A state fair packed with grandstand events, carnival rides, and non-stop entertainment transformed its ticketing experience with our new booking point of sale, FareHarbor Dock. By implementing this intuitive and user-friendly tablet app, the organization equipped eight ticket booths with a single booking POS system, streamlining sales and enhancing customer satisfaction.

Midwest State Fair

First held in 1839, this Midwest state fair is a long-running annual event that offers a wide selection of activities and entertainment for guests from in and out of state.

Held over five consecutive days, each day features unique entertainment, including live music performances, monster truck shows,  rodeos, figure 8 trailer races, bump-n-run, and a demolition derby. While enjoying the displays and rides, visitors can also savor classic carnival food with their family and friends – the perfect attraction to make lasting memories every year.

Challenge: Complex third-party ticketing experience

Thousands of visitors arrive at the state fair looking to purchase a daily admission ticket and enjoy the festivities. To expedite sales and reduce wait times, the organization sets up eight selling booths to admit their customers into the fair.

Previously, the annual state fair used a third-party POS system to sell tickets. However, the user interface was overly complex, creating confusion for the team and requiring staff to spend too much time learning the system. These issues slowed the selling process, leading to long wait times and a subpar customer experience.

The fair needed a more efficient, user-friendly solution to streamline sales and enhance the overall experience for both visitors and staff.

Solution: FareHarbor’s booking point-of-sale solution

Recognizing the need for a faster in-person ticketing experience, this state fair integrated FareHarbor Dock for their 2024 event.

FareHarbor Dock, available in iOS and Android, is our new booking point-of-sale app designed to transform in-person bookings. Using just a tablet and a Bluetooth card reader, Dock offers two powerful modes: Kiosk mode and Staff mode. Kiosk mode empowers customers to book independently, while Staff mode enables speedier bookings and higher staff productivity.

Using Staff mode at their eight selling booths, their staff sold tickets quickly, alleviated wait lines, and improved the customer experience. The organizers of the state fair praised the new solution for its simplicity, sharing that “everyone [working] at checkout was happy with the system, they found it very easy and the fair will definitely be using Dock next year.”

The Results

FareHarbor Dock transformed the ticketing experience at this Midwest state fair, enabling all eight booths to use the same system to process sales, take payment, and deliver a seamless experience to their customers. Over five days, they processed 4,335 transactions and sold 10,000 tickets through the booking POS solution – that’s an average of 2,000 tickets sold per day!

Their team rated FareHarbor’s booking point of sale “superior in workflow compared to the third-party solution,” noting that everything was “super easy to learn.” 

FareHarbor Dock supported the fair for a successful edition, improved the staff’s selling experience, and set a new standard for efficiency and customer satisfaction. Do you have a fair or exhibition coming up? Transform your in-person sales with FareHarbor Dock today!