County fair goes high tech
A multimillion-dollar operation behind the scenes makes use of the latest technology.
A multimillion-dollar operation at the Fairplex in Pomona makes use of the latest technology.
In an air-conditioned trailer, tucked behind a spinning pendulum ride at the Los Angeles County Fair, Bil Lowry scans a computer monitor that displays minute-by-minute ticket sales for every carnival ride and game in the midway.
On a giant screen on the trailer wall, a diagram of lines and green lights shows that all of his ticketing computers are online and operational. On a shelf behind him, Lowry has stocked away two camera-mounted drones to take overhead fair images needed to plan the most effective layout of the attractions.
“I can watch the whole operation from here,” said Lowry, technology director for Ray Cammack Shows Inc., which has been operating the fair’s midway rides and games for 30 years.
Forget the stereotype of the county fair as a backwoods festival of cheap thrill rides run by untrained carnies.
At the Fairplex in Pomona, a complex multimillion-dollar operation behind the scenes makes use of the latest technology, including digital tablets that track merchandise, even down to the stockpile of giant stuffed bears given away as prizes.
“We are busting down the stereotype we’ve had to live with in this industry,” said Chris Lopez, vice president of Cammack Shows.
With 1.2 million guests last year, the 487-acre fair ranks as the nation’s third most popular county fair, with attendance higher than many state fairs, including the California State Fair in Sacramento.
Cammack Shows, headquartered in Laveen, Arizona, operates rides and games at nine carnivals and festivals per year, including fairs in San Diego and Orange counties. The family-run company employs 400 fulltime staff that travel from fair to fair, plus an additional 200 or so temporary workers and volunteers hired for each location.
When the fair ends Sunday, Cammack Shows will have completed the third year of a new 10-year contract with the Los Angeles County Fair Assn., the private nonprofit that oversees the annual event on property owned by Los Angeles County.
Cammack Shows has held the contract for 30 years and last won a bidding contest 12 years ago. Since then, the nonprofit’s executive board has renewed the company’s contract without even taking bids, arguing that no other vendor can handle such a big operation.
It’s no surprise that the company has held the contract for as long as it has, said Jim Tucker, chief executive of the International Assn. of Fairs and Expositions.
High equipment, transportation and labor costs are a significant bar to entry into the business, while established operators have the additional advantage of being able to spread those costs at multiple fairs they are contractually locked into, he said.
“There’s not a lot of competition,” Tucker said.
Cammack Shows pays the Fair Association a percentage of its total revenue but neither the nonprofit or company would disclose those numbers. The fair association, however, reported taking in $27.8 million last year from the fair, including revenue from other vendors and concerts.
A big shift took place in 2007 when Cammack Shows abandoned the paper tickets that guests buy to play games and ride attractions. Instead, it adopted an electronic system that allows guests to upload cash onto cards or buy all-day wrist bands that can be read by bar-code scanners. Under the new system, Lopez said the company can track which games and rides are unpopular and need to be replaced.
Based on last year’s data, Cammack Shows added three new rides, including a thrill ride dubbed “OMG” that flips and spins up to 16 riders at a time on a giant pendulum.
Nannette Garbo of Ontario said she took advantage of a promotion last week and bought an all-day fair pass for her 9-year-old son for only $25.
“It’s more convenient that carrying cash around,” she said.
The technical advances also benefit Cammack Shows employees, who collect a weekly salary that is deposited onto VISA debit cards and live in bunk houses in what amounts to a miniature village on the fair grounds.
They receive training sessions in an air-conditioned trailer, arranged with desks and overhead projectors, and must submit to drug tests when they are hired and later on a random basis.
For basic needs, there is an on-site laundry and commissary, where workers can pick up new uniforms, snacks and toiletries.
A small trailer behind the midway has been converted into a hair salon for employees, who are not allowed to wear beards or long hair. Roman Catholic church services are held each week in an employee break area.
This year, a larger trailer was converted into a school, staffed by two teachers. Lopez has his two sons, ages 11 and 13, attending the class. When the fair season ends and the company returns to its headquarters in Arizona, the students finish the school year via video streaming lessons.
But most of traveling employees are from Mexico, Costa Rica, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia on work visas — similar to the way that the cruise industry staff its ships with international service workers.
Angelique Cross, a young South African woman who has worked at a game operator for three years, said the employee facilities free her up to explore the country on her days off.
“They have everything I need,” she said.