew of Sims I'd made and placed in my Gallery. I'll see if the new locals will check out the festivals, and if some Sims from other worlds will visit the café, discover the delights of the city, and decide to come back for a festival. So I took your idea, @Gagea , and turned it up to 11.

I use a mod that keeps Sims from wandering randomly out of their home world, but I've discovered they will still sometimes visit bars, clubs, spas, parks, and cafés in other worlds. So while the Landgraabs don't jog past my house in Newcrest 38 times a week, they'll still take a yoga class at the spa around the corner. Perhaps the premade gang will visit the new venue in the Spice District.

@BoergeAarg61, I think I'll combine your idea with @"Inna Minnit" 's. If I rotate through a few more households, I can have them create some kind of club that hangs out in the city, doing city things.

All these suggestions are really good. Thanks for sharing them!

@MoonlightGraham I use clubs for all kinds of things. For instance, the mischief aspiration, I set their activities to mischief. It works well, and no one gets mad about pranks.

@"Inna Minnit" I haven't explored the clubs nearly as much as I'd like. This might be a wonderful opportunity to work them into my playing style.

I think I'd have fun with a club made up of pranksters who simply torment each other...although I can't resist having a mischievous Sim yank the chains of the fuddy-duddies and snobs in my Simworld every now and then.

A particular Teen Sim of mine, one Henry Wiggins, recently began his day by Trolling teh Forums. He then tricked Agnes Crumplebottom with a handbuzzer, asked Nancy Landgraab when her baby was due, invited Gunther Munch to a fake party, and shared conspiracy theories with a goofy Townie called Rohan Rosenthal. All in a day's "work" for Henry Wiggins.

I think I might make Henry the leader of a gang of relatively harmless hooligans. Thanks for the inspiration!

Update: My attempt to fill San Myshuno with fun Townies seems to have worked, to some degree.

The new city dwellers seemed to have taken a pass on their first opportunity to visit the Romance Festival, which was undoubtedly the lamest Sims festival I've ever seen. One married couple were there, but the husband has a horrid combination of traits that makes him an absolute jerk and the wife spent her time running back and forth from the karaoke bar to the swag kiosk. Even the Love Guru decided to take the night off.

Meanwhile, the game spawned an especially grotesque cast of Townies. They weren't even dressed badly enough to be funny. They were simply annoying. As my daughter put it so well, "That was awful. We need to rename this Loserfest."

The next day's Flea Market was more successful. Two of my Townies set up tables and hawked lamps and sculptures. Another, whom I made a skilled guitarist, played a set while the marketgoers tossed Simoleons to him. Another new San Myshunian, a very attractive woman who moved in to the Old Salt House with her daughter's young family, seemed to enjoy showing off her new tattoo.

And Rohan Rosenthal arrived late, wearing his iconic reindeer antlers hat despite the midsummer heat, and danced like nobody was watching.

A good time was indeed had by all.