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By LAURA FRAZIER | The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA – Tracy Wetter shaded her eyes from the bright sunlight this morning and tried to track her daughters’ whereabouts through the windows of a funhouse at the Florida State Fair.

“There they are,” she laughed, pointing to a window with jailhouse bars where daughters Joelle, 8, Jessica, 14 and friend Racheal Long, 14, waved and shouted.

News Channel 8 photo by PAUL LAMISON

The Bradenton girls had cajoled Wetter into taking them to the fair to see their favorite hometown band in concert. We The Kings – an alternative rock and pop group named for Martha B. King Middle School in Bradenton, where its members met – put on a free concert at noon. Besides, the girls reasoned, tickets handed out last week at their school would get them in the gates for free.

“Then we had to go and spend $60 on armbands, so there you go,” Wetter said. “But … it’s OK because it’s such a beautiful day.”

The mild weather sat well with fair officials, who hoped the burst of sunshine would boost attendance numbers. Those numbers were down about 7 percent from last year before today’s totals are tallied.

Thousands of students and their families were expected to attend the last day of the fair today, designated as free admission day for schools in Pinellas, Polk, Manatee and Sarasota counties. Student day for Hillsborough County schools was Feb. 6.

Fair officials hope that by the time the gates close around 9 p.m. tonight, attendance will reach close to last year’s total of 491,000.

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By Ron Weber, MCW Editor

Gibsonton, FL — The IISF Trade Show entered its fourth day with attendance up over last year for the combined three opening days. Incoming President Steve Ianni said the organization was very pleased with the results. Many vendors, despite the poor economic conditions, are also happy with the results so far.

Ed Bush is owner of Jersey Shore Imports, LLC and a first time vendor at the show. His company has exhibited at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions trade show and others and he says his business in Gibsonton has been very good. “We have over 100 leads so far”, said Bush. “We saw a lot of people and they were the right people”, he added.

Jersey Shore sells licensed sports jerseys and merchandise from the NBA, NFL, NCAA and MLB as well as NASCAR. He has been working with these products for two years, mostly as game prizes.
His prizes are featured at the Florida State Fair in Wes Wilbur,s Blockbuster game. Bush says that he has seen game grosses double with the addition of the licensed equipment.

Another big show supporter is Jim Frederiksen of Fredericksen Enterprises, builders of portable slides. Fredericksen has sold three slides so far this year including one at the trade show to a carnival in Norway. “He wanted to buy two but decided to get the first and see how things go”, said Frederiksen.

2008 was the second best year for the company. They had sold 10 slides by the end of the trade show in Gibtown. Frederiksen is hoping for a good year in 2009 as well.

The company keeps its factory going year-round. “We have never stopped building in 19 years”, said Frederiksen. The company keeps slides in stock and sells throughout the year. About 75% of his business is in carnivals and 25% in parks. He estimates there are over 200 of his slides on traveling carnivals.

Fredericksen developed the 5 lane “State Fair Slide” which travels on one trailer. He has sold 5 of those over the years. Fredericksen has blueprints to build a larger, approximately 30 foot tall Giant Slide which will travel on two dually loads and has 8 lanes. He said several shows have expressed interest in this new, larger model slide.

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By Ron Weber, MCW Editor

Gibsonton, FL — Overcast skies hurt attendance early on Thursday as the IISF Extravaganza entered its third day. By afternoon, the skies had cleared and crowds began to come. Many people have been visiting the MCW booth at the show and we get to keep up on the news and information that has occurred during the year.

Andy Deggeller came by to work on his website with Matt Cook and we had a chance to talk with him about Deggeller Attractions. Andy is Don Deggeller,s son and general manger of the show. Don is now the sole owner of the show, having purchased Greg Deggeller,s shares of the company. Jeff Deggeller still travels with Deggeller Attractions as well as an independent with his Wave Swinger, Cliffhanger, Dark Ride and funhouse.

A big change for the Deggeller this year is the move of the Virginia State Fair from the city of Richmond to nearby Doswell, VA, home of King,s Dominion. “The fair has done everything they could possibly do to make it (the state fair) successful”, said Deggeller. “I am very optimistic about the fair”, he added. Deggeller said the midway would be laid out similar to the midway as it was at Richmond International Raceway, the former home of the fair.

The show will be bringing in the same number of rides as they previously have had and they will be doing some additional landscaping to make their presentation even more attractive at the fair,s new home.

Deggeller Attractions will open next week at their hometown event, the Martin County Fair, in Stuart, FL. They will then play several dates in Florida before moving to Ft. Bragg, NC. From there the show jumps to Virginia Beach, VA for several weeks before spending the balance of the summer in VA and MD. They play the Howard County Fair, the Price William County Fair and several other events culminating in the Maryland State Fair over Labor Day, one of the Top 50 Fairs in the US. They then jump to Greensboro, NC before coming back to Doswell, VA for the Virginia State Fair. They then jump to Little Rock, AR for another Top 50 event, the Ralph Shoptaw-managed Arkansas State Fair, before ending the season in Deland, FL.

Deggeller Attractions has been busy in the off-season purchasing new equipment and working on several amenity projects. The bought a new office from Hi-Tech Trailers in Los Angeles. The modern design has a private office for Don Deggeller and 15 additional workstations with high speed connections.

In winterquarters, they have been refurbishing their Raiders and Ring of Fire. They area also developing some unique new facades for the midway that will double as storage for the show,s midway.

Deggeller had their foreign worker visas approved, both J-1 and H2B, and they will be taking on employees from Mexico and South Africa.

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