With the color communities
and the fair you know we are a
a community driven organization.
We featured the community.
We are our County art fair and with covid.
With this shut down the sheltering.
We basically.
I've shut down our all of our events.
Everything we do,
it's not just the County Fair,
not just kids out here with
livestock projects, grandmas,
jams and jellies and Flowers and
carnival rides and concerts.
We are used the entire year year round.
Every weekend we got the event.
Whether it's a wedding shower
or a birthday party or a trade,
children craft show.
Where you live by the community
in a big way and without a
fairground you don't have that
economic access for a large Hall.
For these bigger celebrations
and family gatherings.
That puts us in a red in a big way.
The fair is. 65 to 75% of our
annual revenue for the year.
Your annual budgets.
About 1.3 million total from the fair,
so it's a it's a.
It's a big chunk of what we spend our
money on and make sure that we make
our money off of an we try to make
a couple of grand off the fair every
year to get set up for the following year.
But with no fair,
it's going to be a tight one this year.
You know, we've already had to layoff.
Love our staff.
We've cut all of our programs.
We've had to cut a lot of
our use of the property.
We're down to just trying to keep
the buildings together right now.
It's mean to our staff.
People on site.
And we are just trying to get by and
we do the middle as we possibly can.
We're uh.
Spend our money very wisely.
Very smartly.
Right now we're just in the
conservant survival mode.
And it's not just the fair
that we're looking at,
it's not just the annual event.
And granted, you know, we already.
It's a big event,
brings a lot of people on nonprofits
in but when you lose a fairground
you're losing a economical facility
for the community to access that the
private sector might be over prior,
but the private sector could be
higher in pricing then what we are.
You're losing a facility for.
Emergency responses.
What we are in a community is a developed
resource with open space for Cal Fire OS.
Whether we are a shelter for a mass
tragedy or we were sitting around
for a fire up in the foothills.
Sweat, fairgrounds are so fairgrounds.
Do we double down hosting the County Fair?
But we are a community driven facility.
First and foremost.
If you lose the property, you lose
that resource for emergency services.
In economics,
we bring to the Community events
we have weekend week out plus the
County Fair as a huge economic driver
for the County in the community
that you wouldn't see otherwise.
And you're bringing in outside
money into your area, which is huge.
Not just changing dollars and
cents hand to hand locally.
It's outside money in.
It was a two fold thing.
It was half expected.
I mean, it was kind of hard to see
hard to to take 'cause on the one hand,
we want to get to stage 4 opening
and allowed mass gatherings.
I'm was give that point fares can
open back up, go back to business
as usual and get these events in.
You know we've cancelled Brew Fest,
concerts, other fundraisers.
We can get them going again.
You know, once we get to
stage four and the Clarets,
so that's been our hope.
Our goal is to get their brother
relatively quickly and safely open
back up by taking a step backwards
and closing down a little bit it just.
It reinforces in Rio reminds us that
this is a marathon, not a Sprint.
There we go.
The distance we gotta navigate Covid
safely and correctly so we can open
up with our community safety in mind,
first and foremost.
It matters in a
lot of ways. A lot of people,
it's this diligent, it's history.
They grew up doing it so
they come back and do it.
They want as a kid with their family.
To the fair, they keep doing with
their kids and their grandkids.
Our people is bragging
rights in their community.
The folks that are in the garden,
clubs and flower clubs for the nice
Flowers and fruits and vegetables.
They compete an it is a contest
within their club members on how they
perform at the County Fair is that
blue ribbon versus the red ribbon or
yellow ribbon or whatnot and you get to
the livestock and kids that raise animals.
And it's not just livestock itself
is teaching the kids responsibility.
How to be better people,
how to take care of their their animals
and to be Humane about it and appreciate.
What they get from these animals?
You know these kids to get up everyday.
They take care of him, feed them,
water him, become the fair.
They show him these kids work with him.
It teaches life skills
that translate into other.
Actors in their life in the workplace.
It gives them a work ethic, dedication.
The fish jump correctly.
So it really is a training ground
for these kids on building a better
life themselves down the road.
A lot of kids may not have.
The work I think they need going into it,
but they come out of FFA and four eights.
They're dialed in.
These kids are on point for
whatever they may be doing.
So that's a great show right
there on the youth side of it.
And then you know the County
Fair is an annual event,
so it's something a little
bit different to change up.
It's the funnel cakes, you know.
The carnival rides.
We don't have it every day.
I can appreciate somebody not want
to come out 103 the fairgrounds I.
I can appreciate that 'cause it's hot.
I'm out here every day with it,
but when you come out at night and
it's a little cooler and you'll
walk in the ground and you can fill,
everyone is happy and enjoyable.
And having a good time and their
their into their community and
their friends and family,
it's a great time and.
So my best memories are at night
or evening time with families
walking through the grounds,
you got a little 5 year old on his
last little cord out for the day and a
little 3 year old eating funnel cake,
laughing and smiling and giggling.
And having a great time.
And that's really what it's all about.
Is making memories having family
fun and that's what we do.
We try and steal responsibility
with livestock and whatever else,
and you bring all together in
one place at one time.