Strong Attendance & Spending, Fairgoers Find Their Happy Place at the Minnesota State Fair
Photo by: Matt Cook
Article By: Timothy Herrick
Ten days before the opening of the Minnesota State Fair, a U. S. District Court ruling reinforced a long-held fair tradition: unarmed fairgoers.
The ruling upheld the ability of the fair to ban guns on the grounds. The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus had filed a lawsuit against the State Agricultural Society – organizers of the Great Get Together – asserting that by prohibiting fairgoers from carrying permitted firearms on the fairgrounds violates both Minnesota state law and the Second Amendment of the U. S. Constitution.
OpenCarry
Minnesota is an open carry state, and this case tested the regulatory limitations on where guns can be forbidden. A local ordinance prohibits firearms on fairground property. Gun laws are a hot political issue in Minnesota. According to Minnesota Public Radio: “570 people were killed by firearms statewide last year. Gun deaths are up 13 percent from what we recorded in 2020 and 32 percent from 2019.”
The ruling – one of the first of its kind regarding fairs – could set a precedent in other open carry states. The Judge dismissed claims by the plaintiff that The Society's rule was "procedurally invalid and constitutionally unfounded." The judge also ruled against several other claims detailed in the lawsuit, including that The Society violated state law, deprived the plaintiffs of their federal or statutory rights and engaged in breach of contract.”
The judge also dismissed a motion to remand the matter back to the Minnesota Supreme Court.
The Gun Owners Caucus initially filed the lawsuit last August, days before the opening of the 2021 fair. At that time, Judge Laura Nelson affirmed that the Society has the power to "license and regulate...privileges on the fairgrounds… and are "further empowered" by state statute to make rules consistent with law it considers necessary for the "protection, health, safety and comfort of the public on the Fairgrounds."
Judge Nelson also noted that The Society had prohibited firearms on the fairgrounds since 2003, and said filing the lawsuit just days before the 2021 Minnesota State Fair "undercuts their (the plaintiffs) claim of irreparable harm."
The 2022 ruling was welcomed by fair General Manager Jerry Hammer.
“We need to have sensitive places like fairs where guns are not permitted,” he said. “As a fair manager, you know the metal detectors will never be able to catch everything, but to have people bypass them completely, would be a disaster.”
Florida Georgia Line
The fair's attention on public safety has intensified in recent years. Security – at admissions on the grounds – was increased more than any other segment of the 2022 fair, a natural outgrowth of the pandemic experience. “With the COVID restrictions, awareness began building about the overall safety of the fair,” said Hammer. “We increased our security, had a more visible presence of local law enforcement.”
This commitment to safety in all its forms was evident when a sudden and severe windstorm forced evacuation of the grandstand and cancellation of a performance by the night's headliner, “Portugal.
The Man” – the first time since 1977 weather forced the cancellation of a grandstand show.
“It was a horizontal storm,” Hammer explained. “The first two performers were able to play, and it happened on the first Saturday night and otherwise, the weather was mostly wonderful.”
The grandstand was a highpoint of this year's fair, which included three sold out shows by Pitbull, REO Speedwagon and Styx and near-sellouts by the Zach Brown Band and the Florida Georgia Line. The superstar country duo of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley – long-time favorites of fairgoers nationwide – made a surprise announcement – the Minnesota State Fair stop was the final one of their current tour and was also the final Florida Georgia Line show ever.
From the stage Hubbard addressed the crowd: “You've enabled us to chase this crazy dream of writing songs and playing shows and hoping someone will show up to listen, so thank you guys. It's the closing of an incredible, incredible chapter for us. It's very exciting for us to look at what's ahead, see what's next. And the next chapter ahead is very exciting, but we want to celebrate this chapter with you guys.”
Hammer – as surprised as anybody when the audience was informed of they were witnessing one of the historic music concerts of the summer – noted that while the band has played the fair before, “they went all out, they were as hard core as I've ever seen them. It was a special night.”
Spending & Joy
The 2022 Minnesota State Fair retained a steady and loyal following reaching an attendance of 1,842,222, making it the fifth best-attended event put on by the State Agricultural Society. While that's 42 percent higher than last year's fair, which had severe capacity restrictions in place – it's also still below the record shattering the 2,126,551 in 2019.
“You can't plan a record breaking fair,” said Hammer. “I knew the 2019 numbers were unsustainable. I am perfectly fine with our income and revenue this year. We always budget conservatively, and then you have spikes like 2014 or 2019. We had six record breaking days, you cannot sustain that or plan for it.”
How did the attitude of the fairgoer this year compare to 2021? One pattern that has thankfully persisted from last year is high consumer confidence, in spite of some inflation. Gate admission was up a dollar, and most food vendors did have nominal price increases in line with the current rate of inflation. Midway gross was a robust $8.2 million and Food & Beverage exceeded $50 million.
Spending may be the most tangible evidence of a continued upbeat consumer attitude, but Hammer noticed a striking contrast between this year versus last year, mainly the absence of COVID apprehension.
“Last year felt muted,” he said. “The people who came to the fair had a ball, but what they remarked the most about was there were no lines. You could get into things without waiting, no trouble finding a parking space. People were treading lightly heading up to and during the fair. There was a lot of news about COVID, with the variants and the mask mandates.”
This year? “The joy was unbridled. I think people were realizing that COVID beat the hell out of us but we got through. I was constantly hearing that from people, that they were so glad to be back in their happy place. People that didn't come last year came this year and while this is totally anecdotal, more people were visiting multiple times this year more so than last.”
The 2022 Minnesota State Fair's independent midway featured 55 rides, with the top 15 rides being: Crazy Mouse Spinning Roller Coaster (Wood Entertainment Co.); Wave Swinger (Fair Ride Entertainment); Haunted Castle Dark Ride( Fair Ride Ent.); Sky Liner Swing Tower (State Fair Spectaculars); Beach Party ( D & K Amusements); Air Maxx (Mr. Ed's Magical Midways); Iron Dragon Roller Coaster (State Fair Spectaculars); New York New York Fun House (Fair Ride Entert.); Techno Power ( Wood Entertainment Co.); Starship 3000 (Thomas Lauther); Puppy Express (Prime Pacific Entertainment); Cliff Hangar (Arnold Amusements Inc.); Zero Gravity (Mr. Ed's Magical Midway); Equinox (Gopher State Expositions) and Magic Maze (Wood Entertainment Co.).
The fair also increased its advertising budget $25,000 to $475,000 according to Lara Hughes, Marketing & Communication Supervisor, with the 2022 campaign introducing the fair's first TikTok channel and the fair continuing to “Invest less in traditional media and place more emphasis on non-traditional advertising”.
This year's marketing was a “combination of traditional media buys in radio and TV and minimal print,” said Hughes. “Also non-traditional media such as Facebook, Instagram, streaming TV and radio were part of the paid media plan. It also included bus sides, online banner ads and some digital billboards. The primary focus is on 7-county metro area, but also include some buys in Greater Minnesota as well.”