Pueblo – The Colorado State Fair’s new general manager said a leaner, shorter event this year should enable the fair to repay a $856,000 state loan.
Shortening the fair, which opens Friday, to 11 days from 16 days could trim $320,000 from the budget, general manager Chris Wiseman said.
So far, the number of vendors signing up has increased, which will help boost revenues.
“We’re starting to chip away at the losses,” said Wiseman, who took over after last year’s fair.
State Agriculture Commissioner Don Ament said he was happy with the cost-cutting and improvements.
“He’s trying to make the fair attractive to people from all cross sections of society,” Ament said last week of Wiseman.
Ament acknowledged, however, that the state fair, which runs through Sept. 5, has been a perennial money-loser.
The reasons include:
Horse shows and programs for livestock, 4-H and Future Farmers of America, all required by the state, that lose an average of $350,000 a year.
The costly maintenance and repair of the older facilities at the fairgrounds.
A $7 million, 8,200-seat events center, still being paid for, that hasn’t generated as much revenue as anticipated.
To counter those expenses, fair officials have trimmed full-time staff to 19 from 26. They are using more Pueblo County jail inmates to help during the off-season.
The fair will start getting a cut of the interest the state earns from holding abandoned or forgotten bank accounts and other assets. Wiseman estimated the fair will receive about $250,000 a year.
In addition, state taxpayers can now divert part of their state income tax refunds to the fair. Most of the $26,000 donated this year was used to start the program, but Wiseman expects the revenue to increase next year.
