Funworld July 2008

Six days a week, guests can take in an outstanding roster of live entertainment—be it music, comedy, puppets, or more—at Ocean Beach Park. And it’s all free.

Events at the boardwalk park, located in New London, Connecticut, include weekly Classic Car Cruise Nights, showcasing an average of 300 classic cars and antique motorcycles; movies on the beach every Tuesday night; live magic Wednesdays; a children’s night with puppeteers, jugglers, and comics; a talent show for local residents; and a host of jazz, country, and rock bands.

There’s a reason why Ocean Beach offers so much free entertainment. It’s the same one many small parks have for providing its guests with free concerts, jugglers, magicians, acrobats, and comedians: The free offerings benefit the park by boosting its reputation among guests, generating positive word-of-mouth advertising, and increasing attendance.

“They generate more people, more volume, more interest,” says General Manager Dave Sugrue. For tourists, he says it’s the surprise visitors hope for when they attend a park.

“We find that all these wholesome, Grated events enhance the park’s image,” he adds. “It’s a good diversion in addition to the other offerings the park has. It’s one more piece. It certainly has helped concession revenue.”

Acrobats Packing ’Em In
Seabreeze Amusement Park in Rochester, New York, boasts a waterpark, several roller coasters, and a busy midway of games and food stands. It’s more than enough to keep guests busy.

But park officials added free entertainment to the mix. Seabreeze features “Cirque En Vol,” a live show with acrobats performing daring feats. It’s a popular show, guaranteed to raise a few “oohs” and “aahs” from the crowd. The 20-minute show runs seven days a week, with three performances Monday through Friday and four on the weekends.

It’s a show Seabreeze officials didn’t have to add, but it’s proven popular among guests, attracting anywhere from 500 to 800 attendees for each show, says Jeff Bailey, marketing manager for the park. “It’s a nice feature for the guests. It gives them a chance to sit down and relax,” Bailey says. “It gives them a chance to catch their breath. It has appeal to everyone from little kids to the seniors. What happens is, they sit down, watch the show, get rejuvenated, and then head back into the rest of the park.”

Bailey says the shows help attract visitors who may not be fans of thrill rides. These guests might be more eager to bring their children or family members back to the park later in the season, he adds, if they know they can again enjoy free entertainment.

This marks the fourth year the park has offered “Cirque En Vol.” By now the free shows have become an important part of the Seabreeze experience, Bailey says. In the past, the park has even run commercials solely focusing on the show. “It has helped bring us positive world-of-mouth advertising,” Bailey says. “People call us and wonder when the show times are. They want to know if the acrobats are performing every day.”

The acrobats, though, wouldn’t do much for the park if Seabreeze officials didn’t spend the money to promo free shows. Having a busy sch free entertainment does little potential park guests don’t magic shows, concerts, and revues are taking place.

At Ocean Beach, park officials send a weekly e-mail to about 3,000 potential visitors, Sugrue says. The message contains information about the entertainers who will be performing at the park in the coming weeks, what movies will be playing, and what times concerts will take place.

The park also advertises its concerts and free acts on its own web site and on the Internet home page of the local tourism board. Park officials spend money, too, to advertise their concerts and movie offerings in print and radio ads.

It also helps that Ocean Beach’s entertainment schedule remains consistent week after week even though the specific acts change. “We started really concentrating on free entertainment about five years ago,” Sugrue says. “Since then, we’ve really tried to stay consistent with the way we offer the different events. The more consistent we are, the better our attendance is.”

A Full Schedule
The tourists flock to Maine’s southern coast during the summer months. When it comes to spending their entertainment dollars, they have limitless options.

To capture its share of that potential revenue, Funtown Splashtown USA in Saco, Maine, offers a packed schedule of free entertainment, says Marketing Director Ed Hodgdon. Guests can enjoy magicians, local marching bands, cover bands, acoustic rock acts, country singers, and more. The park never charges an additional fee for these acts; to Hodgdon, it’s just one more way to promote Funtown Splashtown, and to entice all those tourists.

“Having the acts here, having them be free, really does build up positive word-of-mouth advertising for us,” Hodgdon says. “The free entertainment just adds to someone’s day. They come here and the first thing guests are thinking about are our rides and waterpark. If we can add one thing to this mix that doesn’t cost them anything, they will walk away with a positive outlook on their day.”

Splashtown showcases a variety of entertainment options, the acts changing regularly. That’s by design, Hodgdon says: “A lot of the bigger parks stick with one main show during their season. But we do get a lot of repeat customers, so it’s nice to show them a variety.”

The free entertainment is also a way to involve local residents in the park, says Funtown’s entertainment director, Candace Galbreath. Marching bands and choirs from local schools and other groups perform at the park throughout the summer. Because of these benefits, Galbreath does not look at the cost of providing free entertainment as a negative.

“The free entertainment is important in making us a tourist destination,” she says. “It allows the guests, whether they want to spend the day at our waterpark, or ride park, or do both, to step away for a while to watch a variety of different musical groups, magicians, or interactive comedy shows. The benefits are right there for them. It’s an over-and-above addition to their day. And it costs them nothing more. They remember that.”

Dan Rafter is a contributor for FUNWORLD. He can be reached at danrafter@sbcglobal.net.