State Fair of Louisiana held a Veterans Parade, Nov. 10, featuring the prototype for the Elio vehicle that will be produced at the old GM plant in Shreveport, La., next fall.
Rainy days not only caused a small 1.1 percent attendance drop from 431,000 to 426,000 at the State Fair of Louisiana, Shreveport, but it also put a damper on several promotions that were run on those days.
“We had a rain on Wednesday, Oct. 30 and Wednesday, Nov. 6, which was a shame, because we started a new promotion, “Half-Price Wednesday,” where the gate price and carnival armbands were half-price,” said general manager Chris Giordano. “With the rain, we weren’t able to find out if the promotion was successful.”
The fair, which ran Oct. 24-Nov. 10 and was closed Monday and Tuesday, also did a dollar-day on Halloween, where rides were $1 each, but Giordano realized that fairgoers do not come out on most holidays.
“With the exception of Labor Day – a lot of fairs get traffic on Labor Day. Sometimes the Fourth of July is not all that great.”
Finally, the fair also experienced rain on the last Saturday. Luckily, Giordano added, “We made up a lot of ground on the final day. It was a beautiful last day. Last year, we had rain on the last day.”
Staples, Texas-based Crabtree Amusements placed about 60 rides on the midway and was up 12 percent in spite of the slight attendance decrease.
“There is a good reason for that,” Giordano said.
The fair does a discount at grocery store outlets Brookshire’s Food & Pharmacy as well as Super 1 Foods but previously also did one on the grounds in which fairgoers could buy a pay-one-price carnival wristband, generally $30, and gate admission, which costs $10 at the gate, for $30.
They still could get the deal at the supermarkets but no longer on the grounds.
“They had to go to the grocery store or online to get that discount,” Giordano said. “Some people would go online standing at our gate and purchase the online ticket and show it to us on their phone. That was acceptable.”
However, “the ones that came to the property to buy their ticket, they weren’t able to take advantage of the discount we used to have at the gate.”
Also, the fair raised prices on group and corporate sales, which helped account for the 12 percent increase.
Free concerts took place on the DirecTV Main Entertainment Stage, mostly by local and regional acts. The most well-known act was hip-hop artist Cupid, who performs a popular song, “Cupid Shuffle.” Cupid hails from Lafayette, La.
Another act that performed well was La Tropa Vallenata, which was brought in for a Hispanic Day.
Other artists included Frank Foster, known for the song “Blue Collar Boys”; New Orleans-based ‘80s cover band Bag of Donuts; country artist Trini Triggs; Westbound 21; Louisiana’s LeRoux; and Cajun Zydeco artist Wayne Toups.
“Frank Foster is becoming a national act,” Giordano said. “He’s not signed to a record label, but he has a huge following. He maxed out the area in front of the stage. They were spilling out in front of the midway.”
Giordano estimates that the crowd reached 4,500 people for Foster.
The fair spends about $ 100,000 on musical entertainment spread out over 14 days.
“As you can see, that’s no big-budget bands.”
For grounds entertainment, he spends two to two-and-a-half as much, between $200,000 and $240,000, and some of those acts perform several times a day, giving the fair more bang for its buck.
“That’s where I spend the money,” Giordano added.
The fair budget is $2.85 million, which constitutes most of the organization's $3.4 million year-round budget.
In marketing, the fair spends $200,000. This year, the fair added a new theme, “The Fair is in the Air.”
“Especially with the fair being in the fall,” he said. “The weather is changing and getting much cooler. It plays on that and the sights of the fair.”
In advertising, the fair has not rearranged how it spends ad dollars but has added more social media.
“That’s been an extra-added free way of advertising,” he said.
Otherwise, the fair still buys ads in newspapers, magazine, radio, TV and outdoor.
“I like outdoor a lot myself,” Giordano said. “It’s always effective. People are never going to stop driving. And the radio is hit or miss because of all the choices, like Sirius/XM radio.”
On Facebook, the fair ran contests that made fairgoers eligible for drawings if they shared a post.
Winners got a family fun pack, which included four pay-one-price wristbands, gate admission and parking.
“It was like giving away a $125 package,” Giordano said.
Next year’s dates will be Oct. 23-Nov. 9.
Interviewed for this article: Chris Giordano, (318) 635-1361