Jackson Jambalaya

Wonder if those amateurish, blatantly-political TV ads by The Hat had anything to do with the attendance drop.

Let’s not forget the St. Paddy Day shooting as well.

Accounting for all of the extra security, and looking at at 2019's numbers, it looks like about 70k less thugs attended in 2024. Of course, some of those numbers could be the law abiding citizens that didn't want to deal with said thugs.

Hard to find a fan of eating $10 corn dogs and $20 turkey legs while dodging bullets.

We skipped it when we heard it cost 16 tickets to ride the lame Farris wheel. No thanks.

9:27, no. It's that people just don't want to go into Jackson anymore.

I'm interested to see the revenue vs. attendance rates. Rides were priced much higher and everything felt much safer this year. I noticed a lot more kids and families, far less street urchins. Parking was free. There were many improvements in my opinion.

Wonder if the ticket prices doubling had anything to do with it.

James Carville says, its the economy, stupid.

That's a fact! You're lucky if the only damage that you encounter is to your car's wheels/tires.

Went to the South Mississippi Fair in Laurel last Saturday so many people had a great time going back this Saturday even though a shooting occurred after we be departed. Lots of Law Enforcement presence!!! We now have metal detectors at all entrances. It would be great if the fair closes before dark then the Roaches will stay away. One thing for sho the fools that were involved in the shooting won’t get a slap on the wrist in Jones County. They will wish they never entered the fair grounds with guns.

I was there twice this year and I got a less people spending more money vibe. It was definitely a nicer fair to attend as far as less weed stink and more visible LE presence. The rides were more expensive but the food seemed to track with restaurants as far as the rate of inflation: more expensive but not out of character with the general economic trend.

Like everything else people are paying more but get either the same or less for their money. Choices must be made and people are choosing to save money when they can. Some rising expenses are necessary and must be tolerated the Fair and it's rising cost is not a necessary expense and it's not improving. Simple.

What if even a couple of you knew what you were talking about? Wouldn't that be great?

@9:55 AM has it. Just need to edit “while dodging bullets” to read “while dodging even the possibility of bullets” and it’s perfectly spot on.

10:34 "Parking was free..."

Ahhh, don't think so. Think I recall having to pay $10 a head just to get in.

Is not the fair people don’t want to goto Jackson. Crime is out of control

You are correct

Jackson is a dangerous city and people are afraid to go there

Move the fair to a safer place

True, 6:14! And the psychopathic driving one encounters in Jackson, is part of the crime. Drivers there (and in much of the metro), are not merely incompetent and reckless. They're out to menace, provoke, and HARM others.

Psychopaths actively look for others to hurt, and in Jackson, many of them seem to be using vehicles as weapons, and using Jackson's streets as hunting grounds.

I know not everyone one wants to hear this but Jackson is in serious decline. People are too afraid to go to Jackson for anything. Everything is leaving Jackson. It’s time to have a serious discussion on moving the state capital out of Jackson.

The loss of 100,000 since 2019 is serious. What ideas does Bro. Andy have to increase attendance.

It’s not Andy’s fault. He’s doing the best he can. Its like a good coach with bad players

Glad to see Kingfish get the actual PAID tickets numbers which is only way to see the true increase/decrease of attendance. For years, the “ATTENDANCE” numbers released to the media was actual tickets sold PLUS ESTIMATED lunch crowd numbers. This number was estimated by fair commission leaders paying workers with “clickers” counting everyone coming in gates in vehicles including workers staff etc from 12-1 on fridays(busiest lunch day). Have you noticed the greatly decrease in number of food vendors compared to past years? Mgt has “nickel and dimed” vendors on fees where the best big guys that used bring 4 or 5 concession trailers no longer play this fair. Compare numbers to Yazoo fair for same years, there is your folks that stopped coming are going, cheaper cleaner same rides( may only have one of a ride where State Fair has 2 of same rides just spread apart- State Fair going the way of Jubilee Jam!!

Glad to see Kingfish get the actual PAID tickets numbers which is only way to see the true increase/decrease of attendance. For years, the “ATTENDANCE” numbers released to the media was actual tickets sold PLUS ESTIMATED lunch crowd numbers. This number was estimated by fair commission leaders paying workers with “clickers” counting everyone coming in gates in vehicles including workers staff etc from 12-1 on fridays(busiest lunch day). Have you noticed the greatly decrease in number of food vendors compared to past years? Mgt has “nickel and dimed” vendors on fees where the best big guys that used bring 4 or 5 concession trailers no longer play this fair. Compare numbers to Yazoo fair for same years, there is your folks that stopped coming are going, cheaper cleaner same rides( may only have one of a ride where State Fair has 2 of same rides just spread apart- State Fair going the way of Jubilee Jam!!

The costs have steadily increased over the past few years. And while I am willing to shoulder some increase for the increased security and overall more family friendly and cleaner atmosphere, it’s just gotten too high. Four can’t make it to a wristband night, where $30 gets your kid unlimited rides, it can easily tip $5-7 for a kid to ride one ride for less than 60 seconds. And the carnival games - which admittedly exist just to take your cash - ask $10 in some cases to play one game (throw three balls, shoot the air gun three times, etc.) for a family of four, after you get food and admission, you’re looking at $200 easy for maybe 3 hours of entertainment. That’s worse than movie theater rates. And the food isn’t even that good. We don’t get the best food vendors, and so we get warmed up crap that was all cooked earlier that morning and then gets stuck back in the oil for a second when you order it. The best food is the roasted corn, the cattlemen’s steak sandwich, and the biscuit - but there’s not even anything special about those.

All hat, no fair attendance.