The State Fair of West Virginia had its origins nearly 150 years ago as a small livestock event. Today, the fair hosts carnival rides, concerts, harness races, livestock shows, and agricultural education events over ten days in early August. The fairgrounds are also host to a variety of live events year-round, including beer festivals, concerts, and fundraisers for non-profit groups including Hope for Appalachia and local fire departments.
Challenge
The State Fair of West Virginia has used Etix for ticketing services for nearly a decade. In 2018 the SFWV team wanted to ensure that the fair not only ran smoothly but also reached a challenging attendance goal of 160,000+ fairgoers.
“We sell tickets exclusively on the Etix platform, but they offer us so much more.” —Brenda Hunt, Box Office Manager, State Fair of West Virginia
The Solution
Etix helped Box Office Manager Brenda Hunt set up the fair’s events on its system, including numerous price codes and combinations, and provided her with the tools to easily print hundreds of badges and credentials for their various membership groups.
Etix also supported the fair’s challenges when it came to training, equipment, and support. The Etix equipment team was able to provide scanning and selling tools for all 14 ticket selling windows, three entry gates, and four additional entry points for grandstand concerts. The Etix training team worked to get new sellers and ticket redemption staff up to speed quickly, particularly focusing on the challenge of having a single color for multiple ticket types. Additionally, the Etix Client Services team provided on-site support for setup and the entire duration of the fair.
Marketing the fair was also supported by Etix through Rockhouse Partners, its internal digital marketing team. Rockhouse helped build the fair’s internal customer database of 30,000 and developed a digital marketing strategy to drive awareness, raise click-through rates, and ultimately increase ticket sales.
The Results
- 17,000 tickets sold in two hours on the first onsale day
- 170,000 total attendees
- 10 days and nights of full on-site support
- 30,000 guests served on digital marketing lists
