New ideas pondered for 2010 fair

Interim Fair Manager Ted Dykstra Jr. has come up with some new ideas for this year’s Northwest Montana Fair, including a suggestion to eliminate the $5 gate fee.Dykstra said he wants to streamline fair admission fees so participants don’t feel they’re getting “nickeled and dimed.” As it is now, fair-goers are charged fees for both on-grounds parking and gate admission. The idea, he said, is to draw in more people by eliminating the gate fee and save money by eliminating the workers who man the gates.But to compensate for the loss of income, Dykstra suggested charging entry fees for all livestock and other items entered through the 4-H and open-class divisions. His suggestion was to go to a $5 per head entry fee for all animals — horse owners already pay a $5 stall fee — and charge $3 for all other entries.If someone entered two pumpkins, for example, the entry fee would be $6, he explained.It’s only a suggestion, he stressed.

Fair Board member Joy Struble said she liked the idea but wants to crunch the numbers on past gate receipts before she would commit to the change.

Board Chairman Butch Woolard said the board had at one time eliminated the gate fee, but ended up reinstituting the fee, apparently because of budget concerns.

One audience member voiced concern about the idea at the end of Tuesday’s board meeting, saying she couldn’t afford for her family to enter items at the fair if entry fees were charged per item. She worried it would result in a drastic decrease in entries.

Many 4-H families use the fair as a way for their children to earn a little spending money from entries if they win awards. Premiums are modest in most cases. Earning a blue ribbon on a rabbit or other small animal, for example, pays a premium of $2.

Other ideas being considered include:

n A random audit of food vendors during the fair and a proposal to supply all food booths with uniform cash registers to make bookkeeping easier.

n A plan to give the 4-H program more control over hiring judges, ordering ribbons and so on.

n A plan to revamp the sale ring at the livestock market sale to better accommodate smaller animals and the youths who are showing the animals.