Carnival & Fair News

Spring can set a tone for the entire fair season. While weather can be unpredictable with wider pendulum swings than the height of the season, midway providers closely watch other indicators so they can shape business decisions with reasonable projections for 2025.

Connecting spring date attendee behavior dots to global economic trends is an inexact science at best, but this year, with economic worries contra posed against slowing of the rate of inflation — what will that mean both for spring dates and the peak season.

“Economically, much to our surprise, Spring's been very good,” said Bob Destefano, Dreamland Amusements, who plays a mainly southeastern route during the first and second quarters of the year. “You try not to watch the TV news, because you hear the all the rhetoric, people screaming the R word – recession. Our industry is so weather driven, you can have the greatest economic conditions ever but it doesn't matter when it rains. We're optimistic with what we've seen so far, the consumer looks they still want to come out and ride rides.”

Spring Worries

This year, the concern was weather of course, but two other issues were entirely fairgoer focused – 1) will consumer confidence be consistent with the post-lockdown spending of the previous few years and 2) will the disruptive teen problems reoccur.

So far, so good seems to be the consensus this year. Weather-wise, northern states reported a few instances of spring snowstorms and a generally good March and April. “With any spring, the weather can be tricky, said Christina Benner of Penn Valley Shows, a Pennsylvania-based midway provider, who pointed out that you move to a new spot that seems “just a few blocks away and be a totally different weekend. We start at the end of March, then the beginning of April was some rain, but Easter Weekend was very good.”

An improvement over last year, but out west though, reports of an extremely windy spring impeded the still-date season, negatively impacting many events. The most severe weather event was “a Tornado in west Texas,” said Rickey Moore, of Moore's Greater Shows, who noted that “We had some storms and high winds, but when we had the weather, we had crowds. We've been fortunate.”

But were they spending like they were in 2024? For the most part, but with inconclusive shifts in spending behavior. Danny Brown of Brown's Amusements who works the Arizona/Nevada market each spring, said “Our numbers have been right there, we're doing a little bit better than last year. I have noticed more credit card than debit card. I look at it as more of a how people use credit cards more often.”

Shifting Patterns

Moore has experienced similar steadiness in spending even while navigating the turbulent economic news dominating headlines. Worrying about the R-Word was secondary to fear of the impact of the I Word – Inflation. After holding his prices down for years, this year's he was forced to make changes. “We've been the same price four seasons with both food and rides. We were very cheap for a long time. But the people understand. They haven't been cutting back.”

He's also noticed the new armband pricing structure allows for some leeway, about an extra five dollars after the transaction. “This has helped the games,” he explained. “The games have benefitted. It will be more likely they'll spend it on a game instead of keeping it in their pocket, but overall games aren't doing as good as the rides and food. But the crowds are out there, spending money, they are riding the rides, and they buy food. Prices are up everywhere and there's uncertainty, especially with these tariffs in the news, but when you have the weather and people come out, they spend.”

“The games are lacking,” said Benner of Penn Valley Shows, who was more circumspect than her southwestern counterpart. “We are seeing rides on par with last year, but people are tightening up a little bit.”

Social Media Upgrade

Davey Helm, Helm & Sons Amusements, a California-based midway provider, has said “more than half the weekends have been rain and wind” – and the other half? Spending seems in-line with 2024 so far, but Helm has noticed more bargain hunters. Even at still dates and smaller fairs, Helm & Sons offers discounted pre-sales tickets. “It has helped us because it gives us money before we play the date, but it's really taken off this year. People do save and that's what they are looking for. Presales are up this year. I'm not saying the tariffs are to blame, but people are more frugal, we are pushing it, but they are acting on price.”

Other carnival professionals noted an apparent uptick in responses to promotional discounts. Destefano has implemented a range of savings gimmicks to tap into the current consumer mindset. “We run specials during the weekdays, dollar days, BOGO nights, Car Load night. The midways can look dreary without people during the week. It's paid off.”

Why lower price promotions are reaching new highs among fairgoers indicates another shift in consumer behavior. Aside from the universal love of bargains, it's evidence that social media and other online promotional strategies for still-dates, fundraisers, shopping center lots, street fairs and smaller local fairs are becoming as technologically sophisticated as state fairs and other large-scale outdoor events. The difference, however, is that the burden rests almost always solely within the purview of the carnival company. The days of internet neglect or just doing the minimum and hoping for the maximum when it comes to directly reaching your customer electronically are now history.

For Helm, the difference has been establishing a social media presence beyond most other carnival company's scope of practice. “People are looking for a deal and where they look is social media,” said Helm, who added that his wife, Collen, heads the “entertainment team” of upwards of five staff members and features a constant array of clips, stories, interviews, and promotions Helm admits it's quite the contrast with how the step-child treatment he gave to social media pre-pandemic.

“The main concern is more content. The biggest thing for us was that COVID made me get more creative and inventive. I asked myself, how do we get people back out to the fairs and carnivals. I wrote a script for a midway mash up of 80s and 90s game shows, bought a stage and we go singing and dancing, it's free flowing.”

The extravaganzas gained momentum over the years, as did the seamless transformation of onsite fun to compelling clips. “Our hosts get recognized, we do have a following. We have street team who goes to a place before set up so we can create better content. We are just trying to do something different, get the community involved and to be part of the old time fair feeling of community and fun. Social media seems to be helping us create that vibe, it's a tool making a huge difference this year.”

Teenage Troubles

Guests pass through a security check-point at a Dreamland Amusements event in Jacksonville, FL

Social media marketing may be on the rise as a budget item, but the jump may still lag behind the leap which security costs took in 2023 and 2024. That was the year where Tik-Tok fueled flash mobs of teenagers plagued fairs, shopping malls and all sorts of venues where pre-adults gather and those looking for trouble find ways to make it.

In response to the outbreak, carnival companies invested heavily in security measures, including onsite personnel, metal detectors, fenced in still-dates and other events. In many cases, companies more than doubled what they were spending on security. Benner lost two dates due to disruptive teens last year, and was only able to replace one. “We've got a spot, but it's a sad situation when carnivals get shut down. Teens are getting crazy, there's no discipline anymore. We had a permit fall through at the last minute because the mall manager didn't get along with the person issuing permits.”

Benner emphasized that issues in previous years were “pockets of kids” not route-wide. She also noted that this year there hasn't been any reports of teen violence.

Destefano, like other carnival companies interviewed, concurred that so far the youth problem has not reoccurred this spring, indicating the effectiveness of new security policies carnival companies have adopted. “I don't think we'll ever go back to the old days of no fence, no security personnel, no cameras,” he said. “Those days are long gone. This spring for us has been a quieter spring. It seems to have calmed down. We are all learning what preventative measures to take instead of being reactive. We have backed away from areas where there could be problems; there are certain malls we no longer go to.”