Organizers of B.C.’s largest and longest-running ticketed event are slashing prices and offering freebies to try to combat sluggish attendance in recent years.

Reduced ticket and parking prices are just part of the Pacific National Exhibition’s strategy to increase overall ticket sales in 2013.

The fair’s attendance numbers have declined over the last several years, dropping from 937,485 people in 2010 to 763,689 in 2012.

“It’s no secret that Vancouver…is rich with choice for things to do every day of the year, certainly in the summer,” said PNE spokeswoman Laura Ballance.

To lure back fun-loving families, Ballance said the PNE is dropping both ticket and parking prices from $20 to $16, while kids aged 13 and under won’t pay a dime to get in this year.

Ballance said they can afford to cut prices because they're shutting the fair down on the first two Mondays of its run—traditionally the slowest days of the two-and-a-half week event, Ballance said.

“What’s that’s allowed us to do is take that programming money and distribute it across those other 15 days,” she said.

It also allows the PNE – which is the only fair North American not funded by government – to offer specially priced days, like Senior’s Day on Aug. 24, and a free-admission-for-all day on Tuesday, Aug. 20.

“The PNE is different in the sense that our target demographic is everyone,” Ballance said. “We have to have something that appeals and makes sense, and at the end of the day we put on something that we think is a great program.”

Other highlights of the 2013 PNE include the live summer night concert series, which brings acts like The Beach Boys and the remaining members of The Jackson Five – touring for the first time since 1984.

Organizers hope the new and improved PNE will make the annual event relevant again – and usher in a new generation of fair-goers.

“In order to do that you have to be ahead of where the market is going and we feel that this is a strong offering,” Ballance said. “We’re excited to see how the province responds.”

The PNE opens its gates on Saturday, Aug. 17 and ends Monday, Sept. 1.

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