Fair fell a bit flat this year

Orange County Fair leaders may not admit it, but, especially after a

run of record-breaking fairs, they have to be disappointed with this

year’s fair on several levels.

For one, it’s never a good sign when serious injuries occur, and

it’s even worse when they both happen within hours of one another --

and in this case on the fair’s third day. It proved hard to bounce

back from that, but fortunately, no other serious injuries occurred.

Fair officials made the right decision to keep the Adrenaline Drop

closed just to be safe.

While it was wonderful to see the Pacific Amphitheatre reopen with

the likes of Duran Duran, Bob Dylan and other decent acts, only one

show sold out: Duran Duran. Fair officials said in May that they

expected most shows to sell out or at least come close. Some shows

fared better than others in terms of attendance, and some just fell

flat. That has to be disappointing after spending $5.8 million to

attract the acts.

It probably didn’t help that the shows were too expensive for most

folks visiting the fair. Many of the bands’ fans probably would have

paid the higher tickets prices were the shows at better known venues.

Of course, it seems that some of the bands were simply bad choices

for the fair. Duran Duran, of course, is the exception, but Amy

Grant, it turns out, didn’t attract too many fans. Again, the prices

may have been a factor.

But at least the groundwork has been laid for the amphitheater,

and it is ready to host some more acts outside of the fair season.

Perhaps the fair has learned some lessons the acts and prices will be

more appropriate. It would also be nice to see fair officials bring

in some better acts for the free shows. Overall, they certainly

didn’t compare to last year’s free acts.

The fair also expanded to accommodate an extra weekend. That

forced the fair to close on Mondays, but still provided an extra four

days overall, or 21. Logically, it would seem the fair should have

broken attendance records again not only because were there the four

extra days, but because there were bigger acts performing. But

attendance dropped 2% even with the extra weekend.

It’s hard to determine exactly why the fair failed to meet

expectations this year. One official last week pointed out the

Anaheim Angels games and U.S. Open in Huntington Beach, but neither

of those took place over the fair’s full run. Not only that, but the

Angels -- champions or not -- are having a miserable year. No, it

seems there are other reasons the fair fell flat.

Looking at last year’s numbers, it seems the fair should have

stayed open on Mondays and closed on another weekday, such as

Wednesday. That would have helped the attendance a little. If the

amphitheater’s shows were a bit less expensive -- about $10 to $15

less or so -- more shows would most likely have sold out. But, most

of all, if two serious injuries hadn’t occurred on the third day, one

would think more people would have shown up.

The fair tried some new things this year, but sometimes, new

doesn’t work. Perhaps next year, a mixture of the new and the old can

be the secret of the fair’s success.