This visitor profile of the 2011 Irish Fair of Minnesota includes items such as visitor demographics, willingness to pay admission, information sources, as well as a comparison of 2007 and 2011 visitors.

1. Leading, preparing & supporting
the tourism industry
for success & sustainability
The 2011 Irish Fair of Minnesota attracted approximately 100,000 visitors
to Harriet Island Regional Park August 11-14. To inform marketing &
programming efforts, a visitor profile was conducted.
The 2011 questionnaire was the second such profile of Irish Fair attendees
conducted in a 5-year span (the previous questionnaire was conducted
during the 2007 event). For the 2011 visitor profile, several attendee items
were of key interest:
Fair experience:
• Majority repeat attendees (62.6%)
• Diverse set of activities (Figure 1)
• High satisfaction (Figure 2)
• Expenditures across a range of
categories (Figure 4)
• Average 5 hour stay at fair
• Top reasons for attending the fair:
o Celebrate Irish heritage (19%)
o Know a performer (14%)
o Live music (13%)
Information sources:
• Fair information primarily
disseminated through social
networks.
• Repeat attendees more likely to
use Irish-community sources
(Table 1).
Origin:
• 80% within 25 miles (Figure 3) • 5% traveling 50 miles or more
Demographics:
• Female (53.1%)
• non-Hispanic (97.5%)
• Average age 43 years
• White (89.1%)
• of Irish descent (69.3%)
• $50,000-$74,999 income (19%)
Table 1 Comparison of information
sources used by repeat and first-time
attendees to 2011 Irish Fair (n=532)
% using source
Information source
Repeat
(n=326)
1st-time
(n=195)
Word of mouth 48.5 43.6
Other 24.2 27.7
Newspaper 19.0 10.8 *
Pioneer Press 10.1 5.6
Irish Fair Webpage 15.0 5.6 ***
Irish Bar/Restaurant 12.0 6.2 *
Irish Gazette 8.9 1.0 ***
Radio 8.3 4.6
TV 7.1 10.3
Facebook 7.1 6.2
Poster/Flyer 7.1 2.6 *
Indicates difference is significant at
* p .05. ** p .01. *** p .001
Willingness to pay admission potential admission charge:
• Majority of attendees willing to pay potential charge (Figure 5).
Compared to 2007 visitors, 2011 attendees…
• Younger (43 years vs. 47; p = .001)
• Less reliant on newspapers for information (16% vs. 41%; p < .001).
• Spent more on parking ($9.71 vs. $7.29; p < .000) but less on souvenirs
($39.91 vs. $50.87; p < .05)
Results: Fair Attendees and Experience
A collaboration of the University of Minnesota Extension
& College of Food, Agricultural & Natural Resource Sciences
Profile of the 2011 Irish Fair of Minnesota
Andrew Oftedal, Graduate Research Assistant & Ingrid Schneider, Ph.D.
Methods
Onsite questionnaire: Based on 2007 questionnaire
Sampling: Varied to ensure coverage across festival activities and grounds.
Administered onsite by trained volunteers
Response: 550 completed (70% compliance rate)
Introduction & Purpose
Live Music
40%
Dance Stage
14%
Food & Beverages
13%
People Watching
8%
Sports Area
7%
Vendor Marketplace
4%
Cultural Area
4%
Other
4%
Children's Activities
2%
Pub Experience
3%
Mass
1%
Figure 1 Most enjoyable attributes of the 2011 Irish Fair of Minnesota
(n=528)
17%
14%
55%
13%
2%
No
answer
Zero $1-5 $6-10 >$11
2% 5% 6%
30%
54%
77%
$21 $20 $20
$25
$10
$30
Lodging (in
$10s)
Off-site food
& beverages
Other Souvenirs Parking On-site food
& beverages
Spent at least
$1.00 (%)
Median
dollars spent
($)
Figure 4 Attendee expenditures at the 2011 Irish Fair of Minnesota
(n=528)
Figure 5 Range of admission
charges 2011 Irish Fair of
Minnesota attendees willing to
pay (n=532)
Special thanks to Sarah VanSickle, Angela Mens-Eastman, and the many
volunteers who assisted with data collection. Additional thanks to Art
Nash of the U of M Community Vitality Center for working with the zip
code data. All photos courtesy of the Irish Fair of Minnesota.
Results: Comparisons
Very
Satisfied
56%
Satisfied
34%
Very
Dissatisfied
6%
Unsure
3%
Dissatisfied
1%
Figure 2 Satisfaction with 2011
Irish Fair of Minnesota (n=522)
Implications
Admission charge would likely impact visitation:
• 30.8% would not pay a charge or refused to answer the question.
• 13% cited the fair’s affordability as their main reason for attending.
Marketing focus:
• “Live music” and “food & beverages” most enjoyable but not main
reasons for attending. Marketing should use a mix of customer pulls.
Shift in information sources:
• 2011 attracted a younger demographic who relied heavily upon internet-
based sources for information
• Word of mouth still significant information source
Acknowledgements
Figure 3 Regional map of attendee
places of residence (n=513)
Results: Experiences and Expenditures
• Demographics
• Experiences & satisfaction
• Expenditures
• Information sources
• Willingness to pay admission
• Comparison of 2007 & 2011 visitors
Leading, preparing & supporting the
tourism industry for success & sustainability