I don't think the intent ever was to draw people away from the message board. The idea was more to broaden the offerings MCW has. Some go to the message board exclusively. Others never (or rarely) view the message board. Still others do both.
The headlines are just a way of compiling all the news articles from around the country that touch on the fair, festival and carnival businesses. Many people used to search the web for this information and spend a lot of time doing it. Now Matt does it for you. The headlines, along with the articles are a way to keep the site fresh and evoke discussion on the message boards.