Florida Fair News
113th Florida State Fair coming
February 8 – 19th
Second Fair for Executive Director Cheryl Flood
With one Fair under her belt, Florida State Fair Executive Di- rector Cheryl Flood is more excited than ever about the 113th year of the event. “Although I have been involved with the Fair for many years as Fair liaison for the Commissioner of Agricul- ture’s Office, you really don’t understand all that is required for the job until you get a full year under your belt,” said Flood.
2017 was Flood’s first Fair, but having started mid-year, her duties largely consisted of carrying out a plan already in place and making changes where she could, given the time crunch. With a full year behind her, Flood has taken the reins and refo- cused the Fair on what she believes is most important; fami- lies.
“I came to the Fair and exhibited animals as a child and now that I have a 4-year old daughter myself, I want to be able to give her the opportunities to have that special connection with the Fair that I have carried my whole life,” said Flood. Focus- ing on family attractions, last year we booked meet and greets with Shopkins characters and Peppa Pig, a big hit with the younger set.
In 2018, she is doubling down on that commitment, adding teen stars from Nickelodeon and Disney for appearances in Expo Hall, bringing characters from popular Disney and Nickel- odeon shows such as Paw Patrol and Umi Zoomi for guest appearances.
In addition to the attractions for the young Fair guests, Flood said she also learned from watching all areas of the event what was popular and capitalized on those observations. “Last year I noticed the shows in our covered arena, such as lawn mower racing and tractor pulls were very popular. This year, we are increasing the number of programs in that area, adding Mini Monster Trucks, daily BMX and FMX shows and even bringing back a demolition derby after an absence of a decade or more,” she added.
With the minor changes Flood was able to make in 2017, along with only one day of rain on the second Saturday, attendance increased by over 40,000 people, one of the largest increases in the last decade. Advance sales were up over 20% from the previous year and midway revenue and gate admissions set records. “I think our efforts started to pay off. We have been reaching out to the community to renew some bonds that may have been lost over the years and we refocused our marketing on women, ages 25 – 54, especially those with children,” said Flood. In addition, the Fair began an aggressive social media campaign with lots of contesting and multiple posts about all aspects of the Fair. The Fair also added email blasts before and during the Fair to a list of over 60,000 subscribers for the first time. These efforts helped increase engagement on social
FAIRCRACKER-FALL 2017
media, inform the public quickly about special events and ulti- mately, helped boost attendance.
“I talked with people last year at the event that hadn’t been in many years, they were excited about the changes being made and I want to continue to give them reasons to keep coming back,” said Flood. “I think our guests and the community at large are noticing the positive changes with the Fair, which has created a buzz that hasn’t been felt for a while,” she added. In 2018, we will continue to build upon the advances made in 2017 and building new partnerships for 2018.
“I think one of the things we learned last year is that while the
Fair is about tradition, it is also about change. It’s kind of funny when you say it out loud, but it’s very true. We need to respect the traditions, while also being always on the lookout for what is new, fresh and exciting otherwise the event can get stale and not serve the public well,” said Flood. Food said after the 2017 Fair, she challenged her team to think outside the box nd come up with activities and programs that really engaged the public.
“We are the State Fair, so I think our guests should
expect entertainment choices that they can’t find almost any- where else and we need to deliver that experience to them. I want our guests to be excited about coming, excited about the animals, excited about the midway, and most of all excited about the time they will spend together here as family. It ex- cites me to think I can help play a role in passing along the Florida State Fair to hundreds of thousands of people. “The Fair experience changed my life as a kid and I take the respon- sibility of bringing the experience to coming generations, to kids like my daughter, very seriously” said Flood.
The Florida State Fair runs February 8 – 19 in Tampa.
Florida Federation of Fairs Executive Director Lisa Hinton and IAFE Chair
Becky Brashear share a moment at the 2017 Virginia State Fair
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