WLCF funding fate depends on governor's signature

With House Bill 2356 now resting in the governor’s hands, community fair officials wait nervously for the decision and the impact that decision can have on small fair venues. The Wheat Land Communities’ Fair (WLCF) receives the majority of its funding from grants given through the Department of Agriculture.

The funds received can be used for health and safety improvements at an agricultural fair. The importance of funding the fair means the continuous of community involvement and educational opportunities for children.

On average, WLCF receives $5,000 to $5,500 from the Department of Agriculture every year to help fund the fair. Other fair revenue contributors are Wampum and Blues Fest.

With the loss of Blues Fest, Aaron Esser estimates that WLCF is down 20 percent in revenue. Esser is the treasurer for the WLCF board, and says that Blues Fest contributed about $8,000 to the fair.

“We’re going to have to get a lot more creative in order to keep funding and to keep the grounds maintained like they have been. It won’t be the same as it is now, it’ll be even more difficult to sustain the grounds,” said Esser.

Esser said that the fair board is currently thinking of ideas to bring more revenue back to the fair. An idea they are currently discussing is having a concert series, similar to the Blues Fest venue, which would begin this year and potentially be a joint effort with the Ritzville Rodeo Association.

Val Watson, who has been a 4-H leader for students for 30 years at the WLCF, believes that any more cuts to small fair funding would be detrimental to the success and continuation of the fairs. Watson is also a member of the Washington State Fairs Association board, where she has served for the past nine years.

“All fairs are funded from the same pool, it’s just a different percentage rate for each fair that comes from the Department of Agriculture,” said Watson. “All of the amounts are decided from the state reports that each fair files at the end of the year.”

The money received from the Department of Agriculture is an annual reimbursement and WLCF generally receives the payment in mid to late March. WLCF should receive the annual reimbursement this year; it is the next two years that are in jeopardy.

Watson believes that a contributing reason to decreases for fair funding in the past is that the majority of the legislators do not understand the importance of fairs as an educational purpose. Watson is active in lobbying for fair funding and commends Senator Mark Schoesler for his continued support of fairs, since on multiple occasions he has spoke up to defend fair funding.

The uncertainty of the funding makes the WLCF board revaluate funding sources for the fair. The most frustrating aspect of the bill for Esser aside from the waiting to hear about receiving funding is that legislators are continually changing their minds.

“We just have to sit here and hope,” said Esser. “They just keep playing with the bill. Some people approve it, but it’s all up in the air still.”

Fair funding is especially important to small fairs that receive its main source of funding from the Department of Agriculture since the fairs to not operate without the primary source of revenue. The WLCF board is hoping that Wampum brings in a significant amount of money for funding this year.

In the past, Wampum has raised as little as $5,000 and max funds have been $9,000. Even though these funds are significant, the fair needs a greater amount of revenue to cover expenses.

“The gate brings in about $8,000-$9,000, but the fair itself costs us money. Just insurance is a little over $9,000,” said Esser.

The current $1 million that is allocated to fairs statewide began funding last year and continues until June 2013. Once that money is divided between all of the fairs in the state, the WLCF only receives their minimal portion of about $5,000 because of how many fair venues the funds are split between.

While the WLCF board continues to look into funding options, one of the things they are grateful about is the funding received from the Dorothy Schoesler memorial fund. The money received has helped “improve the livestock facility and secure infrastructure,” said Esser.

In order to continue fair funding, especially for small fair venues, fairs need to be viewed as educational experiences for students. With the economy struggling and schools having equal amount of trouble receiving funding, Watson can see how people lean towards educational funding first.

“We’re in education too, we’re teaching the kids about agriculture,” said Watson. “A lot of kids don’t know where eggs or beef comes from, and there’s more to it than that too. Kids have projects, and they’re learning responsibility and leadership.”

Since the state legislature has approved the funding, the governor makes the final decision on the funding should be allocated. The proposal of youth fairs and community fairs to join the county and area fairs in competition for funding is the most drastic change for the WLCF.

For many years, fairs similar to the Wheat Land Communities’ Fair also have received the primary amount of their revenue from the state funding through the grants distributed by the Department of Agriculture. An increase in funding for a small fair venue would help improve the fairgrounds for health and safety purposes and could potentially help draw in more visitors to the event.