A carnival concession new to the festival, Calkins Midways Inc Catfish Festival

Posted by admin on May 19, 2011 | 0 comments

After suffering the effects of soggy and threatening weather for the last three seasons, not to mention competition from Father’s Day and the effects of economic downturn, Donna Ginter is moving the 20th annual Dubuque Catfish Festival from June to Memorial Day weekend.

With the following Monday a legal holiday, the festival can stay open longer on Sunday evening, Ginter said, since people don’t have to get up and go to work the next day.

The festival, at A.Y. McDonald Park, is named for the catfish dinner served each day under the big tent. The dinner, $10 for catfish or $7.50 for a chicken tender meal, helps to subsidize the free Thanksgiving dinner Ginter offers every year to people in need.

A carnival concession new to the festival, Calkins Midways Inc., of Oshkosh, Wis., will provide 22 rides, 12 game concessions and five food stands. The company is owned by Chuck and Lynn Waterman, formerly of Dubuque.

The carnival ride wristbands will sell for $20 or $18 with a coupon offered at the gate. Ginter said that, unlike other carnivals, the wristbands are good all day.

As a nod to the struggling

Saratoga County Fair gets new general manager

Posted by admin on May 18, 2011 | 0 comments

BALLSTON SPA — The Saratoga County Fair has a new general manager, its second in as many years.

The Saratoga County Agriculture Society’s board of directors voted earlier this month to replace Kevin Grupe with Jeff Townsend, a 23-year Greenfield resident who has a long history at the fairgrounds.

Greenfield Supervisor Dick Rowland, who resigned as the fair’s general manager in 2009 after nearly two decades on the job, introduced Townsend to the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors at its meeting earlier this week.

After the meeting, Townsend said he saw the position as a “great opportunity,” and that he had high expectations for the 170th annual fair, which will take place in Ballston Spa in late July.

“Expect more fun, more education and more good times,” Townsend said. “It’ll be a lot like the first 169 years, except better.”

Townsend said he has worked in the music industry since the 1970s and has been involved with the fair’s sound crew for the last 25 years. He has similar experience with the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs and The Egg, in Albany.

Townsend became general manager on May 12 and has been given only an interim appointment. Fair officials will meet again in November to determine whether he should stay on or if a new search should be conducted.

Bill Schwerd, president of the Agriculture Society’s board, said Townsend has been “given a chance to win the job while doing the job.”

Townsend said he has been cramming to learn everything that needs to be done in the run-up to the fair, and Schwerd said he is optimistic the fair will be successful despite the leadership change.

“We’re back on track,” Schwerd said.

Schwerd declined to go into specifics about why the board decided to hire a new general manager, except to say there were performance-related concerns with Grupe.

“Things just weren’t working out to anybody’s satisfaction,” he said. “Things just weren’t getting done. We were looking at last year and this year and not seeing any growth.”

Grupe could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Before taking over as fair director, Grupe was a dairy farmer in Galway and had spent more than a decade on the fair’s board. He no longer sits on that board.

The Agriculture Society is a non-profit organization that oversees all of the events at the fairgrounds, including the fair, which traditionally draws around 70,000 visitors.

The organization is funded primarily through sponsorships and other special events at the fairgrounds. Saratoga County provides $20,000 a year in supplemental funding because the fair typically operates at a deficit, however.

misled by the carnival company, Carr Amusement Fair Board. hires Deggeller in hopes of bringing residents back

Posted by admin on May 18, 2011 | 0 comments

Powhatan County Fair Volunteer Program Coordinator Runda Harris had a difficult time hiding her excitement last week, as she talked about the upcoming 2011 fair.

This year’s event, which opens May 19, is expected to feature new entertainment options for residents, including more rides, a Survivor-style challenge and a Your Highness beauty pageant, celebrating, as Harris described it, the “timeless, ageless beauty,” of the county’s women over 55.

This year’s fair will also, Harris hopes, help the Fair Association begin to rebrand its image in the eyes of the community.

Admittedly, said Harris, last year’s fair did not live up to residents’ expectations.

Complaints from fairgoers ranged from issues with the rides – there were reportedly fewer than in years past, and a number of the rides were said to be in various states of disrepair—to concerns about the workers hired by the carnival company.

Fair organizers told Powhatan Today last year that they had been misled by the carnival company, Carr Amusement Company, and that the organization’s limited budget had essentially kept them from being able to deal with the more reputable companies.

Then, on Sept. 26, the last day of the fair, two of the men hired by Carr Amusement Company were arrested at the fair grounds and charged in connection with an alleged rape that occurred on Maidens Road.

While the incident did not occur on the fair grounds, it served to further tarnish the reputation of Powhatan’s fair, which had also been suffering through financial difficulties in recent years.
This year, says Harris, fair organizers have reason to believe that the difficulties of past years are behind them.

In addition to the new contests and events (see list, below) Harris says the Fair Association has hired a new carnival company, Deggeller Attractions, to provide the rides and entertainment.
The company, which has been in operation for 50 years, has provided attractions in past years for the state fairs of Virginia, Maryland and Arkansas.

Basically, said Harris, “We wanted to get what Powhatan deserves, which is the best.”

Andy Deggeller, the Florida-based company’s General Manager, said last week that he was familiar with the issues Powhatan’s Fair Association dealt with last year, and insisted that Deggeller intends to bring a different caliber of entertainment to this year’s event. All employees of the company are given pre-employment drug screenings and undergo background checks, he said, and most of his employees have been with the company for at least five years.

When an amusement company doesn’t live up to expectations, Deggeller said “it reflects poorly on the rest of us. We are really trying to do the best we can to help improve the image of carnivals.”
Harris, for her part, is optimistic about Deggeller’s potential to help improve some residents’ perception of the Powhatan County Fair.

“I’m excited,” she said last week. “It’s going to be the best fair ever.” She paused, then laughed: “If we can get the weather to agree.”

Tioga county fair,*Midway Rides of Utica*** features Safer, Bigger, and Better rides for adults and children of all ages.

Posted by admin on May 17, 2011 | 0 comments

Two down, hopefully more to go

Posted by admin on May 17, 2011 | 0 comments

Two billboards are on county property at the Central States Fairgrounds along Cambell Street. The billboards have been up for 20 years but the fair board and the county commission decided to not renew the contract with Lamar Outdoor Advertising

In a commendable show of support for Rapid City residents who want to restrict billboards, the Pennington County Commission and the Central States Fair board have opted to take down two billboards on county property that lies within the city limits.

A county contract with Lamar Advertising for two billboards at the county fairgrounds will not be renewed when it expires on September 1.

For the past 20 years, the county let Lamar operate the billboards at the fairgrounds in exchange for $800 worth of free advertising per year elsewhere in the city.

The minimal value of the deal no longer offsets the value of reducing the visual blight caused by billboards.

After efforts to pass a city ordinance to restrict billboards got bogged down in controversy, billboard opponents gathered enough signatures to put two measures on the June 7 city ballot.

The first would ban new digital billboards, double the required distance between new and existing billboards to 2,000 feet, and set the maximum size at 250 square feet.

The second measure would establish a 20-year expiration date on sign credits, which are banked in exchange for the right to place new billboards when old ones are removed.

The county was under no obligation to remove the billboards at the fairgrounds, since they have grandfathered protection even if city voters approve the ballot measures.

County officials, however, viewed them as part of a larger problem.

Although Lamar offered to renegotiate a better deal for the county, commissioners unanimously voted to let the fairgrounds contract lapse.

“We thought we would take the lead on trimming the billboard numbers by taking down two of them that were on our property,” said Ken Davis, who chairs the county commission.

The beauty of the county’s approach is that it comes with no litigation or public vote.

Kings County Fair Coming To Aviator Sports Center

Posted by admin on May 17, 2011 | 0 comments

BROOKLYN — The Kings County Fair (KCF), Brooklyn’s most popular family event, returns to the Aviator Sports & Event Center, located at the new Floyd Bennett Field on Flatbush Avenue, just one mile south of the Belt Pkwy Exit 11S. The KCF will be open daily from May 19 to 30.

The community event will once again include a variety of rides and games for kids of all ages; tasty treats including corn dogs, cotton candy and funnel cakes; clowns; live music and much more. Hours of operation are Monday to Thursday, 5 to 11 p.m.; Friday 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.; Saturday from noon to midnight; and Sunday from noon to 11 p.m. For a complete list of events, schedules, daily admission specials and discounted ticket offers, visit www.aviatorsports.com/kcf.

“We welcome the community back to the Kings County Fair, one of Brooklyn’s most fun family events,” said Kevin McCabe, founding partner of the Aviator Sports and Events Center. “Just like last year, we expect thousands of families to once again enjoy the rides, games, food and music at one of the area’s most cost-efficient activities.”

Aviator Sports and Events Center, located at Floyd Bennett Field (FBF) in Brooklyn, is a premier multi-sport and recreational complex. FBF was NYC’s first municipal airport and is part of Gateway National Recreation Area. Aviator has refurbished four historic aircraft hangars and surrounding grounds, in partnership with the National Park Service.

The area includes the 170,000-square-foot sports, entertainment and recreation complex and adjoining outdoor turf fields. Aviator provides a wide variety of sports leagues and activities, including a fitness center, camps, hockey, ice skating, gymnastics, basketball, volleyball, soccer, football and much more. For more information, visit www.aviatorsports.com