CapitolFax.com - Latest Comments in Not a big deal

Re: Not a big deal

Insider — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:50:11 -0000

The ISF exerts absolutely no control or monitoring over ABC who is contracted for parking/admission. Whatever ABC says is taken as accurate with no checks and balances.
$963,539 in gate receipts. $3 per person. That means only 321,000 paid attendees. But the ISF says at least double attended the Fair. Not likely ABC and their contracted clubs let 320,000 slip in unpaid. Anyone who has attended the ISF for the duration knows more than 320,000 attended. So what happened to the money?

Re: Not a big deal

Cornerfield — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:04:45 -0000

It's not too late to hit up the Tremont Turkey Festival this weekend. It has always made money. There's a lot to be said for small-town-wide volunteering to help keep things a-float.

Starting in 1965'ish, it funded construction of the town swimming pool. Now 40-some years later, it is helping fund the new pool as well (after funding numerous ball diamonds, etc. over the years). Check it out some year. It has the best slow-grilled turkey around; not to mention the strawberry shortcakes and smoothies:) It's less than an hour's drive north of Springfield.

Re: Not a big deal

Disgusted — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 23:06:19 -0000

The first thing I go to see at the Fair are the farm animals. I love it. I also perform there with a pipe band, so it's double fun. Another great part is to find a bench and just people watch - very entertaining!

Re: Not a big deal

fredbird — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:43:43 -0000

-- If there was a line item in the state budget or agency for the Taste of Chicago and every year it exceeded revenues by a couple millions dollars, downstaters would scream. --

Just wait until the bills for the 2016 Olympics start coming due.

Re: Not a big deal

Frank Booth — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:23:26 -0000

Montrose,
exactly.
If this kind of event was in the Chicago area people would scream about wasteful Daley/Stroger regimes.
But it's downstate and theirs tractors so it's all good.
Oh, we don't have enough to pay health care providers. We'll I'm sure that has nothing to do with the State Fair and it's red ink.

Fair's great. Go to it every year. But it hasn't changed appreciably in the dozen years I've been going.

Seems like at least an effort could be made to either make it more efficient or make the losses more justifiable other than saying it's downstate tradition.

Re: Not a big deal

618er — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:17:51 -0000

I remember going to the Du Quoin Fair when it was "private". Sure there is a loss.... But ~4 million total. Let's try some perspective. the Gov gave a million to a school.. oh wait his mistake it actually went to an organization ran by a convict that he pardoned Talk about sustaining themselves, what about the CTA and RTA ?... We've dumped millions into them both and they still have problems staying on the tracks....
The Auditor General is a genious... Hey... Nothing the state is involved in makes money or seems efficient in any way. I won't even charge them for the report....

What they should do is charge everyone and send them to building or booth and make them prove they should get a refund...Have the state police enforce no exceptions.....

Re: Not a big deal

Pot calling kettle — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:51:16 -0000

Clarification: The Sandwich Fair (DeKalb Co. Fair) is west of Chicago the same week as the DuQuion Fair, I think.

Re: Not a big deal

Pot calling kettle — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:49:42 -0000

There are plenty of county fairs north of Springfield. One of the really big ones is about 1-2 hours drive west in Sandwich.

The fairs are one of the few expenditures the gov has left us to enjoy. He keeps cutting parks and not repairing roads. All that is left is to ride your horse to the local county fair.

Re: Not a big deal

montrose — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:20:48 -0000

~~ The Chicago area seems to be left out. ~~

As a Chicagoan that has spent a lot time downstate, as well as grew up in a rural area, please do me a favor - for you own safety, never say to folks in rural Illinois that Chicago is being slighted by not having a major state-supported event in the Chicago area.

Re: Not a big deal

Cheswick — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:40:05 -0000

That $2.6 million for maintaining the facility during the fair sounds like a good reason to increase exhibitor, supplier, carny fees, and more.

Re: Not a big deal

Frank Booth — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:09:16 -0000

Rich,
Oh I'm aware fine lawmakers like Ken Dunkin ensure the Chicago area gets its share of taxpayer subsidized "house music" festivals and the like.
But c'mon, $3 million in losses and that place barely has electricity because the wiring rotted out. Raise prices, do something to at least make it appear you're putting forth an effort.

If there was a line item in the state budget or agency for the Taste of Chicago and every year it exceeded revenues by a couple millions dollars, downstaters would scream.

You know it. I know it.
Anyone who thinks differently is just wrong.

Re: Not a big deal

Old Shepherd — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:51:30 -0000

Personally, I wouldn't see a problem with having a small fair similar to the DuQuoin State Fair somewhere a few hours north of Springfield. I agree. What's fair is fair.

Re: Not a big deal

Rich Miller — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:48:32 -0000

Do you think that no state tax dollars are used to subsidize those constant Chicago summer festivals?

Re: Not a big deal

Frank Booth — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:46:34 -0000

Since everyone seems to love these fairs so much and not care about the finances, why not expand and offer more of them.

The Chicago area seems to be left out. A nice taxpayer subsidized shindig in Naperville or Waukegan I'm sure would be enjoyed by the masses and no one in the rest of the state would mind their tax dollars going to it.

heck, turn the Taste of Chicago over to the state and let taxpayers everywhere subsidize that. Everyone on board?

What's fair is fair.

Re: Not a big deal

Rich Miller — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:27:11 -0000

lol. True.

Re: Not a big deal

He Makes Ryan Look Like a Sain — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:18:18 -0000

Rich, think about how much they would lose without the beer tents! You have done your share to subsidize them.

Re: Not a big deal

He Makes Ryan Look Like a Sain — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:16:42 -0000

I remember Bomke's comment to the news when they asked him if a lot of jobs were moving to Chicago (which we all know now were), he basically said I don't think so, the Gov's office says they are not moving jobs and at this time I have to believe them.

Hey Larry I got some great land to sell you!!!

Re: Not a big deal

Old Shepherd — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:08:15 -0000

I am from Southern Illinois, and love the DuQuoin State Fair. I am glad my tax dollars support it and the fairgrounds and am also glad to support the Illinois State Fair for the fine folks upstate.

I guarantee you that if you tell the people of DuQuoin that they can have a new school, but that the fair would be taken away as an exchange, you would have a revolt on your hands. Besides, the DuQuoin State Fair isn't just about DuQuoin. It's about the entire region.

Re: Not a big deal

Rich Miller — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:45:47 -0000

Chanson, we always went where the "city" kids were for the same reason. lol

Re: Not a big deal

Chanson — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:44:05 -0000

The city teens, boys and girls, spent most of the time walking through the barns because all the teen farm boys and girls were totally hot.

Re: Not a big deal

Plutocrat03 — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:43:44 -0000

Perhaps there is value in the State assuming so cost reponsibilities for the Fairs, but it seems that there should be some effort in trying to run the Fairs profitably.

One step in that direction is to have the facts available and to have some professionals review the data to see if changes can be made to the cash flow without damaging the experience.

If everything that can be done is already in place, the show the citizens the analysis and that should satisfy the casual questioner.

The problem generally stems from the fact that in government, we want to do what is 'good' regardless what the cost. Examples are public transportation and health care. The fairs are just a tiny element of the thought process.

Ultimately what percentage of the residents of Illinois attend the events? Everyone pays for it, but only a few enjoy the largess.

Re: Not a big deal

Rich Miller — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:23:21 -0000

By the way, I think this "de-emphasizing ag" stuff is a buncha crud.

I grew up on a farm in Iroquois County. We didn't get much entertainment out there, so the county fair was a big deal. If it was all animals, it would've been a huge bore for us 4H kids. Also, when we went to the State Fair the animals were fine, but the rest of the extravaganza blew my young mind.

Farm kids like that non-ag stuff, too.

Re: Not a big deal

Furter — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:18:40 -0000

DuQuoin brings a lot of money to that area every year, it is a major chunk of the local economy every year, in a region where you don't have much else going on that brings in tax revenue. If the state dropped the DQSF in favor of just handing out checks for things, even noble things like fixing up the high school, I think that would be worse for the local economy, not better.

And the high school situation there is likely the same problem we have with ed funding statewide: basing the funds off property taxes means rich areas have good schools and poorer areas get scraps.

Yes, we could scale back the state fairs to purely agricultural exhibitions. Attendance would certainly drop quite a bit. You will never get to a point where it will break-even just on the livestock showing, because you still need money for the premiums (prizes) for the winners, which draws the farmers to undertake the expense of raising and transporting and showing their animals in the first place. Raise entry fees on the exhibitors too high, and nobody will show. I think this is just one of those cases where government is there to do what pure capitalistic free market forces can't do. Some things you don't do just for profit.

So non-ag components are a needed boost. Good stewardship demands though that such added attractions be chosen based on their potential to bring in more than they cost. This is why you get the entertainment you see, and some complain about: these are the available and affordable acts you can get for that time of the year that will attract people living within a couple hours' drive of the venue. Springfield is surrounded by farmland, with a few college towns poking out here and there. You will always get more country music acts than rap or etc. because of this. I thought it was smart and brave to book Weird AL this year: we already got our tickets and are sure he's going to sell out the grandstand as one of the few non-country "family-friendly" acts there this year.

Re: Not a big deal

VanillaMan — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:05:15 -0000

How would a private corporation handle a state fair, or would a private corporation even want a state fair today?

Since bureaucratizing the State Fair, it has had little incentive to justify itself. They focus on attendance numbers and compare those numbers to other bureaucratized state fairs. This is a very low hurtle, don't you agree?

Just how slack can they act? Now they aren't even concerned if they break even? After years of flat attendance and a debt, they are "fine"?

They must be used to working with animal offal, because that excuse stinks in my opinion.

Agricultural focus and wholesome family entertainment barely defines the Illinois State Fair. As a Chicagoan I loved the fair because except for the Lincoln Park Petting Zoo, there were few places I could go to see domesticated farm animals and see something green besides the Chicago River on St. Patty's Day. Seeing farm kids show their 4-H projects and watching the cleanest farm animals ever shown was a delight.

I still like it, but the State Fair is in a horrible rut. There seems to be little effort in making the Fair one deserving the name Illinois. There had been an embarrassingly dated Jimmy Buffet-ish Margaritaville area, (how this fits into Central Illinois is beyond me), a Mayberry-Andy Griffith-ish area which is presented like a bad high school drama, while real farm animals are shown on the periphery of the fairgrounds as though they are secondary players to the beer tents and bad carnival rides.

It seems that the people responsible for the State Fair are contented to wash down the streets, take out the trash and drop a new cake into the urinals - then open the gates again.

Demanding a profit as well as demanding higher attendance figures, all done under basic auditing standards is the least we could expect from these people. The fair lasts only a couple of weeks, couldn't they try?

Re: Not a big deal

Reddbyrd — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:59:48 -0000

That Holland is such a scrouge. The fair is great. Who cares if it makes money. Folks will be surprised how big a draw Weird Al. He will do a lot better than the head bangers or hip hoppers. I bet Giggles and Fumbles will be dancing in the aisles.