Customer Snapshot
- Organized by: Frederick County Parks & Rec
- Tickets Sold: 26,000+
- Years Held: 20+
About Frederick County Parks & Rec
The Frederick County Division of Parks and Recreation runs programs, activities, and events throughout the year for all ages. In addition to parks and rec programs, Frederick County Parks and Rec also hosts special events throughout the year, including the flagship Walking in a Winter Wonderland holiday lights show.
While Frederick County Parks and Rec uses in house software for general parks and rec program management, they needed purpose-built technology for their special events. “During Covid, more people expected to buy tickets online. We needed something better for our special events, including the Apple Blossom Valley Health 10K and Walking in a Winter Wonderland,” said Andrew Keefauver, Superintendent of Recreation. After issuing a RFP, they were happy to discover that RunSignup, the leading endurance events platform, also had a purpose-built ticket platform for Walking in a Winter Wonderland ticket sales.
Selling Timed Entry Tickets to Walking in a Winter Wonderland
Frederick County Parks and Rec started the annual Walking in a Winter Wonderland twenty years ago. The holiday light show features fantastic displays and music along the 0.5 mile paved path at Clearbrook Park in Frederick, VA. Highlights include hundreds of thousands of lights, nightly appearances by Santa and Mrs. Claus, and a wonderful computer-controlled display coordinated with music. “We’ve added a lot over the years, and it’s become a little Disney at Clearbrook Park,” said Andrew.
They used TicketSignup’s free websites as the event’s website. “I’m fairly tech savvy but I’m not a coder and I don’t have a marketing background. It’s really easy to use the Website Builder,” said Ashley Ferguson, Program Supervisor. The website allowed them to host content about special events like cookies with Santa, as well as feature and sell sponsorships. Having data-driven components like the calendar, as well as options to resend confirmation emails reduced questions.
Parking is limited. While Frederick County Parks and Rec sells walk-up tickets on site, timed entry pre-sale tickets improve throughput at the event. They set caps of 325 adult tickets per time slot. With TicketSignup, it’s easy for attendees to choose a date, time, and ticket types.
In addition to selling Adult and Child tickets, there are also VIP lodge rentals available some nights. It’s easy to add details in the purchase path to clearly explain what is included with each option.
2023’s ticket sales broke previous revenue records. It’s the department’s largest event. Not only does it bring in local residents, but people travel from Maryland, West Virginia, and other states to attend. TicketSignup’s heat map lets Frederick County Parks and Rec track the regional reach of their event in real time.
Increasing Per Ticket Revenue with Add-Ons
Selling extra items adds value to the light show in multiple ways. First, it adds more of the “Disney” feel that Walking in a Winter Wonderland aims to achieve. Moreover, it helps a capacity limited event increase revenue per ticket sold.
“Upselling add-ons before the event was a powerful revenue driver for us this year. And using the Ticket App to fulfill items on site gave us a complete solution,” said Ashley.
On Site Event Technology
From store fulfillment and ticket check-in, Frederick County Parks and Rec leveraged the Ticket App on site. One of the challenges with their previous software was old bar code scanners that didn’t really work. With 26,000 tickets sold online, it was key to have reliable and fast scanning, as well as ticket lookup by purchaser name. “The Apple Wallet integration was really cool. People were able to have their tickets immediately,” said Ashley.
It takes less than 5 minutes to train staff and volunteers on how to use the app, and configurations make it easy to give different sets of permissions and data views. “I love the CheckIn App and being able to configure pre-sets,” said Becky McGraw, Program Supervisor.
In addition to buying tickets with cash or card on site, attendees could scan QR codes and buy tickets online. This was fast and easy with Apple Pay, and helped to reduce lines.
All In One Platform
Leveraging both TicketSignup and RunSignup helps Frederick County Parks and Recreation manage special events in one platform, from holiday lights to their sweetheart dance and 10k race. “With our parks and rec software – we still have open support and feature request tickets from the 1990s. So kudos to TicketSignup for getting things done. Any time Elisabeth [TicketSignup Senior Account Manager] puts in an enhancement request, it gets addressed by the next event. It’s been such a welcome change.” With the coming release of TicketSignup’s next-generation timed entry ticketing, this year’s Walking in a Winter Wonderland will have even more actionable reports (as seen on a test event here), ticket management capabilities, and a faster purchase experience for attendees.
