Carnival & Fair News

Magic 106.7. Boston's leading Adult Contemporary Radio, produces  “Morning Magic” with David,  Sue & Kendra – who are not only top radio personalities in the Boston market but their morning show is the top rated program of its kind in New England. This year, the program engaged with listeners via another New England-based tradition – The Topsfield Fair, said to be America's oldest fair.

Not only was David Thompson, Spokesman, Topsfield Fair, featured for an extended preview of the 206th edition of the event, they came up with an enticing ongoing competition – Fair Food Faceoff, where listeners voted on the best fair foods and then Sue & Kendra visited the fair for live remotes and a tasting of the listener favorites as well as a vast sampling of other cuisine. “We ate our way through the Topsfield Fair,” they said on the subsequent visits, the final night being a 38 Special grandstand show where they introduced the band.

The Topsfield Fair has long gained a reputation for its fair-food, with this year 78 food vendors offering a range of old and new cuisine. “We had a few new food vendors this year, including Dole Whip, a prime rib sandwich, and fruit on a stick,” said Thompson. 
“The Topsfield Fair Apple Pie sold very well again.  Other popular items included fried dough, German fries, turkey legs, and caramel/candy apples.  Because we had a warm streak again this year, we sold much more water than we normally sell.”

The Morning Magic Fair Food Face Off though turned up the promotions this  year. “We  had tremendous media interest with increased coverage on Boston television and radio stations.” He explained. “ In addition to having fair personnel on to talk about the Fair, Magic 106.7 did a March Madness style bracket asking listeners to select their favorite fair foods.  Two on-air personalities from their morning show attended the Fair to sample the winning foods and conduct interviews which ran throughout the week on their show.”

Leading local radio stations were far from the only media interested in the fair. “Chronicle, America's oldest newsmagazine show that runs on Boston's #1 station, returned to the Fair in 2023 for the first time since 2011,” he said. “They re-ran an entire show about the Fair, which they had previously run after last year's fair, on October 7th.  MassLive, an online news service that covers the state, also sent different reporters on several days, resulting in multiple stories.”

See What Crops Up

Media attention to the annual regional tradition as well as one of the largest outdoor events in New England supplemented a marketing campaign that contained a clever tagline that amusingly enticed consumers while directly declaring the agricultural mission of the fair  -- See What Crops Up!.



The media allocation for the 2024 spend was:  Total Traffic Weather Network (TTWN) TV & Radio: 20 percent;  Connected TV: 25 percent; Broadcast Radio 30 percent; Digital: 25 percent. 

“We added TTWN TV and reduced the amount spent on Connected TV,” said Thompson. With social media they stuck with previous, post-lockdown strategies.

“We have been using social media successfully in similar ways for several years. We didn't use it differently.”

The media outreach, press coverage and marketing strategy, aided and abetted by benevolent Mother Nature, pushed Topsfield Attendance to new heights, making 2024 “a very good year.” he said. “Overall, the weather was great, and attendance was up from last year, which was also up slightly from the previous year. “

Attendance reached 418,170, an increase over 2023's 393,598.  “Saturday (closing weekend) was a record for single-day attendance for a Saturday.” he added.



While noting that fairgoer spending was indicating a tightening of the family's purse strings, Thompson said the general attitude was upbeat. “ Inflation definitely impacts the fair just like it impacts everything else.  Many fairgoers have to be more selective on where they spend their money while at the fair, but fairgoers seemed to be in a wonderful mood.  We attribute this to two main factors: 1) The weather was spectacular on 8 of our 11 days. 2) Because we had a long period of dry weather leading up to the fair, we had 2,500 more on-ground parking spaces.  This allowed us to get traffic off the road and through the gates more quickly to enjoy the fair.”

Fiesta Shows

The more than 50-ride midway was provided by Fiesta Shows. New additions to the midway were the Warrior and Fun Factory, with the top grossing rides being Warrior, Spider Wheel, Merry Go Round.



The fair featured a range of local and regional talent at the various free stages, the biggest shows were “Both Three Dog Night and .38 Special filled the grandstand for their shows.

An attendance increase, exposure through media coverage and generally pleasing weather that encouraged longer stays combined to result in a successful 2024 Topsfield Fair. For Thompson, a fair must find new ways to make the old new and the new relevant to the ongoing mission of the Essex Agricultural Society.

“Balancing tradition and new programming is our biggest challenge,” said Thompson. “We have generations of families that have been coming to the fair every year for decades.  There is something comforting knowing what will be at the Fair and that it will be in the same location each year.  However, we also have to be aware that times, tastes, and trends change so we have to make sure we  stay relevant by offering new and exciting entertainment, food, and other activities to keep all fair goers engaged.”

Why has the Topsfield Fair remained a regional mainstay more than two centuries after its founding?  ”As America's Oldest Fair, our fair remains very popular as seen by our increased attendance numbers,” he said.  “We think our fair is popular due to our focus on education and agriculture.  As we as a society move away from farm life, fairs provide children and adults information on where their food and dairy products come from and why supporting local agriculture is important.”