Coronavirus Infects California's County Fairs

CALIFORNIA —Fair weather isn’t in the forecast this year for many of California’s county fairs. These popular annual events have for decades provided Californians with summer entertainment ranging from exhibits and concerts to carnival rides and the opportunity to test their skill on the midway trying to win stuffed animals.

But this year, with the coronavirus enveloping the state, several fairs have already been canceled. Depending upon how long the health emergency lasts, many others scheduled for June and July are waiting to decide whether their gates will be locked too.

As of April 30, some 29 county fairs had been scrubbed, including the state’s two largest, in Orange and San Diego Counties. Other cancellations were the California State Fair and fairs in Contra Costa, Marin, Sacramento, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma Counties. A decision by the Alameda County Agricultural Fair Association, on the fate of the state’s fifth largest fair, scheduled to begin June 19, has yet to be made.

At least 23 other fairs scheduled during August, September and October – including those in Los Angeles, Napa, San Benito, Santa Cruz, Ventura and Yolo Counties – are waiting to see if restrictions on large gatherings will be lifted in time for their events to proceed.

Yet with millions of unemployed Californians struggling to make ends meet, it’s unknown what impact this may have on attendance – and spending – at fairs which do ultimately decide to operate.

What’s at stake are tens of millions of dollars in revenue for organizations who sponsor the fairs, as well as millions of additional dollars flowing to companies providing carnival rides and concessions, not to mention the trickle-down benefit to the local economy of nearby communities. State and local governments also benefit from sales taxes and other levies.

Of the 77 county fairs in California 67% are sponsored by District Agricultural Associations, organizations established by state law to hold fairs and exhibitions promoting agricultural and other industries. The remainder are operated by non-profit organizations or county governments. The California State Fair is a separate state agency.

In 2018, the most recent data available, the 74 county fairs submitting financial information to the California Department of Food & Agriculture’s Fairs & Expositions Branch reported a total of $351.4 million in operating revenues. Independently, the Los Angeles County Fair reported $32.2 million in revenue. Attendance reported by 69 of the fairs was slightly more than 9.2 million in paid and free admissions. Fairs cancelled so far this year accounted for 4.9 million of those admissions and 56% of the revenue.

Feeling the Pain

Everybody hurts when midways fall silent and carnival rides stop. Nowhere is this more evident than on the bottom lines of companies like Butler Amusements, Inc. of Fairfield, one of the largest providers of carnival services in the five western states, including 38 state and county fairs and 60 festivals or other events every year.

“Because of the unique circumstances the pandemic created, until gatherings, events, fairs and festivals are given the green light to begin operations again, everything is canceled without any opportunity to substitute,” says Andrea Stillwell, Butler’s marketing manager. “This brings our entire industry to a halt with no opportunity for revenue.”

Cancellations disrupt months of meticulous logistical and other planning beginning a year in advance and includes obtaining numerous permits and licenses, purchasing food for concessions and prizes for midway game booths.

“In a normal scenario, if a fair cancelled months in advance or more we’d have the option of booking our operations at a different fair or event on that date,” Stillwell said. “In the current climate, booking a different fair or event is not an option. Our company as well as our fair partners take a complete loss.”

One of Butler’s clients is the Alameda County Fair and Stillwell said if it’s forced to cancel her company would work with them to possibly create a different event later in the year.

Other victims of fair cancellations are individuals and small businesses who operate additional concessions selling arts and crafts items and community groups using fair booths for fund raising. Hundreds of jobs provided by fair-sponsoring organizations themselves are lost as well.

While paid admissions account for substantial amounts of revenue, the lion’s share is derived from carnival companies and concessionaires. In 2018, fairs submitting financial statements to the state reported at least $63.4 million in carnival and concession receipts compared to $55.9 earned from the sale of admission tickets. The Los Angeles County Fair does not report those amounts separately.

This revenue is primarily generated from flat-rate fees and/or a percentage of carnival and concession profits. Other revenue comes from renting space for commercial exhibits, company sponsorships and horse or motorcar racing events which are common fair attractions.

Disappointed Students

Empty fairgrounds are proving a huge disappointment to thousands of high school students – and creating financial problems for many.

Of the approximately 94,000 students enrolled in agricultural classes at schools across the state, between 20 and 25% have spent months working on projects to exhibit at their county fair. Many of these projects involved raising livestock ranging from cattle, pigs and lambs to poultry and rabbits that would have competed for blue ribbons, and later been sold at auction.

Charles Parker, the California Department of Education’s Program Manager and State FFA Advisor, said livestock auctions conducted at the fairs are important sources of income needed by students to repay loans obtained from schools, banks and other agricultural loan programs and used to purchase animals and buy feed and other materials needed to raise them. When the animals are sold at auction, loans are repaid and anything remaining is frequently salted away for college tuition.

Coronavirus restrictions created other problems for students as well.

Parker says many schools maintain farms where students raise their livestock. When schools closed students still had to feed and care for their animals. In one case there were nearly 200 pigs on a farm operated by the Elk Grove School District, which worked out a procedure permitting students to safely feed the animals.

Parker expects some auctions will still take place either in a virtual environment or otherwise. So far two county fairs that were cancelled – the Colusa and Solano County fairs – have indicated they may still conduct auctions. In other counties, Parker said local businesses – and even school districts themselves – may buy the animals and donate the meat to food banks.

With many of the larger fairs still scheduled between June and October, Parker said everybody is waiting to see what happens.

“It’s definitely a big disappointment,” said Parker. “Emotionally it’s always hard for students trying to figure out what do with their animals.”