TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Extension Irks Pasco Fair

ADVERTISEMENT

By LAURA KINSLER

lkinsler@tampatrib.com

Published: November 1, 2008

DADE CITY - The Pasco County Fair Association will do everything in its power to stop the Florida State Fair from extending its dates by another six days.

The Florida State Fair Authority voted this month to extend the annual fair from 12 to 18 days, starting in 2010. The new dates would overlap Pasco County's Fair, which usually starts on Presidents Day, the same day the Florida State Fair ends.

"We need to stop this at all costs," said Wilton Simpson, chairman of the Pasco County Fair Association. "This would threaten our fair's existence."

The county fair, launched in 1946, would lose vendors and exhibits to the state fair, Simpson said.

"If they want to go 18 days, they should move their fair forward and still end on Presidents Day," Simpson said.

State fair Executive Director Chuck Pesano said the fair leaders want the extra days so they can raise attendance and revenue to finance $70 million in upgrades at the state fairgrounds in Tampa.

In 2008, the state fair drew 490,513 visitors, a 7 percent increase over the previous year's attendance. Fair officials attributed the increase to better entertainment and better weather (the 2007 fair was cold and rainy).

This year's increased attendance also brought in $3.9 million in midway revenue, the highest ever for a 12-day fair. On "student day," the midway revenue peaked at $862,247.

Add six more days, and attendance could reach 750,000, Pesano said.

"It would take us some time to get the word out, but we think by the third year we could approach 700,000 visitors," he said.

Travis Claytor, communications director for Tampa Bay & Company, the local tourism board, said adding the extra six days - particularly the three extra weekend days - are critical to growing the state fair, which attracts visitors from outside the region.

"Sometimes if you have a rainy weekend, people may not want to make that drive," Claytor said.

With the new schedule, the state fair would end just as the Florida Strawberry Festival gets under way in Plant City. Strawberry Festival organizers have not objected to the proposed changes.

Fairs and festivals must be permitted by the Florida Department of Agriculture. spokesman Terry McElroy said the Florida State Fair Authority was required to notify each fair and festival within 50 miles.

"We sort of automatically grant them now," McElroy said. "But if it infringes on a neighboring fair or cuts down on its attendance, we have a formal objection process."

McElroy said the Pasco County Fair already has said it plans to file a formal objection.

Not everyone in Pasco County is up in arms about the change, though.

John Nicolette, a Pasco resident who serves as treasurer for the Florida State Fair Authority, said he supports increasing the state fair's schedule.

"I don't believe it will affect the Pasco County Fair," he said.

Reporter Laura Kinsler can be reached at (813) 865-4844.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT