State Fair can stay afloat a few more months

Rising up from the ashes of deep debt, the Nebraska State Fair now has hopes of meeting short-term financial obligations and staying in operation at least until 2004.

Those encouraging words came Friday from a member of the Fair Board, Frank Partsch of Omaha. In his visits with fair officials, Partsch said he has come to believe help is on the way, allowing the fair administration to raise $400,000 to meet payroll and pay accounts due between now and the first of the year.

The severity of the state fair's debt situation came to light at the October meeting of the fair board. In the days following that meeting, fears were expressed that the fair would be crushed under the burden of heavy financial obligations. In addition to the $400,000 in short-term obligations, the State Fair has bank debt of $300,000 and projected operating expenses for 2004 reaching into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Some -- including Gov. Mike Johanns, State Sen. Tom Baker of Trenton and this newspaper -- went so far as to suggest that the State Fair be scaled down and combined with Husker Harvest Days in Grand Island.

However, the manager of Husker Harvest Days, Jim Kanter, said publicly this week that it would not work to merge the State Fair and Husker Harvest Days. "There is no room out here," Kanter told the Grand Island Independent, pointing out that, "There isn't enough paving out there (at Fonner Park and other Grand Island facilities) to hold the midway-type stuff."

With the State Fair on the path to meeting its short-term obligations, attention can now turn back to long-term approaches. The big question is, "What can be done to save the fair and make it of long-term benefit to the people of Nebraska?"

In the opinion of Partsch and other state fair board members, one of the possibilities is cutting the fair back from the two-weekend format to a seven-day period, stretching from Tuesday to Monday. Under that approach, the fair could go to one big event each night, cutting down on some of the costly weekend entertainers.

And what about the State Fair property located in the heart of Lincoln? Could some of that land be sold off and the proceeds used to meet fair obligations? That conceivably could be done, but the land doesn't belong to the State Fair Association, it belongs to the state, meaning that receipts would go to the state's general fund, not to the fair board.

Major challenges still confront the State Fair Board. But, for now, it appears the fair can come up with the money to stay afloat for a few more months. We hope that will give the State Fair board and administration the time they need to come up with a long-term plan to save Nebraska's State Fair.