With the heat wave passed and internships winding down, it may feel like the summer season is coming to a close. But for the city of Syracuse, one major summer event is set to begin at the end of the August.

The return of students to campus marks the kickoff of the Great New York State Fair, a summer staple in the upstate area. According to the Post Standard, the fair is having trouble selling tickets to this year’s concerts — somewhat of a surprise, considering the broke-student-friendly prices and the venue’s proximity to Syracuse University’s campus.

In a Post Standard article published last week, only some 27,000 of the 100,000 available tickets had been sold — less than a third of total seats.

Grandstand acts this year include country stars Luke Bryan, Toby Keith and Reba, as well as the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, pop singer Carly Rae Jepsen and comedian Jeff Dunham. The fair also announced on Friday that pop punk band Fall Out Boy will perform on August 30, with ticket sales for that concert beginning July 26.

With five of the 12 grandstand acts still unannounced, there’s hope that ticket sales may spike with the addition of other acts. But with just under a month left until the fair kicks off, there have been no significant changes in sales.

The Daily Orange reached out to members of the SU community to see why they haven’t bought their own tickets yet. Reasons include:

The concert’s line up is just “too country.”

Though it seems appropriate to feature country acts at a state fair, some SU students feel three acts is too many. Since the fair is supposed to represent the entire state, the abundance of one genre seems one-note to some.

“They didn’t hire enough musicians with a wide enough fan base,” said Laura Walton, a junior music education major from Wellsville, New York. “I personally like almost all of the acts they’ve announced so far. But I’m from the country. A lot of people around here aren’t.”

Still, the fair might not be all wrong in its choice of country offerings: Among last year’s lineup, the only sold-out act was Jason Aldean — a country singer. Other, less-popular acts included country artist Keith Urban, UK boy band The Wanted and comedian Larry the Cable Guy.

The tickets are too expensive for the acts offered.

While the $25-$70 tickets are cheap in comparison to the hundreds required for concerts at indoor arenas, Christine Bunce, a 2011 SU graduate originally from White Lake, New York, thinks they might not be worth the money in comparison to other acts in the area.

“Luke Bryan and Toby Keith are both doing concerts within two hours of Syracuse that are in nicer venues” she explained. “Lynyrd Skynyrd just toured the area recently as well. They might just be played out.”

Bunce added: “Carly Rae Jepsen doesn’t appeal to a demographic that can pay for their own tickets. In the bad economy, parents might not be willing to pay for their kids to go to shows.”

The advertising is bad.

Senior psychology major Maren Daly said advertising might be to blame for the slump in sales. Despite the State Fair’s opening in just under a month, Daly hadn’t heard about the fair or any of the concert acts.

“I haven’t seen any advertising for it,” she said. “No billboards, no TV ads or newspaper articles. I didn’t even know the artists list had been released.”

A fact she considers surprising, since she lives in the state’s capital, Albany.

“The fair is supposed to be for the whole state,” she said. “Shouldn’t I have heard about it by now?”

Said Daly: “When does it start, anyway?”

The fair runs Aug. 22 through Sept. 2. Tickets for some of the Grandstand concerts are already on sale and are available at www.nysfair.org.

Published on July 24, 2013 at 2:45 pm

Contact Lara: lsorokan@syr.edu