Cowbella, the Alameda County Fair mascot, was a popular motif for Instagram users, including these two ambitious youngsters.
A heat wave at the Alameda County Fair, Pleasanton, Calif., that saw temperatures rise to an average of 106 degrees each day for seven days prompted a nearly 27-percent drop in attendance over last year’s all-time, 100-year-anniversary high of 534,577.
The attendance came in at 391,426, which also was a 13.5 percent decline over the 2011 attendance of 452,747.
The heat wave was preceded by two days of rain, said Jerome Hoban, the fair’s new CEO, who took over for longtime leader Rick Pickering, now at the California State Fair, Sacramento.
However, Hoban said, “These numbers are impressive with the heat wave. We have really robust promotions. Two-dollar Tuesdays is a big one. And we have Feed the Need on Wednesdays. Fairgoers bring in a can of food for free admission.”
Hoban, the former CEO of the Orange County Fair, Costa Mesa, Calif., began his new job on May 20, less than a month before the beginning of the June 19-July 7 fair, which already was pretty much planned by the time he came on board.
“There is a great staff in place,” he said. “They had things handled. I just came in and I watched. I got involved in a few things but for the most part, I spent time learning about horse racing. The Orange County Fair didn’t have horse racing. That was all new to me.”
Fairfield, Calif.-based Butler Amusements was down, Hoban said. Pay-one-price carnival wristbands cost $27 Tuesday through Thursday and $30 Saturday and Sunday, said spokeswoman Angel Moore. The fair had a $22 discounted wristband prior to the fair at select retailers.
The new log flume ride and the roller coaster were the most popular rides, Hoban said.
Gate admission was $10, the same as last year, he added.
The Big O Concert Series was presented in the 3,000-seat Safeway Amphitheater. The most popular concerts, which were free with the price of admission, were Disney Channel star Zendaya and “Weird Al” Yankovic.
In addition to the 3,000 concert-goers who get seats, up to another 5,000 or 6,000 fans can watch the show on a 20-foot video screen.
"'Weird Al’ Yankovic was crazy," Hoban said, estimating that up to 7,000-8,000 watched his show, with an additional 2,000 watching Zendaya.
Other shows that packed in fans were Air Supply, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and Clay Walker, who closed the series.
Additional acts included Kix Brooks; the Marshall Tucker Band; The Spinners; Loverboy; Journey tribute band Evolution; Christian singer Francesca Battistelli; Pablo Cruise; Los Caminantes; Santana tribute band Caravanserai; Led Zeppelin tribute band Zepparella; and the Red, White and Blues Festival.
The fair paid about $400,000 for the acts, Hoban said, about the same as last year.
The fair’s budget is about $20 million, Hoban said, compared to the Orange County Fair’s $32 million.
In fact, he added, Hoban was drawn to the Alameda County Fair from his lifelong home in Orange County because of the similarities of where his new fair is now compared to the Orange County Fair years ago.
“I see that Alameda is on the exact path that the Orange County Fair was about 15 years ago,” he said. “Fifteen years ago, the attendance was 500,000-600,000 with a $15-million budget and it was about to embark on a master plan.”
The master plan at Orange County Fair soon will be ready for updating, while at Alameda, a new one will be drawn up so Hoban’s new fair can begin to grow at what he hopes will be a similar pace as the Costa Mesa fair.
Another difference between the fairs is the governing structure. The Orange County Fair has a nine-person board appointed by the governor, while the Alameda County Fair originated as a private, nonprofit fair with the land eventually deeded to the county for preservation.
“I was intrigued by the governance structure of a private, nonprofit,” he added.
In spite of Orange County besting Alameda in most numbers, including attendance, which was about 1.4 million last year, Hoban’s new fair has a much larger grounds, about 260 acres compared to 164 acres in Costa Mesa. That is mostly because of the horse racing that takes place in Pleasanton, he said.
The marketing budget at the fair also is about $400,000 for advertising buys, and more and more of that is being shifted to digital from print publications.
Many social media contests helped draw in fairgoers, including Fun Pack Friday, in which a contest was posted on Facebook on Fridays and a random winner won a Fun Pack to the fair.
In another contest, fairgoers were encouraged to post a video to Facebook for a chance to win fair admission tickets.
A third contest utilized fiberglass fair mascot Cowbella, who could be photographed out at community events for another opportunity to win tickets.
“The new stuff is mostly a big focus on viral – Twitter feeds and Facebook,” Hoban said. “We’re hitting those hard and transferring those dollars to digital, away from print.”
The 2014 dates will be June 18-July 6.
Interviewed for this article: Jerome Hoban and Angel Moore, (925) 426-7600.