Carnival & Fair News

Nothing says Americana more than a state fair, and there’s few states more emblematic of America’s Heartland than Nebraska. In recent years, the annual celebration of everything Corn Husker state navigated a run of bad luck that included a near back-to-back fair rainouts, a State Fair Finance Director convicted for embezzlement and a succession of fair managers.

Last year, Jaime Parr, Executive Director Nebraska State Fair, took the captain’s seat and led the event into one of its most successful fairs in common memory, restoring the event to its previous splendor. In 2024, the revitalization campaign continued , with attendance increases, record revenue for the 38-ride Wade Shows midway and sold out shows by Casting Crowns and the Gatlin Brothers.

Parr also emphasized that upgrades throughout the fairgrounds gladdened attendees and boosted turnout. “We installed more than 3400’ of outdoor festoon lights to invite foot traffic into the comfort and safety of a well-lit area.  Our capital purchase items of misting fans, seating, and expanded shade all lent to that safe and comfortable success. We brought six editions of a fireworks and drone show into the mix and we believe these additions encouraged our guests to extend their length of stay.”

 

Wonderful Event

How did the Nebraska State Fair go this year? “The 2024 Nebraska State Fair was safe, fun, well attended, and overall a memorable and wonderful event!,” Parr declared about her sophomore fair as manager. “We had a safe, happy, fun, and memorable 2024 Nebraska State Fair!”

Attendance reached 314,844 for the 11-day event, a 2 percent increase over 2023.  “That is the highest attendance we have seen since 2017. We had our highest single day attendance since 2019, on Labor Day Sunday, with 53,708 on grounds that one day.”

Heat and a pair of thunderstorms impeded attendance at the fair’s start, but Mother Nature’s mood improved and “we were blessed with near perfect Fair weather to end the holiday weekend of the Nebraska State Fair.”

Fairgoer spending was robust, indicating a high consumer confidence seemingly impervious to the inflationary trends of the current economy. While per-cap spending data was unavailable at press time, “overall independent concession revenues were up 7 percent, and Fair operated beverage was up more than 5 percent. In 2024 we once again set a ride revenue record despite extreme heat and thunderstorms the first half of the Fair,” she said.

The Midway featured the  crowd-favorite independent ride  “Sling Shot”, whose video captures has its own Tik-Tok page.  In addition, besides such spectaculars such as the Giant Wheel, Typhoon Himalaya, Super Cyclone Coaster, and Street-Fighter 360, we brought back our Super Spectacular Drag Strip Mega Slide.  This was its first appearance post pandemic,” said Parr.  “Wade Shows.  Frank Zaitshik,  Gary Zaitshik,, and Team Wade continue to bring us safe, fun, and beautiful rides, games, and concessions.”

She added, “We did have a great increase in our advance sale ride passes.  Wade Shows brings us the any day wristbands and our flash sales were very well received in our community. We attribute the record year to a very strong advance sale.”

In addition to the strong relationship between fair and midway provider enabling an effective advanced sale campaign, it was further enhanced by the fair’s social media strategy. “We capitalized on our flash sales and saw a tremendous return on our organic social as it related to carnival wristbands and advanced sale tickets. We used captivating photos, paired with compelling copywriting to showcase the fun experiences offered at the State Fair. We hosted several flash sales on carnival wristbands, far surpassing presale numbers of years prior. On several occasions, we ordered more barcodes than we thought we’d need, but sold out before the flash sale actually ended! In a time when folks are being extra conscience of their finances, we noticed more families than ever before wanting to snag discounts ahead of time (beginning on Black Friday), so their family could come enjoy the Fair. We also bulked up our ‘reels’ during the event, which had impressive engagement as well.”

All Roads Lead to Fun

The 2024 marketing tagline  -- All Roads Lead to Fun at the Nebraska State Fair – evoked the end of summer must-see destination vibe that had consumer appeal statewide and regionally. The expanded reach emphasized a higher digital spending and wider billboard proliferation. “We put a large emphasis on digital, something we shifted quite a bit in 2023. We’ve seen great success through our email marketing, Facebook ads and even nice return on outside platforms for concert-marketing, like Snapchat. We also put a healthy amount towards billboards in 2024. We had 37 billboards across the state, 24 of which were considered ‘rural areas’, and received positive feedback about their presence in those highly-traveled but less-populated areas of the state.”

The fair also increased its advertising budget along with more effective consumer targeting. “Our advertising budget was a bit higher than previous years, something that we attribute to the diversity of our entertainment, paired with changes to overall state of economy. We saw an increase in media buys across several mediums we use, including print advertising. We also use a percentage of our budget on national stage acts, which was increased year over year. The individuals who come to the Fair for their kids to ride carnival rides or to eat a funnel cake are not always the same as those who will come to a mid-week concert, so our target audiences often vary drastically from one side of the Fair to the other. We rely heavily on organic social for exhibitors and local fair guests but push a great deal of paid advertising towards target audiences in other parts of the state.”

 The Fair has earned a reputation as a regional Foodie destination. “In Nebraska, our Cattlemen’s Beef Pit and Cactus Jack’s are our most popular stands.  We also had impressive turn out for seafood, coffee, and Mexican cuisines.”

In total, the fair featured 67 independent concessions of food & non-alcoholic beverage, plus an additional eight concessions of more traditional fair cuisine provided by Wades Shows. Staples may be the top sellers, but Parr pointed out a new promotion highlighting two innovative categories. “Our New & Unique Sweet Food was a Watermelon Lollipop by Shuckers Roasted Corn!  The lollipop is a thick cut of juicy, fresh watermelon, drizzled with Chamoy, sprinkled with tajin, and finished with a splash of freshly squeezed lime. Our New & Unique Savory Food was the Papa Asada by Leon on Wheels!  The papa asada starts with a large, fluffy russet potato, baked and lightly mashed to hold the butter, sour cream, shredded cheese, topped with choice of protein (carne asada was a popular choice), chopped onions, cilantro, seasoning, and YUM sauce.”

Bigger Future

The expanded menu coupled with an award winning midway, well-selected grandstand entertainment and a midway partner adept at both amusement park-like presentation and new marketing concepts added up to strong outing for Parr’s sophomore year at the helm. For Parr, a fair manager can only be as successful as the team she leads. She credits the 2024 success to “a sustainable team structure is in place and together, we set the tone for our seasonal staff, the volunteers, exhibitors, and all partners in sponsorship, commercial, food & beverage, service provisions, etc.”

Technically in 2023 she was still Interim Fair Manager; 2024 she had a full year in the top spot. Did that make a difference in how she approached the task at hand? Actually no, as she pointed out. “I’ve been here 26 years now, I was trained by many Directors before me to always be willing to consider improvements and also encouraging others to also be mindful of identifying ways to improve the Nebraska State Fair.  On an individual professional level, I was afforded the opportunity to work a whole lot with the Fair Board, with our Landlord (Fonner Park), and with the City of Grand Island in new ways.”

The relationship between the fair manager and board, landlord and municipality was strengthened by the 2024 success and is integral for the ambitious plans the Nebraska State Fair has for the future  “We’re doing some final preparations to the Campus’ Master Plan for the remaining ARPA funds ($20M in storm-water mitigations) and for the overall Campus improvements that the State Fair is interested to pursue.  This range of conversations has been much more of the bigger picture and sustainable longevity. These bigger picture ideas are coming together, and I cannot wait until we are ready to share more about the future of the Nebraska State Fair at Fonner Park.”