Carnival & Fair News

The Iowa State Fair set an attendance record in 2024. This iconic heartland tradition, said to be first held in 1854, had ideal weather, one of the largest independent midways in the Midwest, a grandstand lined up bursting with superstars such as Jelly Roll and Motley Crue, all essential factors in the equation for outdoor event success.

Upon closer scrutiny, the robust turnout doesn't just set new records for the fair. It indicates that the COVID impact may finally be well past us. The record broken by the attendance – 1,182682  a 4.3 percent increase over 2023, considered the 2nd highest attendance in the fair's history – was set in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year and included record days on the First Saturday (128,732) and First Sunday (115, 048).

“We had an incredible year,” said Jeremy Parsons, who was named Fair Manager & CEO in 2023.  “I'm a pretty strong believer that when it comes to a fair, if you take great leadership provided by a board, attention to detail  and work ethic provided to by the staff, great things will happen,”

Also helping was rare benevolence of Mother Nature with a stretch of sunshine that also avoided this summer's major Midwestern heatwaves. “Once in a lifetime, incredible weather,” he said. “Upper 70s and one day of rain.”  

Guest-Experience

As his second fair, Parsons has implemented a sweeping upgrade throughout the fairgrounds, an improvement project the board budgeted at approximately $2 Million.  “I've been 100 percent focused on improving the guest experience through improvements and upgrades to creature comforts. We doubled the amount of paved handicap spaces, added a new shower house in the campground, installed a remodeled bathroom, and we added more picnic tables and benches and a water-bottle filling station. We noticed more and more people brining their own water-bottles.”  

The makeover was even visible on the 42-ride midway, which is divided into three sections; Thrill Town, it's children's section, Thrill-Ville, adults and family rides and Thrill Zone, for the extreme rides. The fair added new entrances, upgraded signage and extensive landscaping, including grass, plants and flowers. “Studies show that landscaping makes people feel safer and more welcomed,” said Parsons. “It goes back to the guest experience.”  

Drone Security

This 2024 fairground improvement ignition Parsons credited to the “vision of the board. We at the Iowa State Fair believe in producing a quality product. If we give our guests one thing, it's  the opportunity to go enjoy an event and not have things happen that can be taken away from enjoying the event.”

With disruptive teens wreaking havoc at many fairs and events earlier this season and throughout 2023, his guest-experience focus also encompassed new security measures, with gates closing at 10pm and on the last day, 7pm with the entire fair – from vendors to rides – having a hard close at 9pm. “We noticed that we had youth-related problems later in the evening, so we changed the hours and began winding down the fair earlier, which curtailed incidents.”

In addition to local law enforcement, the fair sets up an in-house police department during the run of the fair. This year, they added drone surveillance to the security measures. “We utilized drone technology. Drones added eyes and we could see more when it comes issues that we had not been able to in the past. They also gave us a better understanding of the flow of traffic in different areas of the fair.”

Spending kept apace with post-lockdown patterns, despite inflation up-ticking prices and eating into the family budget. The fair set revenue records with the increase in spending. “We did not see any impact of inflation. Inflation is happening across the world but spending patterns were similar to previous years. Our advanced admission tickets, our value packs and other discounts and ways of savings, we saw those numbers were up. That speaks to more people looking for a deal. Those numbers are up. The Iowa agriculture economy is slowing down, so more people are planning to save.”

Fair Fever

The fair's marketing tagline –  Nothing Compares – invoked the excitement and history of this globally recognized celebration of Americana – and it's marketing department developed clever  and compelling promotions around the theme Fair Fever- a sly nod to its 170th year. Trippy posters, white suits, and other disco-era accoutrements decorated posters, logos and other marketing materials. The fair's website said it best with a short litany of snappy declarations: “It's a throwback to nostalgia with a vibe full of tradition. Fair Fever can only be described as a heightened state of joy, enthusiasm and anticipation. Fair Fever is contagious and only a prescription of fair food, games, rides, competition and over-the-top entertainment will cure it. Mark your calendars to “catch” the very best in agriculture, industry, entertainment and achievement.”

 “It was a fun, retro theme,” said Parsons. “It was related to the nostalgia and interest in 1970s, we could use a lot of iconic references, it came from Saturday Night Fever and we tied back to the fair.”

The fair's advertising budget remained in line with last year's spending. The media allocation: 34 percent TV/OTT; 25 percent Radio; 16 percent Outdoor/OOH; 10 percent Print; 15 percent Digital/Social/Streaming. “”The media mix continues to change with the times- a slight decrease in print (2 percent) with an increase of the same in digital/social/streaming,” said Mindy Williamson, Marketing Director,  Iowa State Fair.  “[There was an]  increase for TV because of the Olympics and a decrease to off-set that in radio.”

On social media, Williamson described the growing fair's following as “loyal and passionate… We made an effort to focus messages to the different audiences on different platforms (Twitter (X), Instagram, and Facebook) We are currently watching video pick up views that went viral on our Big Boar competition- it is up to 17 million views worldwide.”

Turns out, attendance wasn't the only record broken record in 2024. A new Big Boar record was set by Finnegan, a 1,420-lb, swine.

42-Ride Midway

The independent midway featured 42 rides, one more than 2023, contracting with 13 companies. New rides included: Tornado, Storm, Super Shot and Winky The Whale.

The fair's success reinforced Parson's belief independence will remain the Iowa midway way. “Strategically, what we want from a ride perspective, we can select what works for our fair. We can control the branding of the midway with the Iowa State Fair, so all the workers wear our apparel. It takes more planning but it's worth it.





With a sold-out show by Jelly Roll, and strong sellers by Thomas Rhett, Motley Crue and  Foreigner: Historic Farewell Tour, this Des Moines stage retains its status as one of the most sought-after summer stages in the Midwest. Other acts included: Greta Van Fleet; Brett Young;  Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias; The Avett Brothers and Ne-Yo. “We had one of most diverse line ups,” said Parsons. “We only had three nights of country music. We want to remain relevant and stay current.”

Was talent buying easier or more challenging than previous years?  “In general it's  more competitive with festivals, and casinos. The contracting came about earlier, we got the acts we wanted. There is some hope there's been a reset in booking entertainment.”

The fair featured 104 food vendors, compared to 97. The creature comfort improvements Parsons spearheaded was evident when it came to this fair cuisine mecca. “We spread people across the fairgrounds and eliminated some congestion with landscaping and redesigns. There were a couple of better utilized areas, where we added lawns and tables. We enticed them with free entertainment, then added food, beefed up the presentation.”



New foods at the fair were Bacon Cheeseburger Egg Roll, Lobster Corndog and Iowa Sm'oak'ed Roll. “Fairgoers selected the Bacon Cheeseburger Egg Roll as a favorite,” said Parsons.

The 2024 Iowa State Fair is an example of a fair increasing in popularity and community relevance by assessing the overall product through the lens of Guest-Experience, then implementing specific changes and upgrades. “Fairs are the unique balance of tradition and new. We expanded some programming, like for our Latino audience, to keep relevant to our community. The world is changing so fast.  What we stand for is tradition, but we want to be new and cutting edge and fun. Fairs give people a sense of normalcy once year. It's a balancing act.”

At 170, that act keeps getting better.