Upbeat comments on fair?

Above linked article from the Plainsman discussing the South Dakota State Fair reviewing the State Fair Commission meeting on Monday.

A brief history of the fair is behind the cut a long with some thoughts:

It wasn't all that many years ago that the South Dakota State Fair was the event that ended the summer.

It was the event that got all of the TV networks to show up for coverage and to do shows.

It had big name entertainment and a full carnival.

Then something went horribly wrong.

The thing is that nobody is exactly sure what happened. The only thing that was for sure that the State Fair was starting to lose its luster and was surpassed by some county fairs in terms of events and entertainment. The fair ceased to be the end of summer destination in South Dakota.

Then came a movement to fix the problem even though nobody really knew what the problem was.

The first disaster of an idea had the fair move from its end of summer slot to the end of July. Everyone with a clue knew this was a disaster waiting to happen due to the fact that the Fair is an agrocultural event and is also essentially the 4H equivalent of a state tournament. Growers didn't like the new dates because not all of the crops were ready, mellon sales were especially hit hard by the move and 4Hers didn't like the fact that the State Fair would now be held before events that qualified you for the State Fair.

So, about 3 years ago, sanity returned and the fair was moved back to its regular slot. A focus was made on finding educational attractions to cause schools to travel to the fair. There was a shark exhibit, a Nasa exhibit and it did work to get schools which were already in session to make trips to the fair. They also took the opportunity to play the State Fair Bowl and give both Huron and its opponent tickets to the fair.

It worked in the sense that over 200,000 people passed through the gates although the Fair didn't end up making a profit.

That's the other problem. The State Fair wasn't making any money and for the past few years has had to be heavily subsidized by the State just to break even and get out of debt. Last year saw attendance fall off as the dates were shifted again this tie with the fair starting after labor day. Attendance dropped to 158,000 people and the fair again was a money loser.

This was the last year to get the fair back on track before major changes were made including the possibility of ending the Fair altogether.

So, they did more work, this time ending the fair on Labor day and shortening its run from 8 days down to 5. According to the article above the changes have been received positively. We will see come October when financial numbers and attendance figures are released, but this may have turned the trick.

The key question is whether or not the trend can be sustained in future years or if it will be back to the drawing board in 2 years. I don't think the fair will ever be ended if for no other reason than the economic affects on Huron would be disasterous.

I personally didn't go to the Fair. The reason is that I hurt my foot before it started. I didn't go to any of the concerts because nobody came that I had any desire to see. That's one of my biggest faults still with the fair. Does every musician really need to be a country star?

I may have gone had my foot not been hurting me, and I do like the idea of the Fair. I hope that it can be turned around in to a venture that is eventually profitable.

If this doesn't work, I don't know what I could possibly suggest they do differently in the future.