By Ken Francis, Staff Writer

 

Two days of bad weather and competition from two other area county fairs cut into attendance figures for the Sherburne County Fair last month.

Gate attendance was down, but there was also one major disappointment in the Grandstand.

Musical entertainer Chris Hawkey was supposed to perform in the Grandstand Friday evening. Typically, he would have packed the house with paying fans. But the show was cancelled.

“Our grandstand is clay. With all that rain it was a slime pit trying to walk around in there,” says Sherburne County Fairboard president Jenni Axelson.    “And it rained off and on all day Thursday too.”

That cut down attendance for Day Care Day, where local daycares bring the kids, who get a chance to take part in lots of activities and get free stuff from vendors.

“We had 260 kids signed up to come, and maybe 75 showed up,” says Axelson.

The fair board decided to try something new this year, contracting with a hypnotist.

“That was very popular,” says Axelson, as were the Oz Brothers, a duo who engage the audience in an interactive story based on the Wizard of Oz.

Most of the other events went on as planned, including 4-H animal shows and judging. But except for horses, numbers continue to decline for animal entries. It’s an issue being dealt with at fairs across the state.

“There’s not as many kids in 4-H anymore. We don’t even have an FFA (Future Farmers of America),” says Axelson.

It’s not only farm-related events that are diminishing. Axelson says the biggest drop in attendance is in the teen area. She says it’s hard to find something they’re interested in - other than their cell phones.

The Fair gets revenue in a number of ways - gate receipts,  a percentage of the Gopher State Exposition carnival receipts, entry fees for the truck & tractor pull and the demolition derby, which is still the most popular event at the fair. 

 “We rent extra bleachers just for that one,” says Axelson.

But the fairboard members are always brainstorming about what’s new and interesting that would draw people to the fair. Axelson said she visits other fairs to get ideas.

The Mille Lacs County Fair had an auto barrel race in their grandstand.

“They had so much fun, people were going two and three times,” she says. “It’s something to try I guess.” 

Anything that brings in extra revenue is a bonus. 

Whether this year’s fair made money or lost money is still a question. Axelson said they bought cancellation insurance for the Hawkey concert.

“We had to pay out quite a bit of money to the artist even though we didn’t have the concert,” she says. “Hopefully they pay pretty well.”