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The Battle Of Midways: Find A Common Ground

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 13, 2008

Few events offer as much all-around fun as a fair - right down to the second the rides are dismantled, food vendors offer up their last temptations and the lights are turned off until next year.

It's unfortunate, then, that the Florida State Fair's plans to give us six more days of fun, food and agricultural enrichment, beginning in 2010, has met with strong objections from some Pasco County residents who put on a dandy fair of their own in Dade City.

What should be exciting news for the region and state - the Tampa-based fair's expansion - is threatening to become a David vs. Goliath-type battle that, in a way, pits one community against another and overshadows the spotlight that both fairs place on the agricultural industry. The dispute shouldn't become an ugly sideshow. Cooler heads need to prevail.

The issue is straightforward: Both fairs are held every February. The state fair traditionally ends on President's Day, and the seven-day-long Pasco fair purposely begins the same day.

The schedule is convenient for traveling vendors, ride operators and others on the fair circuit, as well as for students who exhibit livestock at both events, and great for fair lovers. But the bigger fair's planned extension from the current 12 days to 18 throws a wrench into this arrangement.

Pasco fair officials understandably feel they're being stepped on and treated like a kid brother. The 62-year-old fair is much smaller - it drew just under 41,000 people last year, compared to 490,000-plus at the state fair a half-hour or so drive to the south - and doesn't come close to matching the bigger event's coffers and event offerings.

Considering some vendors and others work both fairs, Pasco's fair board fears a newly expanded state fair could jeopardize their operations. Their concerns are probably overstated, but they raise fair questions that need to be answered.

Local fairs are important, helping maintain a spirit of community and friendly competition, especially in rural areas. Their existence needs to be protected. State Agriculture and Consumer Services officials, who will have the final say in the dispute, need to keep this in mind.

Of course, the Pasco Fair board needs to understand that the Florida State Fair, which is older, should have every right to expand in an attempt to maintain and enhance its success. State fair officials have an ambitious $70 million capital improvement program they want to undertake and need to raise more money to fund it. The fair is hugely popular, generating an estimated $170 million in economic impact. But adding more days doesn't automatically guarantee more success.

The key here for state officials and board members from both fairs is the calendar. Surely, with more than a year to go until the state fair plans to get bigger, common ground can be found - even if it requires the State Fair to begin earlier or that the Pasco fair start later or consider expanding too.

Both fairs are steeped in proud tradition, but that doesn't mean common sense and a spirit of neighborly cooperation shouldn't play key roles here.

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