Even concessions stands were themed pink at the 2014 South Carolina State Fair, Columbia.
Attendance was the second best ever, but it was the theme - pink - that took the top prize. The South Carolina State Fair, Columbia, drew 473,359 people to its Oct.8-19 run, second only to 2010 when it drew 492,395.
But there’s no doubt in the mind of Nancy Smith, assistant general manager, that there were people new to the fair, drawn by the inspiring and inclusive theme: Find Your Happy at the Pink Fair. For 12 days, everything about the fair was dedicated to education about breast cancer.
The fair partnered with three major hospitals in the area, all of which were “on the grounds every day in pink and white resource tents educating our patrons,” Smith said. “Being a family fun event put a spin on something not always positive.”
With their hospital partners, the fair developed a breast cancer resource guide that was, and will continue to be, available on the fair’s website and the partners’ websites as well. The guide addressed anything and everything about breast cancer across the state of South Carolina — health, wealth, mind, and financial, Smith said. The State newspaper printed 35,000 guides, which included a map of the fair on the back.
“Providentially, the big Walk for Life/Race for Life in Columbia was held the last day of the fair,” Smith continued. The fair was the presenting sponsor of the walk and on the last two days of the fair, Saturday and Sunday, offered free admission for the walkers if they wore their pink Walk T-shirts. One other designated day was free for anyone wearing pink.
There were promotions all during the fair, including head-shaving by Gary Goodman, fair GM, and the CEO of the sponsoring Palmetto Health Foundation.
Unusually early for the South Carolina State Fair, advertising began in April, when they gave away 100,000 packets of pink forget-me-not seeds. Every month thereafter, there was some big tie-in promotion, including the opening of baseball in May when the local team used pink bats and wore pink socks, followed by the kickoff for the Walk for Life campaign in June. “Every month there was something to move our Pink theme closer in everyone’s mind,” Smith said. “We’ve never advertised the fair that early.”
The carnival had specially-made pink banners and pink LED lights on rides and games.
“North American Midway Entertainment was phenomenal,” she said, referring to the fair’s carnival. “They had pink banners they made flying all over the fairgrounds with signs on the rides, ‘We’re Going Pink.’ The pay-one-price wristbands were pink. They were a huge partner.”
Concessionaires did the same thing, wearing pink shirts and changing the flags on tops of concessions stands.
Both the food and carnival rides grosses were records, she said. Food grossed $4,540,047, while NAME’s rides brought in $3,673,546.
“There was pink all over the place,” Smith said. “We were dressed in pink. It was 12 days of pink and very well received and very rewarding. One of our hospital partners said they talked to at least 3,000 people who had questions about breast cancer.”
There were mobile mammography vans on the grounds daily. And exhibit buildings and exhibitors were all decked out. Smith was particularly taken with the Wall of Hope in one of the exhibit buildings. The fair had pink flower notes made and people could fill them out and tack them on the wall in honor or remembrance of someone touched by breast cancer. Over 10,000 notes were on the wall of hope by fair’s end. “To stand there and read some of those was very moving,” she said. “People were very appreciative of the opportunity.”
The Wall of Hope in one exhibit building was a chance to write a note to loved ones.
The theme continued with a 17-foot tall balloon structure with more than 30,000 balloons which depicted a carousel with different animals. It was the largest balloon structure in South Carolina.
Goodman had wanted to have a pink fair for 10 years, Smith said, but the timing was never right. She doesn’t yet know what next year’s theme will be, but there will certainly be a tinge of pink, because the Walk for Life has agreed to time its event during the fair again.
The fair sponsored the Walk for Life/Race for Life put on by the Palmetto Health Foundation this year, donating $50,000 to the cause. The walk itself drew 11,000 people, up about 2,000, and raised more than $700,000, which will be used to buy a 3D mammography machine which will stay in Columbia. “All the money stays in South Carolina,” Smith said. “That was important to us.”
To Smith’s knowledge, this is the first ever Pink Fair in the U.S. Providentially, it coincided with her year as program committee chair for the International Association of Fairs & Expositions which meets in December in Las Vegas. The theme is Seeding Change, and she knows her fair answered that question. It’s about making a difference in your community, she noted.
“We have a great opportunity to reach a maximum number of people in a minimum number of days,” she added. “From the agricultural side, even our livestock folks got into it. People painted pumpkins pink, pinned breast cancer ribbons in the hay, and were attired in pink shirts.
“The theme resonated with a lot of people,” she said. “Everyone grasped the pink theme.”
As a final salute to the pink fair, on the last day, 500 people formed the outline of a giant pink ribbon.
Other aspects of the fair were almost overshadowed, but talent did well, though ZZ Top canceled a month out, Smith said. Paid shows by Lee Brice, which sold out, and Jennifer Nettles, were held in the 5,000-seat Pepsi grandstand. Five free shows included Marshall Tucker Band, Shovels and Rope, Fred Hammond, Britt Nicole with Citizen Way, and, on the last day, MC Hammer. “It was packed in there. He did a fantastic job,” Smith said of Hammer. All talent is booked by Jimmy Jay, Jayson Promotions, Hendersonville, Tenn.
Not directly pink, but related, was a traveling exhibit by Agrium called Seed Survivor. The interactive exhibit in a 35-X-35-foot trailer was all about seeds and how they evolve.
Dates for next year’s fair are Oct.14-25.
Interviewed for this story: Nancy Smith, (803) 799-3387