The State Fair Commission said in April it wanted to raise admission prices from $6 for adults and $4 for kids to $10 for adults and $5 for kids. Yesterday the Rules Review Committee said no, the Huron gatekeepers will need to keep one-dollar bills in their change boxes:
Senator Jean Hunhoff led the opposition. The Yankton Republican chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. She said the Legislature approved more than $721,000 of state general-fund support for the fair’s operations in the 2023 budget that starts July 1, but the fair’s leadership didn’t mention the proposed increases during the budget hearing earlier this year.
“If you’re going to look for an increase, we should see that in your budget for the coming year,” Hunhoff said [Bob Mercer, “Legislators Block SD State Fair Gate Hikes,” KELO-TV, 2022.06.14].
Legislators also seemed concerned that the price hikes didn’t appear to arise from any businesslike analysis:
[Fair manager Peggy] Besch acknowledged the fair doesn’t have a written business plan. She said a subcommittee worked on the proposed amounts but they weren’t based on any specific needs. The plan would have generated an estimated $280,000 more per year.
“We just settled on the 20 percent increase for adults and just a dollar increase for the youth,” Besch said.
“So it was not calculated just based on costs?” asked Senator Red Dawn Foster, D-Pine Ridge.
Replied Besch: “I guess I would say no. We looked at different fees and the revenue that it would generate. So I would say yes and no, depending how you looked at it” [Mercer, 2022.06.14].
Besch’s math skills appear to be as good as her business planning skills: raising adult ticket prices from $6 to $10 is a 67% increase, not a 20% increase. her estimate of $280K more in ticket revenue is also well below my estimate of $430K. Either the Fair Commission didn’t carry the 2 or my estimates of the adult/kid/tyke breakdown of Fair attendees is radically off.
Even if the State Fair Commission improves its math and planning and gets legislators to improve higher ticket prices next year, South Dakota’s State Fair will still charge attendees less than the statewide shindigs in North Dakota, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
To what extent are State Fairs relevant anymore? I’m just asking.
I know it’s relevant for Huron. In Wisconsin, it’s relevant for West Allis. Other than for these cities, it’s a fart in the wind. Some people go there to eat bad food and puke it up on scary rides, then take their puke breath into a country music concert. I’m not sure that’s worth the taxpayer funds that subsidizes these events. It is a good venue for collecting signatures on petitions, so I’d keep it going just for that. And politicians get an opportunity to blow smoke. I’d keep it going just for that.
Most of those fairs are also bigger. I can tell you that my children and I will probably be sitting this year’s fair out.
Well…given the increase in gas prices, it is very expensive, as is, for Mr. and Mrs. South Dakota to load up the van and take their kids and a couple of neighbor kids to a day at the Fair….as far as I’m concerned the Fair should be free admittance…the legislature can subsidize it to make up the loss…charge for the Fairground events like the concerts and the new rodeo…but let Mom tour the Women’s building and Dad look at the new tractors for nothing. If they must raise revenue, they can increase the commercial exhibitor’s fee.
Hey folks it’s Huron, what did you expect? Its fun, been there many times. The concerts are OK too. Midstate isn’t flyover country you know.
Mr. Pay is righter than right. The state fairs should be ended. The carnies and ruffians they attract are a public nuisance.
Grudz…ruffians???…you must be talking about the fair in Rapid, not the State Fair in Huron…the last rowdy I saw there got boxed about the ears by a couple fellas in new overalls. No need for law enforcement. The State Fair is decent people doing decent things though the country concerts do have yahoos yodeling and such…big deal. Even the carneys on the midway don’t go overboard…we seem to appreciate garishness and a little crudity from the carneys but no flim flam. Save that for the Republican Party.