Blog: Dermot Cole
Tanana Valley fair faces money trouble; campaign sign law needs attention in Juneau
Published Friday, January 30, 2009
With attendance down in recent years because of fire and rain, the Tanana Valley State Fair is facing a cash flow problem that led to the layoff of four of its five staff members, said Hollis Hall, president of the board.
Hall said he is confident the fair will go on as scheduled this summer, though with some changes aimed at cutting expenses and improving service.
For instance, the fair will not have major headline concerts with Outside artists, but will rely on more local talent, he said.
He also said the fair family pass is being brought back by popular demand. The passes are $100 for two adults and four young people.
The nonprofit group is likely going to need to borrow $100,000 to keep in operation until August and deal with its cash flow problem, he said.
He said the only fair employee on the job now is General Manager Randi Carnahan.
Hall said the fair has low debt and assets valued in the range of $3 million to $4 million.
The fair board and manager will be looking at ways to cut expenses and other options, he said. The fair has talked with the borough mayor, he said.
POLITICAL SIGNS:While many owners believe they should be able to put up signs for their favorite candidates on their own property near most streets and roads, state law says no.
To be specific, "Outdoor advertising may not be erected or maintained within 660 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way and visible from the main-traveled way of the interstate, primary, or secondary highways in this state" with certain exceptions. Campaign signs are not one of the exceptions.
The state does not usually enforce this provision, which came about because of the billboard ban enacted by voters.
DOT doesn't want to provoke confrontations with legislators, governors, members of Congress, etc. Plus, it would be almost a full-time job for a couple of months before every election.
But it makes a mockery of our system when many of the 60 Alaskans entrusted to write our laws regularly have their names plastered on illegal signs.
Legalizing temporary campaign signs the size of a sheet of plywood would not turn Alaska into billboard heaven. But it would recognize the right of free speech.
I have more on this in my column at http://newsminer.com/news/dermotcole
"WHAT IS GOOD FOR THE GOOSE, IS GOOD FOR THE GANDER"...
Allowing political billboards and denying other forms of free speech, when the beneficiary is the vary individuals that would deny the privilege to the rest of society, JUST PLAIN STINKS.
Politicians and Public Servants should be setting the example, NOT hiding behind their special privileges.
I hadn't attended the TVF in years but went briefly last year to look around...Croney-ism at it's peak, with vendors gouging customers. The overall appearance was rundown.
The only event enjoyable was the hypnotist and 4H displays.
They should have never done away with the Family Pass in he first place....But, Kim G had everyone's ear. I still remember her husband Stephen's insulting Letter to the Editor : He made it perfectly clear the Fair doesn't cater to people with "too many kids". He recommended family planning instead of looking for a handout from the Tanana Valley Fair Association.
With no retraction ever printed by the TVF Association, one can only assume the Fair was looking to draw some different clientele.
Since that time, I'm happy to say, we took his advice. Our "family planning" involves a vacation during the Fair. I'd rather spend a little more money and go elsewhere instead of pouring money down a sinkhole of "Elitists".
Now they appeal to the Borough for some of my property tax dollars. Ironic.
I love going to the fair, but it has gotten so expensive that we only go one day now. We take our son on buddy rides free day, which the last couple of years has been reduced to noon to 4 on a weekday. I'm sure this was done intentionally since most of us are at work until then. He is now 14, so I don't imagine I will attend the fair at all this year. I'll miss it, but I can live without it and I hate being ripped off.
Write smaller. Free speech at the plywood board type level is akin to yelling in a public area. We have laws that require people to keep the peace and quiet with their free speech in public, and the same can be said about using free speech for a political candidate.
Its bad enough we have to listen to their campaign ads constantly attacking us on radio and TV for months on end, so we don't need someone screaming at us in a billboard too. Keep your speech down to a normal discussion tone with the smaller signs on lawn. Thank you.
I'm STILL waiting for the guy on my street to take down his "Ted Stevens for Senate" sign, posted on the right-of-way. It's an embarrassment for so many reasons...
660 feet is a federal mandate on primary and secondary roads. The state adopted it because of the threat of losing federal highway funds.
There are lots of laws on the books that would surely be overturned by a court if someone sued. If I were a state employee, I would not want to be the one assigned to go 660 feet onto some old sourdough's property to confiscate an "illegal" sign.
The fair is suppose to be FUN and EDUCATIONAL, after almost ten years, I can tell you which vendor in going to be in which spot. They need to change, in this case change is good. If there is no change, you might as well be walking through a mall somewhere in the lower 48.... you can still have the same vendors, but there has to be something that changes... It is hard to attract people if they see the same thing year after year...
Hey Dermot - I've got news for ya. Political signs the size of a sheet of plywood are already legal. The fact that our State gov't has attempted to restrain the right of free speech through an illegal law (passed by uninformed voters about the repercussions of signs on private property) doesn't make the right to free speech an less practicable. If somebody is ever charged with violating the law, they will surely prevail in the courts by arguing the First Amendment. But, in the mean time, why should we have to wait for the courts to tell us that we have the right to free speech and can post political signs on private property? We already know we have this right and reasonable people know that provision in the law preventing free speech by private citizens on their own property is illegal. The government is no grantor of rights. I will not wait around to get permission from the court system to exercise my rights....and I will not apologize for that. I'm sorry you are so willing to bow down to the powers that be while your rights are trampled.
"For instance, the fair will not have major headline concerts with Outside artists, but will rely on more local talent, (Hall) said."
The problem for the fair, and it's a problem for fairs everywhere, is that the artists who play are generally b-list and well past their prime. We've had a few good ones come through over the years, but we're just as likely to get some band from the sixties where half the members are dead, and the guy who got the rights to the band name joined the group several years after it's last hit, and he's still running with it.
When the fair gets someone good, it's often someone like John Hammond, who played a few years ago, and who is a great performer, but he's not widely known except to hardcore blues fans. His fee is low enough that the fair can afford him, but he doesn't draw the crowds.
It's a conundrum. The fair can't afford someone who would pull in a large audience, and even if it could, it doesn't then have a facility large enough to meet the demand for tickets. So I'd say dropping national acts is a good idea. The Blue Loon is better set up for getting the good ones up here anyway.
I agree with scotty-
Mix it up a bit! We don't go to the fair much because of the gate costs but also we can tell you (heck, ask my kids!) which vendors are where especially in the blue bldg. ! Ask the kids to go get the free stuff and they have learned like Pavlofs dogs, where to go w/ closed eyes!
And they keep moving up the dates! how can we enter "prize" veggies and flowers in such short times?
Remember the BIG stuff?
Gate prices are horrible and we wait for can day, buddy day,any day we can get in.
If we have to spend our money getting in, thats that much less to spend on fun which translates to less fun at the fair, which means "why go"?
Peace
Sniffles - they don't keep moving up the dates. The fair starts on the first Friday in August and has since the 80s.
I am still waiting for the Sarah Palin for governor signs to be taken down. I have contacted the Governors office as well as the offices of several of our state politicians and ask that the garbage of post elections be removed. Instead, these signs weather and rot and clutter the ground. There needs to be some responsibility for the these signs by the candidates, win or lose, as well as the supporters that put these signs up. I don't have a problem with you showing your support for your favorite candidate, but after a year or so maybe its time to take down the sign.
Having been in the states a few times during major campaign seasons and knowing how much people running for office care about getting their names and messages out, I think we, in Alaska, should pass legislation allowing signs on state-funded roadways during campaign seasons. It doesn't hurt anything. It would allow a better representation of support, because there would be many people's signs rather than the many very large signs for just a few candidates that we see on the private properties around town all owned by the same person/people/entities -- did you know that?
The large signs in abundance are often on properties all owned by the same person. It doesn't seem to hurt, in other places, to have campaign signs up. I would, however, like to see them taken down afterwards in a timely manner. Alaska's billboard law is a good and necessary law - but it really seems like it would help, and not hurt, to modify it for political seasons - as long as the signs disappeared after the campaigns. Did I say I'd like to see them taken down after the campaigns?
And not to ramble on, but there are very many talented people in Fairbanks who would love the opportunity to play music, or to otherwise perform, at the fair. I know there are already many performances there, but time and space are limited. I know I'd enjoy local folks as much as any outsider/headliner. There's a lot of talent here, and performers love to perform.
Hey, I have an idea for the fair. Maybe they should raffle off a pickup truck from Ralph Seekins!!!
OK, maybe it isn't quite 'fair' to bring that up again, but I haven't been to the fair since, and see no reason to do so in the future. I expect to be ripped off on the midway, not at the front gate.
Regarding signs - see the 1st amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.
Surprised that no one picked up on Hall's solution for the Fair in the article, he will talk to the borough Mayor. How much of your property tax money are you willing to give to the Fair. By the way if one employee is capable of doing the job, why were there five staff members? The Fair is beginning to sound like FEDCO and Jim Dobson. Maybe instead of asking the taxpayers via the Mayor to pay for things, he should first ask if there are volunteers out there willing to help instead of paid employees. Might find out there are people in the community willing to pitch in and may have better solutions and ideas than a bailout from the government.
darfur...respectfully you don't have any idea of how many moving parts are involved with the fair. The five staff people are not making a lot of money, but because of their hard work each year, the operation of the Fair is seamless. I fear for what this year's fair will bring with only one full-time person on board. Volunteers are great, but with the myriad of daily issues to deal with on a regular basis, especially the month before and month after the fair...it might not look or feel quite the same this year. The fair association has always been poorly run because of the overly zealous involvement of the board. This is just another step towards the slow demise of a fall-favorite in Fairbanks just going away.
Many of the dissenting comments above are unfounded. Each year around 100,000 visitors take in the fair...and almost all of them enjoy it. Fortunately those of us that do enjoy it don't have to worry about you and your negativity while we enjoy a nice time at the fair, seeing that you no longer attend.
I quit going to the fair every year when they cut the trees down in the front of the fairgrounds. I can't explain exactly why, but it really irritated me to not have that separation from College Road anymore. It's also irritating to see the prices for everything increase every year when my wages don't. I used to LOVE the fair, but now it feels like another scam, both for the vendors and for the customers. Vendors are under pressure to make more money because they're being charged so much for spaces. The fair used to be be more about community than money, but like many entities in the capitalist world, shift happens.
As for the employees being laid off, I agree with oldakcuss. It takes a tremendous amount of planning and work to make the fair happen, and the employees were the ones who did it with their dedication, and for not very much money either. FreeDarfur, your statement about one employee doing the jobs of five was just ignorant. Do you have any idea what kind of planning and work it takes to pull off a fair of that size, year after year? I'll bet things will be different this year. Also, FD, there thousands of volunteers who do step up to the plate every year in addition to the paid staff, but not many people can afford to volunteer full time with no pay to replace the paid people. I'll bet a dollar to a doughnut that the paid staff works WAY more than full time (probably with no overtime pay), especially when it gets closer to fair time. Wanna volunteer for that 60-100 hour a week job?
Anyway, thanks for all of your hard work and dedication throughout the years, laid-off fair people! I hope you're able to find good jobs elsewhere in the community.
Doris,
The fair did not cut down the trees in front of the fairgrounds. The fair did not own the land along college road at that time. It was the current land owners that cut down the trees so please don't blame the fair for that.
I find it interesting that all these people that say they don't go to the fair have an opinion. The 9 days is the only opportunity for the fairgrounds to make its money for the entire year. It take a huge commitment from the paid staff and volunteers to make the fair happen. Managing the fair is a huge job and balancing act of changing things up where people complain about the changes, or leaving it as it stands and having people complain that it doesn't change. I am hoping the fair can right itself and go on for another 70 plus years.
With all the problems we have to deal with, legalizing lawn trash in the form of political roadway signs is a bit much. Dermit, get a life...
I would have to agree with Sleddog11 about these people having an opinion about the fair, but not attending and or just complaining. Have they volunteered their time at the Fair? I have volunteered many hours, particpated in events and just attended. I find it gratifying that I can go every year to the same place and find that vendor. Of course there will always be changes with new and old vendors. From what I have seen there is so much that has to be planned out and orchestraded to even the open the gates. If it wasn't for the dedication of some employees and the slew of volunteers our Fair would never open their gates and that would be a shame. I too, I'm hoping that the Fair will be able to right itself and that we will be able to enjoy this wonderful event for many years to come. On that point, considering what was said about the $100,000.00 loan, will that be enough to right the Fair?
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