Steam & Excursion > The Real Reason Fair Attendance Was Down

Hot weather cited as L.A. County Fair attendance drops again

September 29, 2014

by Hugo Martin

Officials at the Los Angeles County Fair blamed a summer heat wave and the end to a $1-ticket program for a 16% drop in attendance this year..

The annual fair at the Pomona Fairplex drew 1,204,911 visitors over the 23-night stretch that ended Sunday, compared with 1,438,514 last year, according to the county fair. Attendance in 2013 declined 2% from 2012.

Despite the drop in attendance, the nonprofit county fair took in about $30 million from the sale of food and drinks, admission, parking and sponsorship deals, among other revenues -- roughly on par with last year's total, fair officials said.

Fair organizers expected that high temperatures might keep people away, so they spent about $500,000 to install extra shade and umbrella tables and scheduled more events after dark, such as a display of Chinese lanterns.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Geesh! We all know the REAL reason fair attendance dropped is because Big Boy 4014 is no longer there!

CA_Sou_MA_Agent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hot weather cited as L.A. County Fair attendance
> drops again
>
> September 29, 2014
>
> by Hugo Martin
>
> Officials at the Los Angeles County Fair blamed a
> summer heat wave and the end to a $1-ticket
> program for a 16% drop in attendance this year..
>
> The annual fair at the Pomona Fairplex drew
> 1,204,911 visitors over the 23-night stretch that
> ended Sunday, compared with 1,438,514 last year,
> according to the county fair. Attendance in 2013
> declined 2% from 2012.
>
> Despite the drop in attendance, the nonprofit
> county fair took in about $30 million from the
> sale of food and drinks, admission, parking and
> sponsorship deals, among other revenues -- roughly
> on par with last year's total, fair officials
> said.
>
> Fair organizers expected that high temperatures
> might keep people away, so they spent about
> $500,000 to install extra shade and umbrella
> tables and scheduled more events after dark, such
> as a display of Chinese lanterns.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ~~~~~
>
> Geesh! We all know the REAL reason fair
> attendance dropped is because Big Boy 4014 is no
> longer there!


April Fools Day is still six months away guy.

We all wish everyone came to Los Angeles County Fair to see our trains.

We know that a small fraction of the 2014 fair's 1.2 million attendees visited our trains.

Each day of the fair (this year and prior years) we lost count of how many people told us, "we have come to the fair for many years, but never knew these trains where here!"

Most of our fair-time visitors are not railfans, and do not know much more about trains than: they recognize a locomotive when they see one. What we find more often with many in the younger generations is they've never seen a steam locomotive before. Their first observation of a black locomotive having exposed pipes, pistons, rods, and wheels is that this is how diesel locomotives were built a long time ago.


As each year passes by, a smaller proportion of the U.S. population once observed daily steam operations on main-line rails. Those who work and volunteer their time to preserve railroad history provide a valuable service educating the public.


Steve McFerson
Director, Website Editor,
RailGiants Train Museum - Pomona California
The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, Southern California Chapter

website: http://www.railgiants.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/railgiants



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/14 21:08 by RailGiants.

It's the economy- stupid!

Hot weather at the Pomona Fair is nothing new, but $15 parking, no horse racing, elimination of some traditional judging events are some of the reasons that fewer people went to the fair. Sounds a little like Metrolink that had a decrease in riders, but their revenues increased due to fare increases.

Also, no O-Gauge layout any more !!

What were they thinking !

--Jim Baker

JimBaker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Also, no O-Gauge layout any more !!
>
> What were they thinking !
>
> --Jim Baker

Jim was the outside layout still there?

Yes, It was thers last year I went.

I didn't go this year.

--Jim Baker

Hey...when attendance is down, raise the fare, that will get you more money! (p.s., I never heard that in Eco 101).

Real reason - Fairs just aren't the "In" thing with younger people
any more, Walking around is so yesterday when everything you could
ever want is right there on your I-Pad.

Out

I agree! For example, most of the people who attend broadway shows and cultural concerts, are over 60+. Young people just aren't interested, or, see what they want on their I-pad.

Keystone1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I agree! For example, most of the people who
> attend broadway shows and cultural concerts, are
> over 60+. Young people just aren't interested,
> or, see what they want on their I-pad.


Must depend on where you live. So far the attendance for the first week at the
State Fair of Texas in Dallas has broken attendance records.

Contrasting the State Fair in Texas to the LA County Fair is hardly a "fair" comparison.
Things actually happen at the Texas Fair!

Out

WrongWayMurphy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Must depend on where you live. So far the
> attendance for the first week at the
> State Fair of Texas in Dallas has broken
> attendance records.

AND the State Fair broke its attendance record without a Big Boy present.

Yes, but there's one close (along with a PA "kit").

Out

The little Orange County Fair continues to draw big crowds, so people will still go if there is something of interest to them at a "fair" price. In the past I would think that the LA County Fair would compare well with many state fairs.

Cliff

Cliff, you're very correct on the ranking of the LA County Fair, the one in Texas is a bit
more, to be polite. The Orange County Fair was cool because it had a lot of stuff crammed
into a smaller space, easier to walk.

Out

We go to the Ventura Fair now. Beginning of August, next to the Coastline, both water and the RR tracks, has animals, home crafts, rides, concerts (same bands as LA Fair), and all of the rides to boot, plus all of the very BAD deep fried stuff we all love....The cost is half of the admisision that LA County fair is. Weather is in the low 80's, to 60's at night, and with fog sometimes. Fireworks every night to boot. You can take Metrolink there also.

I was there last year and things were so fouled up,Benches that needed to be washed, poor or lack of Maintenance gets old at $15 each

I guess I should have mentioned in my original post that I was just being facetious.