Rodney Schmidt waits near the Ring of Fire ride during the opening day of the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo last August. The fair was one of the most profitable in recent history as leaders work on a turnaround for the strapped finances for the state-owned show. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/The Denver Post)
The nearly the Colorado State Fair had showing in a state audit released last week isn’t as deep a hole as that big number makes it seem, according to Chris Wiseman, the general manager of the operation.
That loss is offset by about $2 million in standing contributions from state and local taxpayers. About $741,000 of those losses comes from depreciation of state-owned assets at the 80-acre fairgrounds in Pueblo.
Now it’s up to legislators to help out a little more. The fair, which is a state agency under the state Department of Agriculture, is asking for roughly the difference, $550,000 through the governor’s budget office to help close the gap. Legislator’s put in some extra money last year, as well.
It’s important to remember, Wiseman points out, that the fair itself is a moneymaker. Expenses outside the control of the midway eat up its profits and then some. Besides maintaining the fairgrounds’ buildings year round, the fair also absorbs about $450,000 in programs for 4-H kids and Future Farmers of America, promoting the Colorado’s next generation of ag producers.
And you don’t get a full picture of the fair’s value just by looking at what it costs onsite. In 2011, Colorado gets a $33.8 million economic benefit from
the Fair each year, plus the equivalent of 374 full-time jobs. The study indicated about $24.6 million of that impact is in Pueblo County, an area of the state that lawmakers have said is lagging in the economic recovery.
“The issue is if you’re going to have this fair and have all the things that come along with it, then you have to fund it,” Wiseman said after hearing from some legislators concerned about the size of the operating losses. “If you don’t want to have a fair, then that’s a decision you have to make.”
And there’s also the issue of heritage and national exposure. The fair started in 1872, four years before Colorado was a state. The site also is home to the , which brings about 900 competitors ages 5 to 18, along with their families and friends, to Pueblo each July.
John Salazar, who this month, is optimistic the fair is on a rebound. He appointed himself to the State Fair Board during his tenure, and said he hopes to keep that seat as he returns to the San Luis Valley to work full-time the Salazar family’s large farming operation there.
Salazar said that with the budget cuts and other changes the fair has made in the past year, .
“I’m very optimistic about the direction the fair headed in,” he said before last week’s audit was released.
