County sups probably won’t bail out increasingly unpopular fair
that hemorrhages more money each year
GILROY
People who attend the Santa Clara County Fair may be in for a dramatically scaled back version this year.
Santa Clara County supervisors warned last year that they might pull the plug on the county fair unless the event broke even. Normally only three days long, the five-day event last year took in a little more than $600,000 in revenue but lost $416,100.
Supervisors will meet today and will likely approve a deflated fair for this summer that will probably lack rides, musical acts and robust crowds.
“We got to cut back. We can’t afford it,” said Supervisor Don Gage. “Successful fairs in other counties have (loud) auto racing and (gambling on) horse races, but whether the community will tolerate these is another story.”
The 67-year-old fair held at the Santa Clara County fairgrounds made up for lost money last year with the county’s general fund and other fairground events, but more munificence this year appears unlikely due to the county’s $170 million deficit, Gage said.
“We’ll just have to size it down so the Future Farmers of America and the different organizations can be able to show their animals so they can get to the state fair if they need to,” Gage said. “The circuses and carnivals just aren’t paying off.”
Gage said moving the fair to Gilroy is unlikely because the city lacks fair infrastructure – “maybe in the future,” he said – and he added, “believe it or not,” that many FFAs and 4-H members hale from the northern part of county.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
