A lack of funding for operations and prizes led the governing body of the Southeast Arkansas District Fair and Livestock Show to cancel the event for 2021 with hopes for a reboot in 2022.
The Southeast Arkansas Livestock Association announced its decision on social media over the weekend. Greg Bolin, the association's president, said the state legislature removed construction and premium funding for such events in a bill that was signed into law in April. Without that financial support, Bolin said, putting on the fair this year would have been a gamble.
The fair has been held every year at Pine Bluff's Hestand Stadium since 1940, typically in September, with winners in livestock, home economics and arts-and-crafts categories advancing to the Arkansas State Fair.
"The big thing is the premium money, used to buy prizes and give out cash awards, and home economic stuff," Bolin said. "Traditionally, they give us premium money every year, based on the number of exhibitors we have in the previous year."
Construction funds were used to set up and maintain facilities for the fair. Dale Dixon, the South Arkansas Livestock Association secretary, said the board received $40,000 in construction money every two years but was missing out on funding for this year with the passage of the Arkansas Fair Funding Act, or Act 918.
"We've been surviving on A&P [Pine Bluff Advertising and Promotion Commission] money, renting out the banquet hall and the arena for horse shows," Dixon said. "We're on levelized billing. That bill runs from $1,500 to $1,800 per month. That'll drain your bank account pretty quick."
County and district fairs will receive a one-time payment of $30,000 from the state to make up for losses, but Southeast Arkansas District Fair officials say they have not received the payment yet.
"If we take that $30,000 and use it to have a fair without the construction money, we won't have the money to keep up the facilities until we get the money," Bolin said.
The livestock association has some $14,000 to $15,000 remaining in its coffers, Dixon said.
"With the legislature cutting out our construction fund money, it put us in a very bad situation," Dixon said. "Forty thousand dollars is a lot of money. We need a new roof on our banquet hall. I'm pretty sure the WPA [Works Progress Administration, a federal program in existence from 1935-43] put that roof on. We need to update there and don't have the money to do it."
The effects of the funding cut have been felt across the state. North Central Arkansas District Fair organizers earlier this month announced the cancelation of their event, and on Monday the Southwest Arkansas District Fair board announced plans for a 2021 event after receiving enough premium funding from its counties.
The Southeast Arkansas District Fair represents 19 counties. Under new legislation, any two adjoining counties can agree to conduct their own fair, but Bolin said none of his counties have received the one-time state payment yet.
"We had been in a good rebuilding phase," Bolin said. "We had more swine, pigs and goats showing. It was getting that way with cattle."
Bolin and Dixon say fair officials have struggled to secure a carnival since the end of last year, adding that operators are looking for guaranteed attendance and revenue. Both say the fair had seen a decline in attendance in the last two to three years.
"The fair business has been pretty tough in the last couple of years," Dixon said. "The carnival people -- when covid shut all of them down, they had bills to pay.
"We've been trying since the end of last year, but we can't even get a carnival interested in coming to Pine Bluff. We have had zero calls. We called the same guy we've had for eight to 10 years, and he won't call us back."
Bolin believes the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has been the proverbial elephant in the room behind the recent legislation. The 2020 livestock show was held months into the health crisis, but no visitors or carnival rides were allowed, resulting in a loss of revenue.
"Three years ago, we had the largest amount of cows, pigs, goats and rabbits, but when the covid hit, it just died," Bolin said. "... We can talk about the politics all the day long, but our hospital has been reporting their ICU is full and they have a lot of patients. That's kind of the emotional side of things."
Bolin is hopeful a 2022 district fair can be organized, provided the premium funding is restored.
"Thinking forward, leaning forward, thinking positive, we're looking forward to 2022," he said.
