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I have just
returned from the 125th Annual Convention
in Rochester. Based on comments I heard, the
convention was a success thanks to the leadership of
our outgoing president Bob Grems of
the Boonville
Fair. Thank you Bob, for your dedication and
perseverance on agricultural topics
that are the
forefront of the organization of today.
The year goes
by fast. I now have the reins and it is my
responsibility to continue the good
work of our
previous presidents. That is, to keep this
organization and the county fairs of
New York State
viable and a showplace of agriculture both
historical, present day and futuristic.
There are
many who criticize our county fairs. They say that
the fairs’ create traffic problems,
noise
pollution and zoning issues. Those individuals
would rather sit quietly at home on the weekends
than go to the local county fair. But from
experience as a child, the local county fair
each year was
my only chance to see what life was like in other
places, to try different foods
and hear
different languages. Even though the world has
gotten smaller, this is still true of
many of our
county residents attending fairs today.
My hometown
is small and I have been reminded on several
occasions that the local fair is the largest
marketplace in the county. As a vendor, where else
in the county would you be able
to show 60,000
or 70,000 fair goers your products and services .
We heard at the convention
that an
economic impact study was completed at the request
of the Association. This study researched the
attendance of four typical county fairs in New
York; The Jefferson County Fair,
the Washington
County Fair, the Dutchess County Fair and the Erie
County Fair, all different in
size and
attendance. As a result, the study put forth that
the impact of our county fairs to the
local,
regional and state economy was over $70 million and
created some 1500 jobs. This
money changes
hands several times allowing regional businesses the
chance to grow and local businesses, workers the
chance to earn a decent living. Taxes paid as a
result of sales and
income in the
state allows governments the opportunity to
resurface our roads, provide police protection and
protect our well being. For more information on the
impact study look for
the study
results in this website and the April issue of the
newsletter.
Later this
month your executive committee will be meeting with
our legislative representatives
to review
topics they will be working on for us in the coming
year. I am happy to report that
]through their
efforts the NYS premium money has been allocated in
next year’s Cuomo
budget as well
as an extra $100,000 going to county fairs coming
from the NYS Horse
Breeding &
Development Fund. This is very good news for our
organization and our
membership.
As our past
president mentioned last year, there is going to be
some changes coming to our organization. For too
many months now we have been operating at a deficit
and the bank
balances at
the end of the year have been dwindling. I will be
proposing soon ways that I
hope will stop
the trend of declining balances and put the
organization back on track financially.
I hope you
all had a good experience at the convention and I
look forward to seeing some
of you and
your fairs this coming summer. |
