Meet Me At The Fair!

In my neck of the woods, from early July to late October, I could spend every weekend at the agricultural fairs watching the horses and cows, riding the ferris wheel or merry-go-round, eating hamburgers, french fries, and some of  the best poutine in Eastern Ontario.  And we haven't even touched the myriad of local community days. 

Lots-and-lots-and-lots of people!  An ag fair attracts more than 50,000 visitors over a weekend!  A community day can attract 5,000 - 7,000 people.  An excellent opportunity for a candidate to get some name recognition and connect with the voters!

In my neck of the woods, it all starts 3 weeks before Canada Day with the Village of Manotick's Dickinson Days - Friday night's parade, concert and fireworks.  Saturday's pancake breakfast and fishing derby.  All day Saturday there's hot dogs, hamburgers, games for the kids, the mutt and cat show.  The candidate in my area and his team weren't going to miss this opportunity.  

I Like A Parade!
Things usually start with the parade and there's nothing like a parade to attract people.  Take some fire trucks, tractors, and combines.  Add a bunch of floats, a few clowns, and you've got the makings of a parade.  It doesn't take much to do a float.  The float below is simplicity in itself - a hay wagon towed by a pickup truck.  A little bit of planning and organizing.  Bales of hay for people to sit on.  Helium-filled balloons.  Some pots of red flowers.  A few candidate lawn signs.  And a whole bunch of people dressed in red!  Your float doesn't have to be complex.  Make use of what you have. 

Book It Well In Advance!
Something like this doesn't happen in a vacuum.  It takes a bit of planning and organizing.  Space on the fair grounds is usually at a premium and in high demand.  It goes very, very fast.  Don't be disappointed.  Book your spot in the parade and the space for your booth well in advance of the event.  You should have a list of these events at hand and a team to get things organized.  Make sure you get in the lineup.  

Branding The Booth
There are all different kinds and sizes of tents that can be used for booths but the best kind is the pop-up "display tent" that you stretch, push, and pull until it pops up and the frame and legs lock into place.  Neat, compact, easy to transport, and it doesn't take a dozen people to put it up.  When it comes to a display tent that's going to be used multiple times, the cheapest isn't always the best.  Invest a bit of extra money in a tent that has thicker frames and cover.  Include the four sidewalls in your order.  Three of the walls will clearly define your booth space and keep the rain off your back.  The fourth wall will provide a measure of security when the show closes down for the night.  Do a bit of research into the various aspects of display tents.  Take a look at your budget and then spend a bit more to get what you want.  Visibility is everything and it starts with a good display tent.  

It's most important that you properly "brand" the booth with your campaign colours.  This starts with the colour of the tent, down to the table cloths, and right up into the helium balloons.  In the photo below, it's very obvioius who the candidate is and what party he's from.  And that's exactly how you want it to be.  

The "Liberal" logos on the canopy fringe are 11"x 17" photo-enlarged copies that have been laminated at the local Staples store.  Campaign lawn signs are affixed everywhere clearly identifying who the candidate is and what party he represents.  

"Punch It Out" With Vertical Banners
One of the objectives in a campaign is name recognition ...... trying to get rid of the "..... Cathy who?" responses.  A good way to do this is with a couple of large vertical banners.  Their use is unlimited - Q&A sessions, guest speakers, talks at retirement homes ....... any place where you have an opportunity to be seen and heard.  At a cost of $200 each, they're a sound investment.  

This banner was placed alongside the pop-up tent so it was very obvious as to what this booth was all about.  And again, the colours were in keeping with properly branding the candidate.  A good photo against a pastoral background really catches your attention.  It was very windy that day so a couple of colour-matching flower pots at the base kept things vertical.  

The only thing missing with this display was a vertical banner to catch the people coming the other way.  Either a duplicate copy of the first banner or a banner with the Liberal red "diamond plate" background, some large Liberal logos and the riding name will also do the job.  Or, create another banner using photos from some door-to-door canvassing action and an invitation to volunteer.  With a little creative thinking, the possibilities are endless.  

Table Setup
You'll need a couple of folding tables - one at the front of the booth to ...... obviously ....... outline the front, and one or two more at the back or sides where you can keep refreshments for your volunteers, campaign materials, button making activites, balloon blowing, or anything else where you're going to need some work space.  

When you set up your tables, cover them with some colour-coordinated plastic table cloths (available at your local Dollar Store).  Make sure the table cloths hang down over the front of the table so as to further delineate where the front of your booth is.  While it's not obvious because of the shadows, that's a white table cloth in a red tent.  You can see the lawn sign(s) hanging at the back of the tent and the laminated "Liberal" signs taped to the canopy fringe.  

And make sure you bring along a few chairs to rest those weary feet.  You're going to be standing for a long time and you'll need to rest those tired dogs.  

Do Something That Makes Your Booth Stand Out
A booth with some tables and campaign materials all by themselves, while it will result in a nice booth, doesn't differentiate it from the other booths of your political opponents.  You need something that's going to set you apart from the rest.  

In this case, there's that big Liberal-red water jug that's full of cool drinking water with a whole stack of drinking cups close by (and a garbage bag to put the used cups in).  A bag of ice kept the water nice and cool on that hot sunny day.  The only thing missing is one of those Liberal signs taped to the front of the jug but that will be fixed for the next community day or agricultural fair.  

And as an added bonus, there's a couple of trays full of water for those thirsty dogs.  That was quite the attention grabber for Fido which forced people to stop and talk to our candidate and his volunteers while Fido quenched his thirst.  

Another attention grabber are helium-filled balloons.  This is always a stopper for the kids and again allows our candidate and the volunteers to talk to the parents.  

And as an alternative to the water barrel, here's a jug of lemonade.  

The possibilities are endless.  I've even used the button-making machine helping junior make a personalized button while Mom and Dad talk to the candidate.  All it takes is a little creative thinking.  

Candidate & Volunteers Out Front
The most important aspect of display booths is the interaction that the candidate and volunteers will have with the public.  Remember, the object of the exercise is name-recognition.  You want to get your candidate's name in front of the people.  Sitting on a chair inside your booth won't do it.  You've got to be out front where the people are.  

ln this case, notice that the candidate and his volunteers are all dressed in Liberal red - T-shirts, golf shirts, baseball caps (especially for sunny days!), BBQ aprons.  And lots of pin-on buttons.  The button machine was working overtime that weekend.  It wouldn't hurt to make up some special buttons that not only promote the candidate but also make reference to the event.  This will take some creativity as space on a button is very limited. 

And the only time the crew went inside the tent was to rest their tired feet.  For the rest of the day, they were in front of the booth talking to voters.  And that's the way you want it to be.   

The possibilities for a display booth are endless.  All it takes is a bit of thinking, some creativity and some planning.  Your return on the investment can be substantial.  
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Next up:  Using Digital Media - Facebook, Twitter, and Joe Rospars.