---

Why Farmers are Eating Your Lunch in the 4th Quarter

by Frank Price, FL Price, and Founder of Birthday University

Seasonal and holiday offerings are proven catalysts for consumer purchasing action. Think of Hallmark and other retailers that have built their entire marketing and product strategies around holidays. Some are almost 100% dependent on holiday sales, with their businesses driven by urgency, expectations, and the time sensitivity of the upcoming celebration.

When done right, seasonal and holiday-driven offerings check all the boxes:

• Scarcity - These offerings and events have limited availability.
• Limited time - Miss it, and you have to wait until next year.
• FFOMO (Families' Fear of Missing Out) - The emotional pressure parents feel when they worry about not giving their children everything they deserve at a specific moment in their lives.
• Unique and authentic - Each experience is different, personal, and cannot be found around every corner.
• Insta-jealous - The feeling people get when their friends are posting experiences that look better, more meaningful, or more fun than their own.

Let's dig a little deeper into why families visit farms in the fourth Quarter& - and why they may forgo traditional amusement offerings. Agritourism has dominated the October fall season for years and is now extending well into the Christmas holiday. Seasons and holidays are synonymous with family. They give people a reason to pause their busy, hectic schedules, come together, celebrate, and build memories.

Your business is a family business, making it the perfect place for families to gather. However, if a stale, attraction-centric amusement operation lacks a compelling seasonal reason to visit, it will be passed over. For example, the number of people who ice skate in December nearly triples compared to the rest of the year. Why? Skating is synonymous with winter and Christmas. These activities are built over time as people seek to recreate meaningful memories and shared family experiences.

Each year, families look forward to seasonal activities and annual holiday events as part of their traditions. Missing them feels unnatural. When you create unique, socially interactive, and personalized experiences tied to positive memories, you drive repeat visitation. Guests feel the experience justified what they paid, and they return year after year.

Design your seasonal and holiday events around the following fundamentals, just like the farmers. Keep them fresh by continually adding, improving, and evolving so guests don't get bored and replace your offering with newer alternatives. Here is what they are good at.

Gathering

Create spaces to gather. We are social beings. We meet, congregate, celebrate, share, disagree, collaborate, laugh, and connect. Across cultures and throughout history, gathering around a fire, a kitchen table, a backyard, a neighborhood pub, or a shared celebration fosters feelings of love, joy, togetherness, security, and belonging.

We crave experiences with people like us. We seek genuine connection, shared passions, meaningful conversation, and simple moments of laughter. Connecting and celebrating with others is deeply satisfying and nourishing to the human spirit. Something special and memorable happens when we gather.
Facilitate events that promote gathering.

Nostalgia

Nostalgia and tradition provide comfort and security in a fast-paced, ever-changing world. There is reassurance in returning to something familiar, safe, and emotionally positive& - even if it exists only in memory. Seasonal events and holidays naturally trigger stories, family lore, and memory markers that anchor our lives.

When people want to escape holiday commercialism, they turn to reminiscing about the past, reviving traditions, or creating new ones. These shared values shape our past and define our future, especially for children. Seasonal experiences often include planning, gathering, creating, cooking, storytelling, gifting, visiting, and simply slowing down to appreciate life.

Creating and sharing these moments with those we love& - and knowing they will be passed on long after we're gone& - is legacy.
Give your events meaningful connections.

Traditions

Traditions and rituals are uniquely expressed and give families their own identity. They are strongest during the holidays. Any consistent routine or recurring outing helps define who we are and gives us a sense of belonging.

Family-focused households place a high value on starting and maintaining traditions. These families tend to experience stronger emotional skills, greater happiness, and stronger relationships. Traditions bond people together and form the foundation of our family-based society. The best time to create traditions is during the holidays& - and the best place for them to happen is your place, when done right.
Build tradition.

Authenticity

Authenticity on the farm (or any business) means being real on purpose. It's what guests see, hear, taste, and experience that is genuinely tied to the environment, the people, and the feeling they get. Authenticity shows up when the story you tell matches your operation and when the experience feels honest, grounded, and consistent. Guests don't come to farms looking for perfection or polish; they come looking for something that feels real.

Authenticity is a powerful competitive advantage for seasonal and holiday events. The moments are emotional and tradition-driven, and guests are looking to reconnect& - to memories, to family, and to a sense of place. In a crowded seasonal marketplace, everyone offers similar attractions, yet authenticity is what cuts through the noise and creates differentiation that can't be copied. Real stories, real settings, and real people create deeper emotional connections, justify premium pricing, and turn one-time holiday visits into lasting year-after-year traditions.
Be Authentic.

Our commentary on Frank's article

We also work in the agritourism industry. We have clients who, in 6 to 8 weeks in the fall, have paid attendance and revenue exceeding what most location-based entertainment venues (LBEs), including FECs, achieve in a whole year. Frank is 100% right. Today, seasonal, limited-time, and unique experiences are winning market share from traditional LBE venues that are attraction-based and offer little repeat appeal. To succeed today and into the future, LBEs need robust programming that incorporates changing limited- and one-time events that offer continuous variety, uniqueness, and a reason to return.

The next Birthday University is April 1^st - 2^nd in Chicago, IL. Learn more HERE.

Subscribe to monthly Leisure eNewsletter

---