Emergency aid is now in doubt for county and district fairs that wish to recover at least some of their losses from last year when many were canceled or had events restricted because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Some $2.2 million in state funding through Act 892 of 2021 -- providing $30,000 to each county and district fair -- has been parked in the state's restricted reserve fund, a new version of the rainy-day fund. The money is unlikely to be released for the fairs by the General Assembly, Sen. Ron Caldwell, R-Wynne, who sponsored the bill, said Thursday.
"It's a logical approach, to save that money, rather than spending it today but needing it tomorrow," Caldwell said. "If it works out this year that we have an additional [state budget] surplus, then maybe we can help fairs with state money. I know it's disappointing to the fairs right now."
The state needs to build and maintain a sizable budget surplus, especially during the pandemic, with the need for more hospital beds, other medical equipment and staff, he said. The surplus about $1 billion, he said.
Supporters of the financial help to fairs also turned their attention to the state's share of the American Rescue Plan, a pandemic relief package approved by Congress. But legislators learned this week that the fairs as a group are ineligible for money from the state's $1.5 billion share of that program, Caldwell said.
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Fairs, instead, must apply individually to the state's American Rescue Plan steering committee and document specific losses, unless the administration of President Joe Biden loosens the restrictions, Caldwell said. Six legislators and nine members of Gov. Asa Hutchinson's administration make up the committee.
The state Department of Finance and Administration has been asked to seek those looser guidelines before the state sends word to fairs on how to proceed, Caldwell said.
"I think it's going to be a typical bureaucratic process," said Caldwell, who has been working on the fair aid since last fall. "We may get a positive answer, but we may not either."
Barbie Washburn, president of the Arkansas Fair Managers Association, said Thursday that the news was disappointing.
"I really hate to say anything until I talk to someone, until I find out a little more about it, but a lot of fairs that have already happened were really banking on that help," said Washburn, who also is manager of the Tri-County Fair (Phillips, Lee and Monroe counties) in Marvell.
Numerous fairs last year canceled their carnivals -- the lifeblood of fairs because they drive admissions paid at the gate. Many fairs limited attendance at livestock shows to exhibitors and their relatives, moved the shows online, or canceled them altogether. Some fair associations with rental space had to cancel community events, weddings and reunions because of state restrictions on crowds, losing that income as well.
In some cases, carnival companies shut themselves down because it wasn't practical or profitable to load amusement rides based on the state's social-distancing requirements and to sanitize the rides after every use.
The heart of fair season in Arkansas is August and September, with some 60 county and district fairs. The Arkansas State Fair and Livestock Show, set for Oct. 15-24, closes the season.
A surge in coronavirus cases statewide has added to the stress this year faced by the nonprofit, volunteer associations and boards that typically run county and district fairs, Washburn said.
At least four county fairs have canceled this year specifically because of the continued pandemic, she said.
The Tri-County Fair was moved from its traditional start on Labor Day weekend to the last weekend of September and cut from six days to four, Washburn said. A traditional carnival was canceled, although Washburn hopes to have a "kiddies' carnival."
"If we have two years straight of canceling fairs and canceling events, we will have a lot fewer county fairs next year," Washburn said. "They'll just have to shut down."
Arkansas Agriculture Secretary Wes Ward said that he believed there was a good chance that fairs would receive funding from either of the two options that appear closed off or limited. Caldwell's fair-funding bill had "broad support" in both chambers and lawmakers support their local fairs, Ward said.
The Department of Agriculture soon will submit a proposal for American Rescue Plan funding to the state steering committee. The proposal would outline the process for fairs to show their financial losses. "We hope it's a fairly simple process," Ward said, with fairs documenting their income from 2019 and any losses in 2020 and 2021.
Jon Hornbeck, president of the Arkansas County Fair Association in DeWitt, said its board this week canceled the five-day fair and carnival that had been scheduled to start Sept. 14. "Volunteers run the fair and they don't really want to be involved with all the covid surging," Hornbeck said.
Last year's fair also was canceled. The association has lost $35,000 from not having fairs for two years, Hornbeck said. A demolition derby still set for Sept. 18 will bring in a little income, he said.
"We're not in too bad of financial shape," Hornbeck said. "We had some money put back. We've always been frugal and we've got some really good sponsors who keep coming through even when the fair is canceled."
He said the breakdown in getting help from the state this year is disappointing. "Everything is a mess, and I do mean everything," Hornbeck said. Hornbeck said the Arkansas County Quorum Court may yet provide the fair with a little financial help from aid the county has received from the American Rescue Plan.
The Cleveland County Fair Association last week canceled the fair in Rison for the second-straight year because of the surge in coronavirus cases, John Appleget, the fair's manager, said Thursday. He estimated the fair will lose about $5,000 for each of the last two years of not holding the event, from the loss of commissions from concession sales and carnival rides and from admission fees to pageants.
"We're a relatively small county, and our fair association is doing our best to keep afloat," Appleget said.
Members of the fair board, all volunteers, had reservations for several weeks about holding the fair and ultimately decided to cancel it once area schools decided not to participate in the traditional "kids' day," when children get the chance to view livestock shows and exhibits, he said.
Appleget said the board hopes to have a rodeo in early October to generate some revenue but even that will depend on coming up with a few thousand dollars to pay a rodeo manager to set up the events. "We've got one of the nicest rodeo arenas around so we'd really hate to not be able to use that," he said.
Appleget said he was aware of the General Assembly's effort to get some emergency money to fairs but didn't know of the complications cited Thursday by Caldwell.
The Southeast Arkansas District Fair and Livestock Show in Pine Bluff had been canceled for lack of funding, according to its manager, but was revived on Wednesday with a $25,000 donation from Simmons Bank, which is based in Pine Bluff. The fair is now set for Sept. 26-Oct. 2, but without a carnival, at Hestand Stadium Fairgrounds.
The Perry County Fair, set for Wednesday through Sept. 4 also has been canceled. "With Covid cases on the rise within the county we do not feel that it would be wise to go through with this year's fair," the fair association said on its Facebook page.
The state Agriculture Department about a month ago released $1,770,272 in funding to Arkansas fairs for 2021-22, but that money is sent out every fiscal year, said Weldon Wynn of Star City, a lobbyist for the Arkansas Fair Managers Association and longtime volunteer official for the Lincoln County Fair.
Wynn said Thursday that he was upset with the General Assembly's decision so far not to release the $2.2 million from Act 892.
"We're going to rally our troops to see if we can do something about that," Wynn said. "That's just wrong to sit on that money. We worked really hard to get that money through both chambers and for the governor to sign it into law. I am afraid if we have two years in a row of fairs canceling, then next year a lot of them won't be around," he said.
The Lincoln County Fair, including a carnival, is still set for late September, he said.
"We work hard every year to give our kids something to do that keeps them off the streets. You don't see the names of 4-Hers and FFAers on jail logs," Wynn said, referring to young people in 4-H and Future Farmers of America chapters and their exhibits and livestock shows at county fairs.