2011 opened on a most successful note as our first season on the Florida Fair and Event route departed Santa’s Enchanted Forest (Miami) and in short order completed stints at the South Florida Fair (West Palm), Florida State Fair (Tampa), Strawberry Festival (Plant City) and returned to Miami for the Miami-Dade Youth Fair. We were very pleased with the guest response to our operations in the Sunshine State and look forward to our return in 2012.

Fair operations then moved on to Tucson for a record-breaking run at the Pima County Fair and followed up with unseasonably rainy events at Sacramento County and Contra Costa. The State Fair in Sacramento was next with very pleasant temperatures and a solid guest response. Ventura was next, followed by a trip to the Northwest and the Seattle area where we operated at the Puyallup Fair. This event was necessitated by the loss of LA County, who chose to take Photo Ops in-house. It remains to be seen if this decision was a wise one.

Our permanent operations witnessed record years at Kemah, Houston Zoo and the Phoenix Zoo. The Kemah operation flat out killed it, and earned our “Location of the Year” award under the first year management of Adrian Carter ably assisted by Milton Johnson. Jami Tackett replaced Phillip White at the Phoenix Zoo in July and had solid performance thru the fall and then a record-breaking Zoo Lights event in Nov and Dec.

We expect big things from Phoenix in 2012. Houston Zoo had solid revenue growth in 2011 and we look forward to 2012 with new leadership (Adam Yacoub-mgr; Tiffany Julian-asst mgr.) and an in-line Green Screen opportunity at the dinosaur exhibit this summer.

Our West coast zoos in LA and San Francisco had solid performances in 2011. Randin Kasperik moved from LA to assume responsibility at SF and Margarita Flores was promoted and took over the So Cal location in late August. Both properties are exploring increased “in zoo” opportunities for 2012.

In April our appeal of the Six Flags matter was heard by the California Supreme Court. The Court ruled against us for reasons that still remain unclear…that’s not sour grapes, just a statement of fact ..and also chose not to even address our main objection to the initial ruling. Our request to re-submit was summarily denied.. It was a 5 year learning process that unfortunately left a very bad taste that is only now subsiding. As Kodak inches closer to bankruptcy we can only smile from afar.

Our online relationship with Photogra.com continued to grow and prosper. We recorded a 15% increase in the number of orders and a 14% increase in total revenues thru our joint venture with the web-hosting and fulfillment service provider; this in spite of the decrease of 270,000 images not taken at the LA fair. We are grateful for this long standing relationship and look forward to increased benefits in years to come.

2011 was Amy’s first full year as Chief Operating Officer. We look forward to Amy’s continued leadership in her role and to where she takes us. As 2012 dawns, we expect to open in May at the new Landry’s location in Galveston with an entrance and two ride photo operations and are continuing to explore new markets throughout the country for both permanent and event business. We await the challenges of the new year; always “supportive objective, accountable and responsive to our clients, our staff and our guests”

Peter Gelfand
Corralitos, CA
January 2012