Posted by Barton Lorimor (@bartonlorimor)
* Finke on the Dept. of Agriculture’s announcement that it will survey State Fair attendees about their experience in order to draw larger crowds…
That’s good as far as it goes, but remember, the people they are surveying still went this year. If they’re worried about the drop in attendance, shouldn’t they be surveying the people who didn’t go?
The answers will be interesting, especially because fair people since forever have said weather more than just about anything else determines the success of the fair. Not much the state can do about that.
Enjoyed international village, but having to dry out the truck after a rainstorm put a damper on the weekend. 2 stars. /snark
* Meanwhile, in the Not Helping section…
Despite provisions of the Racing Act requiring a five day racing program at the Fair, officials were able to stage only four days of races in 2015. Plus, they admit that they overcharged entrants, by requiring a $300 nominating fee, which exceeded 2% of the purses as is required in the Horse Racing Act.
An Auditor General’s report released this week, says that the higher fees were charged in 16 of 36 races in 2014, and 27 of 30 races in 2015.
The report says Fair officials admitted they were forced to charge the higher fees in 2014, “due to the purses for Championship races greatly declining over the years due to less appropriations.”
- A Jack - Monday, Dec 19, 16 @ 9:50 am:
I didn’t go, but did receive a survey.
- Anonymous - Monday, Dec 19, 16 @ 10:04 am:
I also did not go, but received the survey. How could they possibly know who attended, and where would they get their e-mail address?
- Sir Reel - Monday, Dec 19, 16 @ 10:25 am:
Gosh, I sure hope there’s a 2017 Illinois State Fair.
All those former college students and former social service agency employees will need a place to go to cheer up.
- Arsenal - Monday, Dec 19, 16 @ 10:28 am:
You almost CAN’T overstate the impact weather has on the fair, but yeah, 2 straight years of disappointing returns probably merits some investigation.
- RNUG - Monday, Dec 19, 16 @ 10:54 am:
We went. Crowds were sparse. Weather definitely had an impact but it seemed like the economy overall was down, and when that happens, optional things like amusement / entertainment get cut out of the budget. In that environment, I’m sure raising admission priced didn help.
- Joe Biden Was Here - Monday, Dec 19, 16 @ 11:10 am:
My suggestion is bigger and better butter cows.
- lincoln's beard - Monday, Dec 19, 16 @ 12:12 pm:
Move it to Chicago, completely transform it and make it interesting for the vast majority of Illinoisans who live north of I-80 and are tired of subsidizing it.