What if they cancel the Washington State Fair? COVID-19 has organizers, others nervous
The Washington State Fair is in a waiting game this year.
It has only weeks to decide whether to cancel the 2020 fall fair over COVID-19 concerns or continue with plans as usual.
The Washington State Fair Events Center is waiting to see if Pierce County could reach Phase 4 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s reopening plan by September before deciding if the two-week state fair will happen this year, said Stacy Van Horne, spokesperson for the fair.
Phase 4 of the Safe Start plan would reopen large gathering of more than 50 people, with social distancing. Nightclubs, concert venues, and large sporting events would be allowed to reopen.
The decision is expected to be made before August, Van Horne said.
In the meantime, fair staff is planning as though the fair would happen. The event will look different this year, but concrete plans are still unclear.
“We need to do what’s right, and we are still figuring that out,” Van Horne said. “We are looking at everything.”
Workers already have added portable hand sanitizer and hand-washing stations.There likely will be more spectator exhibits for children, like shows rather than touch-based and interactive ones, Van Horne said.
Paths in the showplex would be one way to limit contact between fair-goers. Rides likely would be spread out and cleaned more frequently. Lines would be designed to encourage social distancing.
“We can’t open and pretend it never happened,” she said. “The fair is resilient and so are the guests, and there is a lot of legacy, and people are devoted to the town and the fair.”
There isn’t concern about the economic impact to the fair itself should the fall 2020 event be canceled because the money intended to be spent on contracts, rides, and staffing would be kept for next year, Van Horne said. She said she believes a canceled fair would not hurt future attendance.
“People who understand what the fair is trying to do will come back and support us,” she said.
The Washington State Fair Events Center has already lost more than 6 percent of its annual revenue, or about $2 million, according to an economic impact report commissioned by the Washington State Fair.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, fairgrounds events were canceled, like the Spring Fair and the inaugural “Paddy O’Party.” Van Horne said fair officials aren’t sure what revenue was lost from the St. Patrick’s Day celebration, but the canceled Spring Fair stung.
“We are fortunate to not have a lot of debt. It did hit us, but not as much as (canceling) state fair would,” she said.
History of the fair
The fair began in 1900 as the Valley Fair, focusing on livestock and agriculture industries. It since has become a 20-day event that brings more than a million people to Puyallup each year. The Washington State Fair has only closed for three years during World War II.
The economic implications of reduced attendance or a canceled fair woud be far-reaching.
Most of the revenue the Washington State Fair generates doesn’t return to the organization but to local businesses and nonprofits.
In 2017, the state fair made $33.4 million, according to an economic impact report commissioned by the Washington State Fair.
In the same year, the fairgrounds produced an estimated $246.5 million of “direct impact” profits for Washington businesses and taxes. The report estimated that 76 percent of the $246.5 million is spent in Pierce County.
“The direct impact of year-round events includes the business revenue, employment and labor income generated from the events organizer’s activity, food sales at the event and visitor spending outside the event in the community,” the 2019 report said.
If the fair is canceled or there are fewer attendees, it could have serious consequences for Puyallup and Pierce County.
Puyallup
The 2019 report said that two years prior, events on the fairgrounds bolstered Puyallup’s economy by $149 million through spending by visitors, business, vendors and the fair itself.
“Puyallup just wouldn’t be Puyallup without the fair,” city spokesperson Brenda Fritsvold said. “It’s a part of our community character, and it’s one of the primary things that visitors associate with Puyallup.”
Minus expenses incurred by Puyallup to host the event, the state fair brought the city $865,000 in admissions tax and sales tax last year. The funds were used to help cover $54.6 million in costs for city employees, programs and the police department.
“When general fund revenues are reduced, we’re able to look at all ways in which those are used to determine where corresponding appropriation reductions will be made,” Fritsvold said.
Vendors
Many heavily depend on the fair for their bottom line.
For some, like Duris Concessions, which make the signature elephant ears, the cancellation of the Spring Fair was the start to a tough year.
“With COVID-19, it’s been a total loss of year for us,” Claudette Duris said. “It’s a scary landscape because you never think anything is going to shut down the fair.”
For more than 40 years, Claudette and her husband Jim Duris have been selling food at the state fair. If canceled, Duris said, they could go 18 months without an income. Claudette Duris said they are used to seasonal business and have enough savings to get by, but it will be tight.
The Duris family has no intention to quit the business. They have placed deposits for 2021 events, considering that money to be off-limits.
“It’s like farming. Every once in a while you have a huge failure, and you are prepared to skinny down,” she said. “It’s a risky business, but it gets in your blood. You love it or leave it.”
She said they are waiting to hear whether the fair will go on, but they don’t want the festivities if it will cause a surge in COVID-19 cases.
“You don’t want to chase the dollar at the cost of lives,” Duris said. “You have to go slow enough to get this right.”
Purveyor of the fair’s Fisher Scones is waiting to see how many booths to open if the state fair happens, Conifer Foods CEO Mike Maher told The News Tribune.
Maher isn’t sure how to lay out workstations to comply with social distancing measures while providing customers thousands of fair scones.
Maher said wiping down tables would need to increase; there would need to be more shift changes; aprons would have to be switched out; employees would need masks and likely temperature checks.
“But I don’t know how we would control lines,” he said.
Maher said of the business’ festival revenues, the state fair accounts for 75 percent. Fisher Scones trucks make 1.5 million fair scones during the two-week period.
Each year, Fisher Scones hires 400 to staff the 20 booths around the fairgrounds. Maher said they will likely have to cut operations in half if the fair takes place.
As a company, Conifer Foods relies heavily on seasonal products like hot cocoa and soup in the third and fourth quarters of the year. With festivals and events closing, Maher said they are tightening spending.
“One way or another, it will impact sales for the year,” he said. “We are trying not to take a huge loss.”
Local businesses
Puyallup and Orting business owner Randy Anderson sets up a few booths for his Puyallup pizza shop, Wicked Pizza. He said about 20 percent of his income stems from the fair.
“It’s a huge part of what we make,” Anderson said.
Not only do his booths on the fairgrounds do well, but his brick-and-mortar storefront in Puyallup sees a huge increase in customers in September. When the state fair closes for a day, visitors and vendors head into downtown Puyallup, Anderson said.
“That day off is a busy day for us,” he said. “People complain about the traffic and stuff like that when the fair is on, but they don’t realize that they truly benefit from the fair.”
Puyallup Main Street Association’s executive director Kerry Yanasak agreed. Some businesses love the state fair and others hate it. So many drive through Puyallup to reach the fairgrounds, it can discourage visitors from spending money downtown, he said.
A few entrepreneurs will hand out coupons on the fairgrounds.
“Those visitors aren’t going to Puyallup to eat — they are going to the state fair to eat,” Yanasak said. “But there is some spill off. There are some opportunities for restaurants and retailers to make money, but if they do, that’s their decision.”
Nonprofits
For some properties near the fairgrounds, like First Christian Church of Puyallup, a parking lot becomes quick revenue for the first two weeks of September.
Robin Crabb, volunteer and worship chair for the church, said half of the church’s budget comes from parking cars. The congregation can fit up to 330 cars at a time.
She said if the fair is canceled or there is lower attendance, it will hurt more than normal years. Giving is already down because the church hasn’t been holding service in person, Crabb said.
“We haven’t talked about specifics, but we won’t have much if not anything extra. We will not have any wiggle room in the budget,” she said. “That’s a big chunk of money to go without. There are no alternatives that are going to bring in that amount of money for the church.”
Currently, the church is without a pastor. The former left for a new job, and Crabb said the church is waiting to see if it will have enough money to hire a new pastor should the fair be canceled.
“The two criteria we’ve set for calling an interim are whether or not the fair runs (i.e. we can afford it) and whether or not we can meet that person,” Crabb told The News Tribune.
Crabb isn’t sure what would be cut, but the church likely wouldn’t be able to donate 10 percent of the parking lot profits to the community. It would endanger First Christian Church’s ability to continue its involvement in the Freezing Nights program, which shelters the homeless in churches across Puyallup during the winter months.
The Kiwanis Club also parks cars off 10th Avenue Southeast. President of the Puyallup Kiwanis Club, Tom Bowman, said fair parking is at least half of the club’s budget. He believes the organization could manage for the year without the fair by using reserves.
“We could weather the storm for at least a year, but it would hit our revenue stream,” Bowman said.
Ramifications of a smaller budget could mean luncheons, where small organizations like high school clubs are sponsored, would not happen, he said.
Puyallup Food Bank CEO Jim Beaudoin said the opening day of the fair historically has brought in 12-20 percent of the yearly food donations in three hours. Guests can bring a can of food in place of purchasing a ticket.
When the Spring Fair was canceled, it meant Beaudoin had to spend $8,000 to replace the 5,000 pounds of food it usually brings to the Puyallup Food Bank.
“That’s a good month of feeding people for a three-hour event,” Beaudoin said. “We are twiddling our thumbs a bit about what that means for us.”
This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
