Canfield Fair tightening its belt

The fair will offer two musical shows, but on one night, at this year’s big event.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

CANFIELD — One big Mahoning County business not looking for a government handout or any sort of stimulus package this year is the Canfield Fair.

This mostly self-sustaining $4.4 million annual venture — with just $64,000 of public aid from the state and a $2,324 Green Team grant last year — puts 700 people to work over six days every August and September.

The fair, in fact, annually turns down help from Mahoning County’s struggling general fund, which funds most county departments.

Still, the six-day event that signals the end of summer for thousands of Mahoning County residents is feeling the pinch of a tanking economy: The 2009 fair will feature one night of big-name musical entertainment, down from three last year.

Sept. 6, the Grandstands will have two shows. Country legend George Jones will perform first and Hank Williams Jr. will perform the second show. There will be about an hour in between.

Fairs the last several years have offered two or three musical performers during the corresponding number of nights.

“We’re looking at economics and the cost of the entertainers,” said James Evans, fair board president.

Economic factors are affecting advertising too, said Evans, also a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge.

“We’ll probably be more particular in the types of advertising that we use,” he said. The fair board will try to use the types of advertising that are most cost effective.

Musical entertainment is just one part of the behemoth operation.

“We build a city, run it for seven days, then tear it down,” says Mark Makoski, fair board treasurer.

Day at the fair

A lot goes into giving a family a day at the fair — and a lot comes from its attendance. Gate admissions last year were $1.2 million.

Total receipts were $3.1 million, including $797,000 in concession privilege fees and $272,000 in proceeds year-round from rental packages involving users of the grounds and buildings.

Vendors pay anywhere from $35 to $50 per front foot for the privilege of selling their wares, based on whether they sell food, novelties or offer games, Makoski said.

Those who return from year to year get first crack at keeping their spot. If they don’t respond or miss the deadline to reserve that location, that location is made available to other vendors.

Payments for the facility use don’t stop after the main event is shuttered for the season. At any given time of the year, there are events such as dog and horse shows, all contributing to the bottom line.

Area police departments also use the grounds at no charge for driving exercises and other training. In 2003, Boardman contributed $10,000 toward construction of an emergency driving track at the fairgrounds to be used in law enforcement training.

Fair finances

From the fair’s annual $4.4 million pot comes $773,921 in wages and $91,000 in benefits. The full-time staff are the fair manager, two office staffers, a police chief and two maintenance employees.

At fair time the number of employees swells to 700 — including pie judges and parking attendants.

But there are water, sewer and electric costs year-round — about $228,024 last year. Some of that — $130,561 — was reimbursed to the fair board by the entities that used the fairgrounds or facilities throughout the year.

The state of Ohio does take an interest in making sure harness racing succeeds at county fairs. The $39,244 in state racing aid, provided by the Department of Agriculture, pays the owners of the horses who win the harness races. The $6,348 in state premium aid, also from the agriculture department, rewards contest winners, such as the best pie, etc.

Besides the amounts from the agriculture department and the 2003 contribution from Boardman trustees, the fair board received Green Team grants for road resurfacing in 2001 and 2003, of $48,902 and $75,007, respectively.

In 2004, the fair board got $95,000 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for security and surveillance equipment at the fairgrounds, officials said.

How large?

The 17 fair directors watch over 51 departments over the fair’s week. They are elected to three-year terms by the 414 members of the county agricultural society. Anyone can join the society so long as they are 18 or older, live in Mahoning County and pay a 50-cent annual fee.

Board members are paid up to $8 per meeting for 12 meetings per year and also receive 40 cents per mile for mileage to and from those meetings.

All of the Canfield Fair’s money is required to be declared publicly in a statement of income and expenses called an IRS Form 990, obtained by The Vindicator. Additionally the state audits the fair every two years.

“The fair board has never had any findings [for recovery] or recommendations,” said Atty. Mark Fortunato, who represents the fair board.

The fair is considered a charitable purpose, tax-wise, so it pays no property tax on its 350 acres and the buildings situated there. Only the parcel upon which a cellular phone tower sits is subject to property taxes.

The federal tax forms show that revenue has hovered at $3 million since 2002. For fiscal year 2006, revenues hit $3.1 million —up only slightly from $2.9 million in 2002. The fair board also carried $1.2 million over from the previous year in 2007.

The tax form also lists $3.7 million as the value of land, buildings and equipment owned by the fair board in fiscal 2006.

Admission fees — $7 for adults, $2 for children and $5 for seniors — have remained unchanged since 2006. For the six years before that, the fees held at $6 for adults and $1 for children.

Capital projects

Capital improvements on tap and under way this year include repairing roofs on three buildings — the grange, 4-H coliseum and carriage museum — and other maintenance projects. Those roof repairs total about $44,170 and each of the projects was competitively bid, Fortunato said.

The fair board includes a long-range planning committee that meets to plan for future projects. Other work is handled as it comes up, said Makoski and George Less, a fair board member.

Janice Hanna, 4-H educator at the Ohio State University Extension, Mahoning County, has been spending much of the fair inside Building 25, where 4-H projects are displayed, for six years.

“It’s an old building,” she said. “They do a good job of keeping it up.”

Jane Renkenberger has been bringing dairy cows to the fair for 50 years and gives a positive report on dairy barn maintenance at the fairgrounds.

One of the best-recognized sites at the fairgrounds was under different ownership until a few years ago.

Mahoning County owned the grandstands and that fairgrounds property, and transferred it to the agricultural society in 2003.

The grandstands and property were originally owned by the fair board and ownership was transferred in 1935 so the county could apply for a U.S. Works Progress Administration grant to improve the grandstands.

In the mid-1990s, the fair board borrowed $663,197 from county commissioners to make repairs to the grandstand. Under that agreement, the fair board was to repay $300,000 of that amount.

Payments were made of $50,000 per year with the final payment made in September 2001.

Travel money

Fair directors say they spend some of the income to attend the annual International Association of Fairs and Expositions convention in Las Vegas and the Ohio Fair Managers Association convention in Columbus.

These conferences, they say, have educational purposes: How to attract more people to the fair, a focus on safety and security rules and health regulations.

In 2007, seven fair directors attended the Las Vegas conference for $2,793 in conference fees and $6,404 in room and meal charges.

Fourteen fair directors, the fair manager and 10 spouses attended the November 2008 Ohio Fair Managers Association conference in Columbus for a total of $1,439 in registration and about $668 in room charges.

The fair board has implemented some recent procedural changes prompted after a Canfield Fair Police investigation into a vehicle winter storage program revealed financial irregularities. The long-time fair employee who oversaw that program, Paul Moracco, resigned last year.

Several fairgrounds patrons told fair police they gave Moracco cash for storage, but didn’t sign contracts — or signed them after the fact. Fair board policy requires a written contract for vehicle storage.

Moracco filed a lawsuit in Common Pleas Court against the fair board last September, citing breach of contract and asking for more than $100,000 in compensatory damages. He filed a motion earlier this month to voluntarily dismiss that suit. A judge has yet to rule on that motion.

Evans and fair board member Timm Schreiber said additional checks and balances have since been put in place.

When someone brings a vehicle to the fair for winter storage, payment is taken up front, they sign a contract indicating the owner’s name, building where it will be stored and other information. That contract is kept in the fair office.

Each vehicle then is tagged with identifying information as well, Evans said.

The fair board also keeps close track of cash during fair time, board members say. They declined to offer specifics because of security concerns, but Fortunato said armored cars collect fair cash and auditors from the state are on hand to ensure money is accounted for.

denise_dick@vindy.com

The “Fair of Fairs” draws thousands of people to the fairgrounds each year. In its peak years in the 1970s and 1980s, more than 500,000 attended annually. Attendance the past seven years:

2008: 302,186

2007: 342,992

2006: 317,485

2005: 354,904

2004: 388,110

2003: 309,972

2002: 386,920

Source: Vindicator files