Fair and Festival Entertainment

Fair and Festival Entertainment

As the days get warmer there are many things to look forward to.  One of the most thrilling and nostalgic is attending a fair or festival.  During the spring, summer, and fall seasons there are many state and city fairs that pop-up across the country.  Although colorful rides and greasy food might be the first thing people think of reflecting on these types of events, music plays a major role in their success as well.  Festival/fair bands and entertainers may be local or traveling groups but they will change the pace and experience of the event drastically.

Some Fairs may only have entertainment on a specific night, others will divvy out musical performances across the span of their festivities.  The type of approach you are taking for providing entertainment will help you decide what kind of performers you should hire.  Here are the three major categories for festive entertainment.

Music basics:  There are often portions of time at festive events where guests are shopping, eating, or otherwise entertaining themselves.  For example, directly after a parade or kick start occasion people will want to mingle, eat and explore the ground of the event.  During this time you may want to have a band playing a set that can serve both as background music and main stage entertainment for those who want to sit down, watch, and relax.  This entertainment can range from specialized bands (country, Motown, Jazz, classical, ethnic) that help snare the crowd or simply good musicians playing widely appreciated cover songs.  Some great performing bands include:  Jersey Street, Utah Live Karaoke Band, Shaun Canon and the Pops Orchestra.

–Groove Merchants performing at a city 4th of July celebration

Main event performers:  For evening entertainment or musical performances taking place around key parts of the fair/festival you will want a band that can really excite the crowd.  These bands can again be specialized but you are generally better off booking a headline band that does covers of popular songs from a variety of genres.  Variety bands are high in energy and have a lot of experience reading a crowd which makes them perfect for main event entertaining.  Here is a list of some of the best variety bands around, available for national booking: Groove Merchants, Dance Doctors, Amplifly, Voodoo Box, and The Bandits.

Unique and Fantastical entertainers:  You can have bands performing for varying parts of your festivities but you should also consider some additional entertainment that will mystify the crowd.  There is an assortment of unique entertainers that can perform both on stage or can mingle with the crowd.  Those that can work within a crowd include roaming performers like jugglers, fire artists, stilt walkers, mermaids, ninjas, celebrity lookalikes, etc…  Cirque performers that are more extreme and better suited for stage performances will be entertainers like aerialists, dancers, and illusionists/hypnotists.

If you have any questions regarding the planning of your festival or event feel free to contact us by CLICKING HERE.

–Nikole Higgins, Communication Director, Nikole@utahliveband.com