Carnival & Fair News

Inflation may have cooled this summer, but just the rate of increase. Prices crept upwards throughout 2023 and may have technically plateaued – albeit at a high-level – in 2024, but carnival companies felt squeezed. Fuel, food, insurance, equipment, parts and nearly every other cost of business inched up, except for labor-costs, which have steadily soared.

The fair industry had a very good 2024, especially at the top. The annual Top 50 Fairs, as compiled by Carnival Warehouse, ranks the top fairs in North America, with eight events having record-breaking turnout and the vast majority showing increases rather than decreases compared to 2023.

Carnival Warehouse annually compiles the leading carnival companies playing the biggest fairs. The 2024 ranking of carnival companies playing the Top 50 Fairs closely resembles last year's pecking order, nearly identical to the pre-pandemic ranking of the top midway providers

For carnival companies though, 2024 profitability was cut by rising costs and an uncertain labor market. Workers cost more, and carnival companies have never been more reliant on H2B workers. What may have seemed a banner year for many fairs and their midways, was filled with stress and strain, with every dollar hard-earned.

Spending Hesitations

“It was an election year, people always hold back,” said Mary Talley of Talley Amusements, who ranked #4, on the basis of playing the Fort Worth Stock Show and Ohio State Fair. “All costs rose, especially labor, so it was pretty challenging. We are working with an antiquated cap-system with work-visas.”


One of the many year-or-near year round carnival companies, Talley Amusements' season begins in January with the Fort Worth Stock Show and peaks July/August with the Ohio State Fair. While both events had strong attendance, Fort Worth was plagued by cold weather that curtailed midway spending. Like many carnival companies, Talley plays a series of still-dates and smaller events throughout the first half-of-the year before the bulk of the seasons kicks into gear. But in many regions, spring was wet and cold, hampering this revenue stream.

The Ohio State Fair had a banner year, only a downtick of 2-percent mainly due to a rainy opening. It was the fourth Buckeye State Fair for Talley – the first Talley Midway was 2019 but due to COVID, Ohio cancelled its fair during lockdown. The 2024 Ohio State Fair had a new fair manager, industry veteran Adam Heffron, appointed by Governor Mike DeWine, who is a frequent visitor to the fair.

In fact, it is his public advocacy for the fair that Talley credits as the main catalyst for the event's growth trajectory. “We love the Ohio State Fair, but what makes a big difference is that Governor DeWine is loving the fair, he comes to the fair nearly every day, I didn't talk with him but staff tells me he always gets the bratwurst. When you have that kind of hands-on support from the governor, you are going to have a great fair.”

Impactful Popularity

Fairs have always been a prized photo-ops for public officials, but what Ohio and several other states saw in 2024 was an outpouring of governmental support – perhaps an upside of an election year is that showing favoritism for an annual tradition has wide public appeal. But even with the economic woes that made the year more challenging for midway providers, the product they produce seems as popular as ever.

Consider this – the movie business in 2023 was buoyed by the smash-hit Barbie – a blockbuster the industry hadn't seen in years or since – 41 million people went to see the film in the theater – as of mid-December, the top movie of 2024 was Inside Out 2, which attracted an estimated 30 million. In 2024, the Top 50 Fairs – which range from 334,678 for the #50 Allegan County Fair to #1 2,553,185 for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo – attracted 61,826,664.

So, not even taking into account the hundreds of county and local fairs and their midways that took place last year, the continent's biggest fairs attracted tens of millions of more people than the top films. Plus, the public knows they cannot stream a fair. Clearly, the midway experience provided by carnivals only continues to hold a firm grasp on the public, but are appealing to millennials, creating a new generations of fairgoers.

Case-in-point – this year's perennial #1 Carnival Company, North American Midway Entertainment (NAME), who also celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2024 – retained the top slot with The Big E, Canadian National Exhibition, Calgary Stampede, Tulsa State Fair, Indiana State Fair, Illinois State Fair, Arkansas State Fair, K Days, Mississippi State Fair, Miami-Dade County Fair and South Carolina State Fair – attracting 10,065,324.

“We're ecstatic to be the Top Carnival in North America, once again,” said Lynda Franc, Corporate Marketing Director, NAME. “Overall this year, we saw more than 17 million guests visit one of our events across Canada and the US, and that allowed us to contribute over $31 million to agriculture initiatives in partnership with the fairs we work with.”

The midway may be the revenue engine for most fairs, but for top carnival companies it's about the relationship between the fair and the carnival company that has sustained the post lockdown resurgence. “When we get the opportunity to work with a fair, our focus isn't just on the short term experience, it's about the long term growth and value that we can provide through our quality staffing and customer service, innovation, and industry-leading safety protocols,” Franc explained. It's really hard to pinpoint what [our fairs] are doing right because they all have unique audiences and histories. What is a common thread is that they are involved in the industry year-round, whether it be through IAFE or other associations, they work on communicating with partners and friends. They also work to keep a pulse, one that's innovative and important to their guests.”

Has the industry returned to pre-pandemic levels of growth? “I'd say we're there in most places - we're back to crowds full of people coming out to enjoy the fair for the rides, foods, games, agriculture, music, and all that these experiences have to offer,” said Franc.

Great Year, But

RCS Ray Cammack Shows (RCS), again at second place, attracting 5,878,583 – spread across four key events: Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, Arizona State Fair, Orange County Fair, Los Angeles County Fair – noted that while a good year, 2024 fell shot compared to 2023.

“2024 was a great year, we brought in four brand new rides and we had a great IAFE,” said Chris Lopez, Vice President of RCS Inc. The annual fair industry convention was held in RCS's hometown of Phoenix, giving the carnival company, founded in 1963, the chance to show-off. “We were one of the key sponsors and it was very heavily attended. We had great feedback.”

Lopez is realistic though about the degree of 2024 robustness. “It was a good year but the Arizona State Fair had some heat and that fair underperformed. Coming off of 2024, we didn't hit the numbers we did in 2023, it was an election year too. 2024 overall was a good year, but not by any means was it as good as 2023. A couple of locations were down and at the Arizona State Fair, we didn't hit the marks.”

Hamstringing this year were shipping and receiving delays on new equipment. “We added new rides but we were waiting for more. Between the hurricanes and freight and shipping problems, we will be waiting for rides still. With equipment and parts, there were delays. We had rides that missed the opening days.”

Inflation's perniciousness particular to midway providers is that costs are rising, but carnival companies and their fair partners are fully aware that passing the costs onto the consumer is not as simple as a grocer hiking egg prices. With affordable family fun a foundational marketing appeal of fairs, this year faced tough decisions regarding whether or not to raise prices on admissions and rides to reflect those increased costs.

For the most part, food vendors had an easier time raising their prices in keeping with hiked costs, which was also easier for the public to accept with the prices hikes seen at supermarket and restaurants. But other higher costs midway providers faced could not be passed on to the fairgoer. Keeping prices the same or not fully reflective of increased costs meant diminishing profitability for the same amount of work.

“Just as much as food costs have gone up, we've seen that with labor, fuel and other major items,” said Lopez. “All our expenses had increases, the cost of doing business is higher. The costs can't always be reflected. All our fair partners are experiencing the same things and we work together to be bring a safe and affordable entertaining experiences, knowing that we are in the same business.”

Election Year Anxiety

Affordable Family Fun in the era of social media, where any gripe or complaint has viral potential, intensifies consumer price sensitivity. This year's election didn't help the situation.

“The election had something to do with it, people were cutting back,” said Rick Reithoffer of Reithoffer Shows, #5 on the list of top carnivals, attracting 1,924,733 for three events: Wilson County Fair / Tennessee State Fair; Georgia National Fair; New Mexico State Fair.

RELATED:  Election Year Surprise: Top-50 Fairs Strong in 2024 by Reaching A New Generation of Fairgoers

The fifth slot on the list was the only contested space. Held by Butler Amusements last year, they dropped to #6, trading places with Reithoffer Shows. Reithoffer attributes the gains to three exceptional turnouts. “We had very good weather at all those events. All three have excellent programming, offering a lot for the public to see and do. They continue to get larger and larger every year, not only with their physical plant, but their programming, entertainment, exhibits, agriculture and everything. We're growing with all of them and they are growing us.”

Fraying of that growth was noticed when it came to spending. “People weren't spending. Instead of buying one of everything in a small group, one would get a funnel cake and another something else, instead of getting two of both. There was cutting back and belt tightening and that's every show in the country. Labor costs have skyrocket, insurance continues to rise, our bottom line was not as good as it used to be. The economy was soft, there was a lot anxiety with the election, you saw that in the spending.”

Sean Butler Murphy blames weather when it comes to losing the photo-finish to Reithoffer. #6 Butler Amusements attracted 1,857,270 for California State Fair, Big Fresno Fair, Alameda County Fair and Kern County Fair.



“We believe our event attendance drop from #5 to #6 is directly related to the extreme weather experienced in 2024,” he said.

Unfortunately, weather was a pesky problem throughout the season, which made the need to squelch price increases a deeper sacrifice. “Our 2024 season presented some significant challenges,” he said. “Heading into the year, we were cautiously optimistic despite the economic hurdles many of our customers faced, including the lingering effects of the recession and the rising costs of necessities. While the post-reopening boost we saw in 2022 had faded, we made the decision to keep our prices steady in 2024, aiming to maintain attendance and revenue levels from the previous year.”

He continued, “However, Mother Nature had other plans. Our season kicked off in February, but nearly every weekend through May was impacted by relentless rain across all our locations. Just as the rain subsided, record-breaking heat took its place, with triple-digit temperatures dominating the summer months on the West Coast. Sadly, weather-related attendance dips were beyond our control.”

On the bright side, election induced consumer belt tightening was less apparent for this California-based carnival company. “From what we see, yes, business is back to pre-pandemic levels,” he said. “Despite these setbacks, we remain proud of the effort and dedication our team put into the season. We are learning from these challenges and are already working on innovative ways to adapt and grow in the year ahead. The resilience of our team and the continued support of our customers inspire us to move forward with optimism.”

The fair industry and its carnival companies are an optimistic lot. Sometimes fortunes go up and other times gray clouds washout an entire closing weekend. Heading into a new year, inflation has stifled, people are working and the economy seems relatively sound. Best of all, one 2024 worry is gone – the election is over, and no matter whose side you were on, the public seems relieved just by that fact.

Carnival companies seem very hopeful that the new administration will be more beneficial to business. Reithoffer observed. “There is a lot of optimism in the carnival world about the next Trump administration. We feel that we have a leader who is pro-business and anti-regulation minded. We are hopeful things are getting better. We are capitalists and working people that work hard for a living, and all the things that go with that. We all need the economy to be good.”