Carnival & Fair News

Like it has for decades, the Skerbeck Family Carnival gears up for the upcoming season throughout the first quarter of the year. This Michigan-based midway provider, now in its sixth generation, has a six-month season that kicks off at the end of April.   They are optimistic about the upcoming season, expecting that that positive momentum the company has experienced post-lockdown will continue.

But asking typical questions about what the economy will look like this summer proved a tricky proposition in April.  “I hope we are not heading into a recession, but it's a moving target, and I'm confident that we are in a good place,” said Bob Skerbeck, President. “We're very cautious when making decisions where we should be putting our money. Our April and May dates are so heavily weather dependent, you hope for a 70-degree day, but you can still get snow.”

Like many regional carnival companies working northern routes, the dates are a mix of still-dates and county fairs and festivals with the still-dates dominating the early months, while fairs and other events, generally the bigger money makers, fill up the schedule once the summer kicks into gear. The main pre-season decision Skerbeck weighs each Spring is selecting what he describes as the “skeleton” of the midway i.e., the higher capacity crowd favorites that are the big “money makers on the road.”

Domestic Workers

It's also dependent on the workforce, which is stable for this year.  With upwards of 95 workers during peak season, the company is in the unique position of having an all-American workforce. “I haven't used the H2B program yet,” he said. “Every other carnival in the state uses the program.”

At least for this summer, “I am confident we'll have the number of workers [needed],” he said, admitting. “I'm a little concerned that my key guys are starting to age out. It is very unusual that we haven't yet had to use the H2B program.”

In January, at the 140th annual convention of the Michigan Association of Fairs & Exhibitions (MAFE), the carnival shortage was top-of-mind for fair managers. It's been estimated there are fewer than half as many carnival companies serving the Michigan market in the 2025 fair season than there were pre-pandemic.  “We've been asked to play fairs but were unable to because we were stretched thin and contracted out,” he said. “The dates got left open. We speak to half a dozen fairs who say we need a carnival, can you come in here.”

The company has considered adding another unit, but with the tight-labor market, high inflation and persistent shipping delays afflicting the equipment market, this kind of expansion was deemed unfeasible. “There's a lot of demand for carnivals, so that is a good thing. With fairs needing carnivals, it would be a great time, to expand the business, but it's a doubled edged sword if you consider getting the rides, you would need at least 12-15 for six to nine months for an additional unit (this would be in addition to the 20-25 the company typically uses for its season), and you have to have workers. We have a wide variety of employees, we've been blessed to have generational employees from the same families. They've been unique to our success; without those families we wouldn't be in business.”

Good Years

One reason to actually consider expansion in the first place has been a booming post-lockdown business for this Michigan midway provider. Skerbeck describes 2023 as “a banner year. We saw 15-20 percent increases in all parts of the operation – the rides foods and games. People had money; they were comfortable coming out. Things had been building in 21 and 22 but 23 was the crescendo.”

This momentum continued into 2024, with attendance rising along with robustly spending fairgoers. Unfortunately, so did inflation. “Attendance, was up, but the costs of materials and goods were also raised, so the net profit wasn't as high as the previous three years. The numbers are tremendous, it's a high plateau, but adjusting to different pricing, it's not as profitable.”



Unfortunately, one doesn't feel the pinch during the season as much as post-season when the financial assessments are concluded. “I really can't complain because costs and labor have risen for everybody. We've had four good years following COVID, and most of our fairs are back to pre-pandemic levels. You can get hyper-focused on the downside, but as show people we go to the events and the morale of the people we're working with is high and that has a huge effect on the event. We're just excited to be there and grateful to our fairs.”

He added that “inflation has slowed down from what it was. Last year, inflation was slower in the beginning of the year, but by the 4th of July, it was higher. I think this year, with the election over, that is a positive. It created hesitancy among some people and you won't have that this year.”

Skerbeck Family Carnival's focus remains on family rides, with their ideal customer being “mothers pushing the youngsters.  We've focused on family rides and have added new rides and expanded our Kiddieland for the last four or five years. We also found that our high-volume rides – the Himalaya, Graviton and Freak Out – do extremely well.”

Food & Games

One post-lockdown trend has been a boom in the food concessions, which serve unabashedly fair cuisine, including elephant ears, popcorn, hot dogs, etc.

 “People are obsessed with our food wagons, last year we had lines from opening to closing,” he said. “I don't see that as a trend, we have a good product and we get people through the lines in a timely manner. The food is the same all year around. If it's a crummy weather day, we still do a good food business. With the spring dates, even it's 40 degrees, people will stop just to get dinner.”

Factors fueling this trend are food posts on Instagram and Facebook. “Since COVID, social media has driven that demand for food. People want to have different experiences and there's a level of food quality at the midway that people want.”

And they often want to share pictures of or selfies with the food, furthering demand. Another factor is the time-sensitive nature of the fair itself. Like a holiday, it comes only once a year and if you don't get the elephant ear tonight you'll never get for an entire year. This fear of missing out adds value to the food concessions. “We put a lot of thought into our food operations,” he said. “You come into the community and people want these one time of the year things they get every year.”

The emphasis will continue to be on the classics in 2025, although along with adding a chicken wings and tenders, “with different barbecue sauces. We also have our eyes out for different desert type food, we are discussing a few ideas.”

The game business was the only soft-spot last year. Typically, the Skerbeck midway features about 15 traditional games, with one of the most being the Water Race by Bob's Space Racers. Games are always the weakest link in the midway's triumvirate of revenue streams, but Skerbeck mentioned that new training methods for workers might be necessary. “Generally,  the games have the youngest employees and part of their job is to communicate to the public to persuade people to play the games. Some of the workers don't understand that yet, so you have to get them off their phones so they can engage with the customers more.”

“We are giving away a lot of stock. You want people to leave with a smile on their face and that often means leaving with some teddy bears.”

He added. “Games are down a little bit. Maybe last year was a time of fear because of the election. The 2024 summer was good, families were spending to get an armband and to eat, but they were still hesitant to spend 5, 10, or 20 bucks playing a game.”

The hot prizes? “Anything Minecraft is extremely popular, with brighter colors. People in Michigan, especially in rural areas, like natural things like deer or moose or bears. They like animals since they live so close to the wilderness.”

Sixth Generation

Skerbeck is a sixth-generation carnival operator – he likes to say he wasn't born on the midway of the Dickenson County Fair – but at a nearby hospital during the fair. The company remains a family-led organization -- with siblings Dustin Skerbeck, Operations Manager, Carly Skerbeck-Vertz, Marketing  manager;  Jamee Skerbeck, Office Manager, Cindy Skerbeck, Ticket Manager and Jeff Vertz, Food Manager.

As the days count down to the first dates of the year. Skerbeck admits “We are always excited to get back out and see the communities we come to every year. We're in the business of putting smiles on people's faces. Fairs are where a lot of people have their first dates or celebrate their anniversaries. People always come up to me and say how they come every year. I always look forward to that.”

There's even more reasons for Michigan fairgoers to smile. One of the highlights of the annual MAFE convention was the announcement that the state retained funding for capital improvements and indeed, grant writing workshops were held throughout the meeting. The result will be enhanced fairgrounds for many Great Lakes State fairgoers. “A lot of fairs have done some wonderful capital improvements, with more pavement and better infrastructure.  They've done a lot of work in the off-season. Every year, we're always itching to get back out on the road. Quite honestly, this year, I also want to get back out to see how the fairs have improved their grounds.”