"Patron Communication"
The previous year the Fair’s management asked how it could better communicate with vehicular traffic as it winds its way into the event’s parking lots. And perhaps more importantly, how to direct patrons to exit those lots in an orderly fashion should that become a sudden priority. Smartphones present a problem for in-vehicular communication due to their distraction factor and because not all patrons own them. So the Fair’s Director of Safety and Security Randy Hoffer selected the EventCAST Service to provide the solution.  The 1690 AM broadcast was
on the air a full week in advance as well as during the
course of the 17-day affair, which spanned the last two
weeks in January. With a signal range of up to 5 miles,
all major inbound thoroughfares were saturated with the
signal.
A
set of trailer-mounted changeable message signs
faced inbound traffic at four locations to alert
motorists to the new service.Everything was going fine, and then came the storms. Hoffer explains, “We thought we were prepared for everything, until torrential rains caused the Fair to delay opening one day by six hours. But our pre-recorded messages all had the original opening time in them. "So, in a matter of minutes we were able to record a new message [with corrected times] and load it into the station’s [USB Port]. This certainly made it obvious what a flexible system this truly is in an emergency.” Hoffer said that the Fair intends to use the service each year, especially in emergency situations. It may engage the service permanently because of year-round activities at the 19,000-seat “Perfect Vodka Ampitheater,” also located at the fairgrounds, which has parking and traffic challenges of its own around the calendar. |
PO Box 51, Zeeland, Michigan, USA, 49464-0051, Phone 616.772.2300, Email
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