PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between subjective experience of an event, motivational style for participating and satisfaction afterwards. It proposes that subjective experience of positive affect acts as a mediator between motivation and satisfaction. Design/methodology/approachThe paper opted for a quantitative survey among 285 respondents asking about their motivation to participate in celebrating Queen's Day, a Dutch national event around the birthday of the Queen Mother. Their satisfaction levels and subjective experience of the event were collected after the event. The (mediation) hypotheses were tested through a series of regression analyses. FindingsThe paper provides empirical insights about how subjective experience mediates the effect between motivational style and satisfaction. Originality/valueThis paper fulfils an identified need to study the effects of subjective experience in events.