MONROE - The Green County Fair Board regrouped in recent weeks with new faces and renewed determination to revive interest in the summer tradition as plans take shape for the 159th annual fair in 2013.
Fair attendance has been dropping for years, according to board president Sam Kaderly.
"People just don't seem like they're interested anymore," he said.
But how much attendance has dropped exactly is unclear. Kaderly said it's difficult to gauge attendance. One season passholder may come one day, another all five days, for example, and no one is sitting with a clicker at the gates to count people.
Overall attendance was reported as high as 33,000 in 2008 - although Kaderly says he thinks this number was grossly inflated. The next year, attendance was reported at 23,000. He estimates attendance on any given recent year closer to 18,000 to 22,000, but admits these are ultimately educated guesses.
Consistency in general has been a challenge for the fair board in recent years, including a high turnover rate and issues with bookkeeping.
The board is also facing outside forces working against the fair, the same factors felt by many county fairs across the country: economic belt-tightening, soaring prices for touring acts, and shifting demographics and taste.
Ironically, participation in the fair is as strong as ever. In the Junior Division this past summer, 552 4-H and FFA members brought in 4,600 exhibits, according to former fair board secretary Deb Gorr.
Kaderly said this part of the fair "runs like clockwork."
"Our numbers as far as exhibitors are holding steady and in a few cases are even up a little," he said. Now the board's challenge is to get the general public as enthusiastic about the fair as those 4-H and FFA kids.
"In order for fairs to survive, we are going to have to change," he said.
•••
The fair board itself has undergone significant changes. This year alone, the nine-member fair board lost and replaced four people, including two elected just last year who resigned this fall. In the past six years, there have been five treasurers.
Leslie Brugger resigned in November, a year after she was elected to the treasurer position. She explained her resignation as a combination of wanting to devote time to other commitments and having "personal differences" with other board members.
Gorr, also elected in the fall of 2011, was asked to resign this fall "for the betterment of the fair," Kaderly said. Stephanie Miranda has replaced her.
Brugger maintains the fair's bookkeeping needs to be simplified and consolidated. Instead of the secretary and treasurer sharing the responsibility, she'd like to see one person keep track of it. This summer, she said she was surprised to find seven different card passes, and numerous ticket rolls of different colors for adults and children and for different days of the week.
"We do have a problem with bookkeeping," said Kaderly, who is in his ninth year on the fair board and the longest-serving member alongside vice president Steve Digman.
They're working to modernize, Kaderly said. The board is currently in the process of updating from a pen-and-paper bookkeeping system to QuickBooks, an accounting software program. Pam Wyss, a longtime organizer with Cheese Days and former school board member, was elected as treasurer in November and is assisting in the transition to the new system.
Switching to a better carnival provider is one step the board has already taken toward improving the 2013 fair. The company the fair contracted with in 2012 brought a subpar selection of midway rides, Kaderly said. "They promised us they'd bring us X number of rides and they didn't live up to their expectations."
Wenzel Amazements, the 2013 company, has promised a merry-go-round, Ferris wheel and inflatables and should be a "vast improvement" over this past summer's midway.
•••
There is a glimmer that attendance can be turned around. The Rock County 4-H Fair in 2012 bucked a similar downward slide for attendance, according to a report this summer in the Janesville Gazette.
Rock County fair board member Karen O'Leary told the Gazette she credits the bump in attendance to a performance by popular country music singer Josh Turner, despite the fact that Turner was the first musical act for which the fair has charged a ticket fee in addition to the gate entrance fee.
Snagging a big-name country star may have worked for Rock County, but Kaderly has his reservations about the rising costs of music acts.
"The cost of them is getting so high, the normal fairs can't afford to get 'em," he said. He lists off the performance fees for several popular country acts - $750,000 for Jason Aldean, $350,000 for Lady Antebellum, $125,000 for Willy Nelson.
"These figures are two years old," he said. Even a relatively cheap music act at $25,000 to $30,000 is probably too risky for filling the Green County Fair's 2,200-capacity grandstand.
"Charge $10 and you're still not paying for your performer," Kaderly said. "Rock County had Josh Turner for $70,000 ... they didn't even have a full grandstand."
Then there's weather. If it happens to rain the night of a show, the fair could be out tens of thousands of dollars. Insurance is available to cover such circumstances, at about $3,000, Kaderly said, but there are stipulations about when and how it has to rain for the settlement to be paid. When $28,000 country singer Neal McCoy performed at the fair in 2009, wind and lightning forced the show to be canceled. "Basically we lost approximately $45,000 that day. How do you make up a loss like that? It was just a crappy deal."
Even the music shows this summer with a free entrance and dry weather only half-filled the grandstand. Kaderly suggests the Green County Fair ditch the idea of bringing in a touring musical act and instead look for more action-filled entertainment similar to the popular rodeo, tractor pull and demolition derby.
"We're talking about not having a country-western show on Saturday night. People seem to like the action," he said.
Chuckwagon racing is one of the options the board is considering. This spectator sport involves horse-drawn wagons competing in various challenges inspired by Wild West scenarios - drivers "break camp," throw their stove and supplies in the back of the wagon and race each other around the track.
Booking action events in favor of music for the grandstand doesn't mean the fair will be devoid of live music. Kaderly also wants to see the hospitality tent move closer to the Midway and host more shows by local bands.
•••
The shrinking size of the agriculture-oriented demographic in rural areas like Green County has also sapped away interest from county fairs, according to Kaderly. One hundred years ago, the vast majority of people in the area farmed. Now only a small percentage do.
"The demographics of the area are changing. Now it's more of an urban thing," he said.
Organizations like 4-H and FFA have managed to keep participation up by allowing kids to exhibit photography, cats, dogs and other animal-showing or crafts open to city-dwellers, according to Kaderly.
As far as attracting the general public, however, people are increasingly lured away by flashier summer entertainment, like the Wisconsin Dells or Great America - or just staying cool indoors and playing video games.
"It's hard to compete with that," he said. "When I was a fair kid, the fair was the greatest thing that happened all summer."
Fair attendance has been dropping for years, according to board president Sam Kaderly.
"People just don't seem like they're interested anymore," he said.
But how much attendance has dropped exactly is unclear. Kaderly said it's difficult to gauge attendance. One season passholder may come one day, another all five days, for example, and no one is sitting with a clicker at the gates to count people.
Overall attendance was reported as high as 33,000 in 2008 - although Kaderly says he thinks this number was grossly inflated. The next year, attendance was reported at 23,000. He estimates attendance on any given recent year closer to 18,000 to 22,000, but admits these are ultimately educated guesses.
Consistency in general has been a challenge for the fair board in recent years, including a high turnover rate and issues with bookkeeping.
The board is also facing outside forces working against the fair, the same factors felt by many county fairs across the country: economic belt-tightening, soaring prices for touring acts, and shifting demographics and taste.
Ironically, participation in the fair is as strong as ever. In the Junior Division this past summer, 552 4-H and FFA members brought in 4,600 exhibits, according to former fair board secretary Deb Gorr.
Kaderly said this part of the fair "runs like clockwork."
"Our numbers as far as exhibitors are holding steady and in a few cases are even up a little," he said. Now the board's challenge is to get the general public as enthusiastic about the fair as those 4-H and FFA kids.
"In order for fairs to survive, we are going to have to change," he said.
•••
The fair board itself has undergone significant changes. This year alone, the nine-member fair board lost and replaced four people, including two elected just last year who resigned this fall. In the past six years, there have been five treasurers.
Leslie Brugger resigned in November, a year after she was elected to the treasurer position. She explained her resignation as a combination of wanting to devote time to other commitments and having "personal differences" with other board members.
Gorr, also elected in the fall of 2011, was asked to resign this fall "for the betterment of the fair," Kaderly said. Stephanie Miranda has replaced her.
Brugger maintains the fair's bookkeeping needs to be simplified and consolidated. Instead of the secretary and treasurer sharing the responsibility, she'd like to see one person keep track of it. This summer, she said she was surprised to find seven different card passes, and numerous ticket rolls of different colors for adults and children and for different days of the week.
"We do have a problem with bookkeeping," said Kaderly, who is in his ninth year on the fair board and the longest-serving member alongside vice president Steve Digman.
They're working to modernize, Kaderly said. The board is currently in the process of updating from a pen-and-paper bookkeeping system to QuickBooks, an accounting software program. Pam Wyss, a longtime organizer with Cheese Days and former school board member, was elected as treasurer in November and is assisting in the transition to the new system.
Switching to a better carnival provider is one step the board has already taken toward improving the 2013 fair. The company the fair contracted with in 2012 brought a subpar selection of midway rides, Kaderly said. "They promised us they'd bring us X number of rides and they didn't live up to their expectations."
Wenzel Amazements, the 2013 company, has promised a merry-go-round, Ferris wheel and inflatables and should be a "vast improvement" over this past summer's midway.
•••
There is a glimmer that attendance can be turned around. The Rock County 4-H Fair in 2012 bucked a similar downward slide for attendance, according to a report this summer in the Janesville Gazette.
Rock County fair board member Karen O'Leary told the Gazette she credits the bump in attendance to a performance by popular country music singer Josh Turner, despite the fact that Turner was the first musical act for which the fair has charged a ticket fee in addition to the gate entrance fee.
Snagging a big-name country star may have worked for Rock County, but Kaderly has his reservations about the rising costs of music acts.
"The cost of them is getting so high, the normal fairs can't afford to get 'em," he said. He lists off the performance fees for several popular country acts - $750,000 for Jason Aldean, $350,000 for Lady Antebellum, $125,000 for Willy Nelson.
"These figures are two years old," he said. Even a relatively cheap music act at $25,000 to $30,000 is probably too risky for filling the Green County Fair's 2,200-capacity grandstand.
"Charge $10 and you're still not paying for your performer," Kaderly said. "Rock County had Josh Turner for $70,000 ... they didn't even have a full grandstand."
Then there's weather. If it happens to rain the night of a show, the fair could be out tens of thousands of dollars. Insurance is available to cover such circumstances, at about $3,000, Kaderly said, but there are stipulations about when and how it has to rain for the settlement to be paid. When $28,000 country singer Neal McCoy performed at the fair in 2009, wind and lightning forced the show to be canceled. "Basically we lost approximately $45,000 that day. How do you make up a loss like that? It was just a crappy deal."
Even the music shows this summer with a free entrance and dry weather only half-filled the grandstand. Kaderly suggests the Green County Fair ditch the idea of bringing in a touring musical act and instead look for more action-filled entertainment similar to the popular rodeo, tractor pull and demolition derby.
"We're talking about not having a country-western show on Saturday night. People seem to like the action," he said.
Chuckwagon racing is one of the options the board is considering. This spectator sport involves horse-drawn wagons competing in various challenges inspired by Wild West scenarios - drivers "break camp," throw their stove and supplies in the back of the wagon and race each other around the track.
Booking action events in favor of music for the grandstand doesn't mean the fair will be devoid of live music. Kaderly also wants to see the hospitality tent move closer to the Midway and host more shows by local bands.
•••
The shrinking size of the agriculture-oriented demographic in rural areas like Green County has also sapped away interest from county fairs, according to Kaderly. One hundred years ago, the vast majority of people in the area farmed. Now only a small percentage do.
"The demographics of the area are changing. Now it's more of an urban thing," he said.
Organizations like 4-H and FFA have managed to keep participation up by allowing kids to exhibit photography, cats, dogs and other animal-showing or crafts open to city-dwellers, according to Kaderly.
As far as attracting the general public, however, people are increasingly lured away by flashier summer entertainment, like the Wisconsin Dells or Great America - or just staying cool indoors and playing video games.
"It's hard to compete with that," he said. "When I was a fair kid, the fair was the greatest thing that happened all summer."