Giant Wheel Foreman Wanted Galaxy Amusement Sales
Waterloo Tent & Tarp JKJ Workforce
CHANGE SECTIONS: Carnivals & Fairs Amusement Parks

CarnivalWarehouse.com

THE #1 NEWS SOURCE

FOR CARNIVALS, FAIRS & EVENTS

Giant Wheel Foreman Wanted Galaxy Amusement Sales
Waterloo Tent & Tarp JKJ Workforce
RIDE HELP WANTED RIDE HELP WANTED NOW Berk Concession Supply Dreamland Amusements:  Help Wanted - Click Here Cole Shows- Click Here
BROWNS AMUSEMENTS - NOW HIRING Battech Rides North American Midway Entertainment Carnival Insurance
BROWNS AMUSEMENTS - NOW HIRING Battech Rides North American Midway Entertainment Now Booking Food & Games Carnival Insurance

Carnival & Fair News

Read Amusement Park News

Magic Money
Fairs & Carnival Companies Coping with Extreme Weather Patterns
Rides 4U - New & Used Rides Giant Wheel Foreman Wanted

Weather – nothing we can do about it – but because climate is considered the most influential factor determining the success or failure of fairs, festivals and most other outdoor events --  nothing can stop the talking, thinking and mostly, worrying about the weather. 

Fairs are outdoor events and if the weather is not conducive to being outside, attendance will fall. Some years are simply unlucky: fairs will just suffer the ire of Mother Nature causing turnout, thus revenue, to plummet. But a rainy run or a severe heatwave is very different than an extreme weather event. In 2018 extreme weather events forced fairs to cancel an entire day, not to mention the loss in revenue and the cost of fairground damage. 

Price Tag

Unfortunately, both extreme incidents and their price tags are on the rise. The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), which tracks and evaluates climate events in the U.S. and globally, including measuring social economic and societal impacts, the U.S. has sustained 246 weather and climate disasters since 1980, at a cost exceeding $1.6 trillion. Last year, “the U.S. experienced an active year of billion-dollar disaster events including the 4th highest total number of events, only behind the years 2017, 2011 and 2016,” said the report. The cost for 2018 weather related damage was also the 4th highest in total costs, $91 billion.

While not all weather rises to the level of disaster, the rise of extreme incidents is cause for alarm. But in spite of their justified meteorological anxiety, fairs and carnival companies have shown a remarkable resiliency, truly dedicated to the credo: the Show Must Go On!

 A handful of freakish weather incidents this spring might be cause for more worry than usual. In the Midwest, a rare, if not unheard of snowstorm, caused cancellation of some events, raising 2019 weather anxiety to new levels. More than five inches of a sudden and unseasonable blizzard wreaked havoc at the annual Spring Fling in Orland Hills, IL, the first date of the year for All Around Amusements. 

Marketing Opportunity

The blizzard dumped about half a foot of snow throughout the region, but the unseasonable snow brought out the showman in Robert Salerno, owner of All Around Amusements. He struck upon a unique marketing idea – free snow shovels with all unlimited wristband purchases -- perhaps the first time snowy weather was used to market a midway. “The day before the storm we gave out 100 shovels,” he said. “People came out because they knew the next day was going to be a blizzard. We had about four to five inches of snow on all the carnival.”

Of course, it helped that Salerno also owns a local snow removal company, possessing both an inventory of show shovels and the expertise to deal with a blizzard. The storm proved to be a fluke, the snow fell on the closing day, causing loss of revenue but the next day was sunny and melted  the snow by the time the carnival broke-down its equipment. 

The same storm system affected the Bradley Spring Fling, although that area of Illinois had colder weather and rain before the snow storm and wound up closing a day early. “We decided not to open in the cold and snow,” said Bill Johnson, president of Fantasy Amusement Company. “We had a lot of snow, there's not much you can do about it. We tore down some of the canvases because we knew it was coming.”

The only course of action was to let “nature take its course,” said Johnson. “We didn't remove the snow, we waited until it was over and tore down the next day, in the sunlight, it was a good tear down.”

Spring blizzards in the Midwest may be rare, but are not unheard of. Johnson recalled a time in Minnesota where a spring fair's midway had to be shoveled in order to make marks to set up the rides, but the severity of the storm was out of the ordinary. “We had unseasonable cold and rain leading up to the storm,” he said.

The snowstorm also closed a spring fling hosted by Windy City Amusements in suburban Chicago. 

Texas Sandstorm

Around the same time period – mid-April – an extreme weather event bringing not snow but sand on the day before the opening of the El Chucco Spring Fair in El Paso, Texas. Some of the major rides, such as the Sky Tower and Vertigo were partially set when wind gusts as high as 78 MPH blew clouds of Texas. 

“El Paso is bad on dust, the whole city is filled with dust,” said Ben Ramey, Fair Manager for Southwood Entertainment, the live entertainment production company who puts on the fair. But this intense April squall was well beyond anything previously experienced at the fair. Ramey made an emergency visit to the local Dollar Store to equip workers with goggles and dust masks. 

The fair opened with relatively little damage – panels on a ticket box were blown off – “but everything had to be power-washed, the equipment and the canvases. Some of the joints weren't set up, people figured the fair wouldn't open on time, but it did. The game concessionaires had to vacuum the dust off the plush in the stands.” 

Hopefully these odd weather incidents are not harbingers for the 2019 climate, especially later in the season when more extreme weather becomes more likely. What is ironic is that fairs managers not only take the weather in stride, but the events often increase awareness of the fair. The impact on the community tradition becomes a major headline when extreme weather coincides with the fair. 

Hurricane Closures

Two years ago, a rare New York tornado with wind speeds of 105 MPH tripped through the fairgrounds of the Erie County Fair the day before opening, causing extensive damage – although the James E. Strates Show midway survived unscathed – and even prompted a visit by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. But work crews scrambled with their cleanup effort, the fair opened on time and the extreme weather event, its aftermath and fairground restoration culminated in additional publicity and one of the best attended events in the history of the Erie County Fair. We had tremendous news coverage,” said Marty Biniasz, Marketing Manager “We had constant television reporters, asking if we were going to be open.”  

Last year, extreme weather events seriously impacted major fairs on both sides of the continent, closing down fairs for at least a day, and often for the first time in their history. 

Hurricane Sergio, at one time a category-4 Hurricane that hit the Southwest and Mexico and closed the Arizona State Fair for an entire day, the official press release stated the closure was the first in “more than three decades.”  

In the wake of what turned out to be record amount of rainfall, areas of the fairgrounds remained too muddy for patrons. Sergio took out a Saturday, one of the highest grossing days of the event. “We opened the next day and the weather was nice and we had a good attendance,” said Brianda Martinez, spokesperson, Arizona State Fair. “Although we had to close on a Saturday due to rain and flooding, we were able to make up approximately 51,500 in attendance over the next two weeks.” 

In the southeast, a Hurricane severely disrupted three major fairs: The North Carolina State Fair, The South Carolina State Fair, and the Georgia National Fair.  Although downgraded to a tropical storm, meteorologists said Michael was the strongest storm in terms of maximum sustained wind speed to strike the contiguous United States since Hurricane Andrew more than a quarter century ago and it succeeded in forcing each event to completely cancel at least one day of the annual run. 

“We're 151 years old and to the best of our knowledge we have never had to close an entire day and certainly never called off opening day,” said Kent Yelverton, Fair Manager, who made the decision about 24 hours before announcing the cancellation. “We were advised by public safety officials not to open. We saw the track of the storm, and it was leading towards the fair. We draw from a wide region, and no matter where it ultimately came down within the predicted path, it would impact people if they came to the fair.” 

Damage to the fairgrounds, midway and facilities was thankfully minimal, the fair opened the next day and while the run was successful, 37,222 fewer people attended. 

Michael closed down the second day of the South Carolina State Fair, and it turned out the fair had a more successful 2018 than its sister to the north.  “For the first time in our 149-year history, the SC State Fair closed for an entire day due to the impending Hurricane Michael,” said Nancy Smith, General Manager. “Opening day was a very rainy one as well, with less than half the attendance of last year's opening day. We also had a slight shower the final Saturday, but the weather did cool to fall and fair-like conditions after the hurricane passed. In spite of one less day due to Hurricane Michael, our attendance, gate admissions, ride and food gross were up from last year.” 

The Georgia National Fair suffered a closure of 1.5 days due to Michael, but saw an increase of 30,000 attendees compared to 2017. “When we reopened, people really turned out," said Keaton G. Walker, Marketing and Sponsorship Director, Georgia National Fair. “After the hurricane passed through, we had some cooler weather, nice and sunny. We also had great entertainment and a lot of people still were out of power.”

Walker credits her team's use of social media in boosting the attendance, basically getting the word out the status of the fair. “We used social media very actively this year to keep people informed about the weather changes and the status of the fair,” said Walker. “Our social media was more informative and more to up-to-date. We used social media more strategically especially with the Hurricane.”

Since 2010, the International Association of Fairs and Expositions (IAFE) has conducted what is described as an informal, anecdotal survey of its members, which also combines data gleaned from public sources such as news reports, about the impact of weather on  fair attendance.

During the survey period, based on reports of an average of 158 fairs, about 35 percent of fairs reported decreased attendance, and of those fairs, only 35 percent attribute the decrease to weather (data about weather was not collected in 2017).

“We do not measure nor attempt to collect any other data with regard to weather,” said Marla Calico, President & CEO, IAFE. “In my opinion there's very little fairs can do to mitigate the impact of weather other than to plan for and take every action to mitigate the risks of weather, i.e. having a plant to respond to lightning, wind, or hurricane; making improvements to facility when funds allow to manage drainage, run-off, building integrity, etc.”
LOWER YOUR INSURANCE RATES
Carnival Warehouse Magazine - Subscribe Today
Related Photos
1998-2022: Company | Web site developed by Matt's Web Design, Inc.