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<p>If we add 10-20% to our head count for what we don't count at the
back door, our attendance will look better. I think I did that
the last year I was president at least for what I reported to
them.</p>
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<p>Gary<br>
</p>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 7/10/2018 7:31 PM, Alameda County
Central Railroad Society wrote:<br>
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cite="mid:mailman.1024.1531276297.13049.accrs@mail.accrs.org">
<pre wrap="">Message From: Becky and John Kolberg <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:bjkolberg@aol.com">bjkolberg@aol.com</a>
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<div class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:
175.5pt">Well, the 2018 Alameda County Fair is in the can. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:
175.5pt"><o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:
175.5pt">A review of the statistics for donations reveals this
year’s
performance was second only to that of the year 2000, both in
dollars and
dollars per visitor. I’ll give a
quantitative report at the next business meeting. Since the
2000 record, donations began a long
period of decline that only began to improve in dollars four
years ago and in
$/visitor two years ago. This year’s $/visitor
was nineteen percent better than last year—a very significant
improvement. Such a change begs the question—Why? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:
175.5pt"><o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:
175.5pt">At the welcome desk I have heard speculation
regarding this phenomenon
of donation improvement, so I will add my opinions here. This
year the donations collected in the box
at the back door were almost a quarter of all donations. In
contrast, the amount collected there in
past years, when it was counted separately, was less than ten
percent. That in its self would account for about half
of the donation improvement. I believe
there are two reasons for that increase: 1. the scavenger
hunt, and 2. the big sign there drawing attention to the
donation box. In addition to the above,
I believe the strong national economy has added discretionary
spending money to
the visitors.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:
175.5pt"><o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:
175.5pt">Visitor attendance, on the other hand, was lack
luster. In the last ten years, it was the second
lowest at 47,031. It was only 144 more
than last year. Our busiest day this
year had 3,970 visitors. A few years
ago, that many visitors in a single day was not unusual. I
believe the record was 6,258 set in
2015. I called the Fair office today to
get their attendance number. Their preliminary
number is 426,000+. That puts our
attendance at 11.0% of the Fair attendance—not a significant
improvement. I noticed that our percentage dropped two
percentage
points coincident with the placement of retail booths around
our front door in
2016. The opinion of the Fair personnel
a couple years ago that the booths would improve our
visibility has proved
false.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:
175.5pt"><br>
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<div class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:
175.5pt">John Kolberg</div>
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