Organizers pleased with fair

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Brown County Agricultural Society President Dan Kotten's a happy man now that the Brown County Free Fair is over.

Even though it will be some time before the numbers are officially crunched, some of the organizers of the fair say the 2004 version exceeded their expectations.

In the past 20 years, the event has been both a regional heavyweight for the country acts it booked and something of a local boondoggle because of mounting financial losses.

The 2004 fair, which wound up on the same weekend as the grand finale of New Ulm's 150th anniversary celebration, had a sold-out grandstand for the Saturday night demolition derby, which is a perennial favorite among some fairgoers. The Friday night rodeo also attracted a fairly large crowd.

The Brown County 4-H club also reported more animals for its exhibits and more trips to the state fair than in recent years. 4-H Coordinator Lucy Gluth said said the fair saw the overall numbers for livestock displays increase in 2004. The overall number of exhibits from Brown County is also greater than 2003 because the State Fair is now allowing participants to take more than one exhibit to the fair, she said.

The only disappointments, Kotten said, were small things like microphones that weren't in the right place at the right time and tables that weren't in the right place at the right time.

Kotten said it's too early to know exactly how profitable the fair actually was, but also said some of the first reports have indicated that grandstand attendance was better than last year.

"You always want to do better, but I was very, very pleased," Kotten said.

Likewise, Bob Reinhart, Ag Society treasurer, said that he was also "a little suprised" by the crowds. He said overall attendance for the grandstand and the Midway were "good". He said the sold-out demolition derby on Saturday held 2,450 people. The weather was perfect.

In addition to attendance, Reinhart said he was also surprised by the number of concessionaires that expressed an interest in coming to the fair and with the amount of out-of-town visitors.

There was a time about 20 years ago when the county fair charged $2 per person to get in the gate, Reinhart said, but that was dropped when organizers realized that the charge was keeping some people away. He said making the Brown County fair a free fair has helped attendance.

"We used to be renowned for bringing all the big country acts that you now see on cable, but that got to be too expensive for us," he said. "We're no longer trying to compete with a climate-controlled environment like Jackpot Junction or Mankato anymore."

While 2004 was a "excellent year" for the fair, Reinhart said he's not sure if that sucess will be back next year, noting the fair board has yet to receive a bill. He said the convergence of the fair and New Ulm's 150th anniversary celebration didn't have much effect on the fair's overall attendance and may have given it a slight boost.

"Last year, there was a proft and this year it's showing a profit again," he said.

Planning for next year's county fair will begin once the Minnesota State Fair wraps up early next month.