Equiery Survey Results: Maryland 5 Star Experiences Highs & Lows for 2024 Event
Te fourth MARS Maryland 5 Star at Fair
Hill took place October 16-20 under sunny skies and unusually warm temperatures. En- tries in the CCI5*-L were low this year, not surprisingly, due to this also being an Olympic year. Entries were low at several other five-star events around the world. Equiery readers did not seem to mind the low entries as survey re- sults were positive in many respects. Full results are below!
Attendance Although the official attendance numbers at
the event were up by 11% oveer 2023 accord- ing to event officials, the total number of people who responded to our survey was lower than last year. However, the number of spectators (91.1%) who took our survey went up by near- ly 20% over 2023. Te number of volunteers (15.6%) remained the same while the number of vendors (15.6%) who took our survey went up by 14%. Note, some of our survey partici- pants attended the event in multiple ways such as being a volunteer and sponsor. Te number of people who stated they did not attend went down this year. One person who did not attend stated ticket price was their rea- son. Others stated they had conflicts with other activities that week. According to survey results, Saturday, Oc-
tober 19, cross-country day (82.2%), remains the most popular attendance day with Sunday, October 20’s show jump day (35.6%) being the second most popular attendance day once again. Te numbers Sunday were slightly lower than 2023. Both dressage days (Tursday, Oc- tober 17 and Friday, October 18) showed an increase in attendance according to our survey with Friday (31.1%) being the third most pop- ular day followed by Tursday (20%). Wednes- day, October 16, which is the first horse inspec- tion day (11.1%), showed similar attendance by survey participants as in 2023. Eighty-six percent of our survey participants
have attended previous Maryland 5 Star events with 73.3% stating they also attended in 2023, 68.9% also attended in 2022 and 64.4% also at- tended in 2021.
Tickets Most survey participants once again felt
ticket prices were “just right” (52.3%) while the number of survey participants who did not pay for tickets (25%) went up as did the number of people who feel ticket prices are too high (20.5%). Forty-two percent of our survey participants
28 | DECEMBER 2024 | THE EQUIERY YOUR MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION
purchased general admission tickets; 31.1% at- tended through cross-country tailgate tickets. Te other popular ticket options according to
Saturday’s cross-country day continues to be the most popular day to watch all the action according to our survey. Pictured is Maryland event rider Ema Klugman who rode horses in both the CCI3*-L and CCI5*-L.
our survey were preferred seating and VIP tick- eted areas. Tere also were a few sponsors, volunteers and media who took our survey. Tese were among those who did not directly pay for tickets.
General Impressions Overall, survey participants were pleased with
the event once again with 53.7% stating their overall impression of the event was “just right.” Te number of people who clicked “needs im- provement” (26.8%) went up by 10% this year as did those who selected “exceeded expecta- tions” (14.6%). Te biggest improvement this year, according
to survey results, is the spectator viewing areas. All but one survey participants said they could see the competition well, which is up by nearly 50% over our 2023 survey results. Tose who interacted with
Maryland 5 Star staff and volunteers all had positive experiences with 54.8% stat- ing staff/volunteers were “just right” and 38.1% stated they “exceeded expectations.” Te “just right” numbers are about the same as 2023 whereas the “exceeded expectations” num- bers went up by 15%. Parking results remained about the same as 2023 with 67.4% selecting “just right,” 16.3% selecting “needs im- provement” and 9.3% select- ing “exceeded expectations.” Several people commented that
getting into general
By Katherine O. Rizzo
cifically wrote “love the new Saw Mill preferred parking entrance.” While the shuttle and bus ser- vice at the Maryland 5 Star has im- proved considerably over the years, survey participants would like more shuttles at the end of cross-country day to expedite departure from the venue.
Food & Vendors Responses related to vendors
were not as favorable as in years past but those related to food were up this year. Fewer people selected “just right” (45.2%) in response to our vendor question, which is down by 5%. However, the 26.2% that selected
“needs improvement” is down by nearly 10% over 2023. Tose who felt the vendor village needed improvement mainly cited too many “expensive” items. As for food vendors, 42.5% of survey partici- pants selected “just right,” which is up by 10% over 2023. Specifically, positive comments were made about the local food and drink options. It should also be noted that several people com- mented that they either brought food to tail- gates or were provided food through volunteer- ing and VIP tented areas.
Non-Competition Extras Te Maryland 5 Star organizers packed the
event this year with several non-competition demonstrations and activities. Overall,
survey participants
felt this year’s extra activities were an improvement over 2023, with 46.2% selecting “just right,” which is up by 10%. Te number of people who selected “did not know” (17.9%) about the activities went down by 15%. Several people (20.5%) selected “oth- er” and stated that they knew about the activities but did not participate in any of them. In fact, 44.4% of our survey
parking is fairly easy but get- ting out can still take too long. One person spe-
Our survey reveled that the Mary- land 5 Star Corgi Cup, which was won again by Nikki Carson’s El- evation Zoe, was the second most popular non-competition activity for spectators.
• 2nd
participants stated they did not watch or participate in any of the extra activities this year. For those who did, below are the most popular activities of- fered this year. • 1st
– Local Beer/Wine/Spir- its Expo (20%)
– Maryland 5 Star Corgi Cup (17.8%) 800-244-9580 |
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