State budget crisis hitting county fairs

California's budget crisis could cut off millions of dollars to county fairs starting next year, but local fair managers are not waiting to tighten their belts.

Facing the possible loss of state support for farm expositions, directors of the Yuba-Sutter and Butte counties' fairs already are planning for leaner times this year.

This summer, the Butte County event will lop a day off its five-day schedule, and a rodeo competition that has long highlighted festivities in Yuba-Sutter could be shortened — or canceled altogether.

"It's obvious the state is looking at everything," Yuba-Sutter Fair manager Regina Goody said Thursday.

Gov. Jerry Brown earlier this month called for the end of $32 million in annual payments to support the state's county fairs, one of numerous program cuts and tax extensions the governor has floated to try to close a $25.4 billion shortfall over the next 18 months.

Dropping state support would trim revenue by $150,000 for next year's Yuba-Sutter Fair, according to Goody.

County expos have received all of their state funds for this year. The Yuba City fair facility also pulls in money annually from about 200 festivals, weddings and other events. Still, with last year's fairgrounds revenue down more than $60,000 from its peak of more than $800,000, cutbacks are on the table.

Events that could be dropped include the two-day Professional Bull Riders event or cutting it to a single day, Goody said.

Trimming the Yuba-Sutter rodeo would happen at the worst possible time, said Cotton Rosser, owner of the Flying J Rodeo and organizer of the fair's PBR event. Corporate support for bull riding events has shrunk, making it increasingly hard to meet mounting costs for insurance, fuel and animal feed.

"We're already caught in a pinch and we've had to lay off a lot of the help we have in the winter," Rosser said. "This is the toughest I've ever seen it in my lifetime; this is my 55th year in the business and I've never seen it like this. ... We only broke even in 2010, but we're happy to help out if we can, because we live here."

Yuba-Sutter's expo will remain a five-day event, running Aug. 3-7.

But in Gridley, shortening the Butte County Fair to four days is necessary to preserve the experience as much as possible, according to manager Sean Earley, who hoped to conserve cash to hire the same class of entertainers to keep up daily attendance.

The Aug. 25-28 event stands to lose between $180,000 and $205,000 in state funds — a major hit for an organization slated to spend about $800,000 this year. While a shorter fair can conserve resources up to a point, Earley warned maintenance and improvements could shrivel at smaller rural fairgrounds if the budget cuts become permanent. "You've got to get a lot more efficient, but you still have aging infrastructure you have to maintain, and you still need managers to sell the (booth) places, take the checks," he said.

In Colusa County, a possible loss of $40,000 in state funds could mean cutting more than just feature attractions at the four-day event in June.

"We would love to have the live sea lion show, but at $20,000 it is not realistic," said Colusa County Fair Manager Carolan Ferreria Meek. "Instead, we have to be creative and have more community-sponsored events."

Meek said the 44th District Agriculture Association Board, which oversees the fair, has moved the popular commodity cook-off competition from the Colusa Farm Show to the this year's fair, and hopes to organize other less-costly attractions.

Still, Meek said the governor's proposal could have devastating impacts on the fair's ability to properly maintain the buildings and grounds or operate with a paid staff.

"We would be lost without this money," Meek said. "I know the governor would probably like to see the small district fairs move under the umbrella of the county, but for a small county like ours, we could never afford it."

Tri-County Newspapers reporter Susan Meeker contributed to this report. CONTACT reporter Howard Yune at 749-4708 and discuss this story at SutterLife.com.