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The out-of-home leisure and entertainment industry is much larger than just traditional location-based entertainment (LBEs) and family entertainment centers (FECs). That is why we cover other types of out-of-home leisure and entertainment in our Leisure eNewsletter. We believe that understanding their trends is important since they compete with LBEs and FECs for a share of consumers' leisure time and discretionary spending.
One industry competing with LBEs and FECs is agritourism - commercial consumer events and activities at farms and ranches (previously named agritainment). It's an industry our company also works in. Each year, we conduct a nationwide survey on agritourism participation.
Agritourism's popularity has been growing significantly since the pandemic. During 2025 through mid-November, 89% of U.S. households (at least one person from the household) participated in at least one activity on a farm or ranch.
Farm festivals are very popular agritourism experiences. At least 80% of households attended a farm festival in 2025. These include crop-based food and fall pumpkin patch/corn maze type festivals. Fall festivals from late September through October are the most popular, with attendance by half of U.S. households. The next most popular are strawberry festivals, with 42.5% household participation, followed by blueberry festivals at 41%.
Not necessarily considered entertainment, but definitely an experience, U-pick fruits and vegetables have a high overall participation rate of over three-quarters of households (78%). U-pick apples are most popular, with 43.6% participation, followed by U-pick strawberries at 42%.
LBE's and FECs need to be aware of cultural and consumer trends driving the growing appeal of not only agritourism, but immersive entertainment (see article this issue (www.whitehutchinson.com/ news/ lenews/ 2025/ december/ article102.shtml#article) ); live sporting events (see article this issue (www.whitehutchinson.com/ news/ lenews/ 2025/ december/ article106.shtml#article) ); food, wine, beer and other festivals; music concerts; and many other popular types of out-of-home entertainment and leisure in order to adapt and stay competitive.
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