Fair officials are touting the benefits of concerts to help draw in people to county fairs.
Tom Barnes is the executive secretary of the Mighty Howard County Fair in Cresco. He’s also the Executive Director of the Association of Iowa Fairs.
Barnes says rodeos and race track events were the bread and butter of county fairs not too many years ago, but a handful of county fairs started emphasizing concert entertainment about eight years ago and the trend continues to spread in the effort to spur fair attendance.
General Manager and C-E-O of the Iowa State Fair Gary Slater says only about 10 percent of people who attend the Iowa State Fair go to a show at the Grandstand — but the performances matter to those who do NOT attend a concert.
The Iowa State Fair spent a million dollars renovating the Grandstand stage in 2018, to meet artists’ expectations for video screens, lighting and sound systems.
This week’s Floyd County Fair features four concerts. Friday night PV and The Phantoms perform at 6:30 p.m. followed by the Pork Tornadoes at 8:30 p.m. Saturday night the Band Sugarfoot performs at 7 p.m. followed by The Fortunate Son, a CCR tribute band at 9:30 p.m.
