A recognized increase in public-sector investment in events has led to a consequent requirement to clearly demonstrate a return on that investment. Commonly that return is seen as an economic one, but this ignores a range of other impacts. There is, therefore, a need to identify theoretically sound and practically relevant methods for evaluating publicly supported events. Also needed from those investing in the events is broad support for the method of evaluation and confidence in the validity of the results obtained. In order to support the development of event evaluation methods to satisfy this need, this case study research undertaken in Östersund, Sweden, identifies–in the context of publicly supported periodic events and festivals–what should be evaluated and how these events and festivals should be evaluated. The studies revealed that regardless of their different needs there was consensus amongst participant stakeholders regarding the criteria required for the evaluation.