No horse racing next year
By WILLIAM L. SPENCE
The Daily Inter Lake
For the second year in a row, the Flathead County Fair Board has decided not to schedule horse races at the Northwest Montana Fair.
Fair Manager Jay Scott said the decision was made last week, due mainly to financial considerations.
"Even though attendance was down, we still made more money this summer than we did last year," Scott said. "The deadline for requesting race dates for next summer was Wednesday, but we didn't put in for any."
Given all of the costs involved - including jockey insurance, payments for race officials, and the race purses themselves - the board has long viewed horse racing as a financial burden. The races essentially were being subsidized by property taxes and by other events.
When insurance premiums jumped last year, the fair board decided it was time to pull the plug, even though racing has been popular entertainment throughout the 104-year-history of the Northwest Montana Fair.
Attendance dropped by about 7,000 this summer - which some people attributed to the absence of racing - but Scott said overall revenues were higher and costs were lower.
"We could turn the track into a parking lot and make more money than we did from racing," he said.
Race aficionados here have disputed the financial results, saying the races never receive credit for the additional concession sales they generate - much less for the business they generate with local retailers, gas stations and hoteliers - while at the same time they're socked with additional costs, such as security, that should be allocated to the fair as a whole.
Similar complaints have been made about Missoula, which reportedly lost $25,000 to $35,000 on horse racing last summer.
Flathead County Commissioner Joe Brenneman said last year that he would support any group that wants to sponsor the races in the future - bearing the cost if they lose money and keeping the profits if they make money.
To date, however, no one has taken him up on that offer.
Scott said the fairgrounds would still be available for training race horses.
"We aren't going to make any physical changes to the grounds," he said. "We have talked about tearing down some of the older stalls on the east side of the tracks and using that area for parking, but even that isn't final. It's not like we're against horse racing. It just hasn't been a good business for us."
People who are concerned about the fair board's decision and about potential changes at the fairgrounds will meet with commissioners at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, in the commissioners' hearing room.
A general public comment period will be at 8:45 a.m.
Reporter Bill Spence may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at bspence@dailyinterlake.com