I would like to address some of the concerns about the Green County Fair.
First, if you come to the fair just for the carnival, you are coming for the wrong reason. The fair is about the youth of Green County, their projects, their competition, and the learning experiences. It's about the 4-H leaders, their advisors, their parents, the superintendents and all those who volunteer their time, money and help to make sure their projects, the livestock auction and all the other things that go on at the fair get done.
That being said, let's go on to the carnival. Regardless of how you feel about the carnival people, first of all, they are business people. They provide a service and then are in it to make money. We have a contract with them to come to our fair, and we receive a percentage of what they make. So if they don't make money, neither do we. I asked the person in charge of the midway, "why don't you have a merry-go-round?" She replied that the merry-go-round is the poorest money-maker on the midway. It's heavy to truck down the road. It takes a long time to set up and it's the poorest-attended ride out there. In other words, if it doesn't pay, it won't be there.
Also, most companies don't just have one carnival, they attend fairs all over the country and are in multiple places at the same time. Green County is a small-city market, so they take their larger pieces to the bigger fairs, simply because there are more people there.
Last year, people were upset over the hours the carnival ran. If there are not large numbers of people present, they cannot afford to operate. Also, the reason they do not open until 2 p.m. on Sunday is because of the harness races. The horses become spooked by the rides and noise, and it creates a dangerous situation for everyone. Ironically, when the carnival left our fair, they were going to meet up with the rest of their group and set up for the Wisconsin State Fair.
I am not making excuses, we know there are issues with the carnival and we are looking at other possibilities for next year.
In future articles, I will try to explain some of the other concerns at the fair.
First, if you come to the fair just for the carnival, you are coming for the wrong reason. The fair is about the youth of Green County, their projects, their competition, and the learning experiences. It's about the 4-H leaders, their advisors, their parents, the superintendents and all those who volunteer their time, money and help to make sure their projects, the livestock auction and all the other things that go on at the fair get done.
That being said, let's go on to the carnival. Regardless of how you feel about the carnival people, first of all, they are business people. They provide a service and then are in it to make money. We have a contract with them to come to our fair, and we receive a percentage of what they make. So if they don't make money, neither do we. I asked the person in charge of the midway, "why don't you have a merry-go-round?" She replied that the merry-go-round is the poorest money-maker on the midway. It's heavy to truck down the road. It takes a long time to set up and it's the poorest-attended ride out there. In other words, if it doesn't pay, it won't be there.
Also, most companies don't just have one carnival, they attend fairs all over the country and are in multiple places at the same time. Green County is a small-city market, so they take their larger pieces to the bigger fairs, simply because there are more people there.
Last year, people were upset over the hours the carnival ran. If there are not large numbers of people present, they cannot afford to operate. Also, the reason they do not open until 2 p.m. on Sunday is because of the harness races. The horses become spooked by the rides and noise, and it creates a dangerous situation for everyone. Ironically, when the carnival left our fair, they were going to meet up with the rest of their group and set up for the Wisconsin State Fair.
I am not making excuses, we know there are issues with the carnival and we are looking at other possibilities for next year.
In future articles, I will try to explain some of the other concerns at the fair.
