Welcome to the Plumas Sierra County Consistent Fair! Some of the preliminary numbers are in on this year’s fair which ran from August 12 through the 16th, and they don’t show much change from last year, or even over the past five for that matter. Some catagories edged up slightly, some slipped, but no trend has developed. The good news is, all the numbers are certainly healthy. Attendance, parking, carnival sales and concession sales all saw slight increases. Judged exhibits were down slightly, although the number of paid exhibits held steady. In other words, many people turned in entry forms with the intention of bringing their jam, photo, or flower arrangement in, but didn’t make it. Many people comment on the lack of commercial vendors in Serpilio Hall. Overall, the Plumas Sierra County Fair had one less commercial vendor than last year, but many wanted to be outside. Since the beginning of the recession, there has been less vendors in Serpilio Hall, and it appears the primary reason is time. Although a business could be exposed to thousands of new customers by having a booth at the fair, they do not have the time or staff to physically be there. It would appear the reductions in payrolls has been the main reason for the drop in commercial vendors at the fair. Comments from those vendors that were there, were generally positive. It is very inexpensive to have a booth at the fair, so if anyone is interested in next year, please contact the fair office. Emphasis was put on who was collecting money for parking and it looked like the community responded. The wrestling programs from Chester and Quincy shared the duties and there were far less complaints from their customers. The $3 parking fee is far less than the $10 at places like Cal Expo, and here, the money is used to support wrestling and the fair. 200 more cars paid this year than last. The biggest increase was on Sunday, which had a 130 car increase. Overall, the wrestlers collected for 1574 cars. Thanks to increased pre-sale ticket sales, the carnival revenue was up by $3000. Fair goers were pleased with the free carousel rides on Thursday. Sunday and Thursday were wristband days, and there are tentative plans to make wristbands available each day and possible sell a week long wristband. It is worth noting, there are strings of fairs in rural parts of the country that no longer have carnivals. With the price of fuel and labor costs, it has become less attractive to travel to some of these locations. Although we are happy with Wold Amusements, the fair did extend an offer to over eight other carnival operators to submit a bid for the Plumas Sierra County Fair. We received no responses. We are fortunate to have Wold Amusements, and they are happy to serve our community. Jason Wold does all he can to keep his rides safe and fresh, and is constantly on the look out for extra rides or new ones to bring to Quincy. Food concession were up less than 1%, but this is one area that has increased each year over the past five years, and that is regardless of how many food vendors we have had. This year had 18 food vendors as opposed to 17 from last year. The top vendor sold basic fair food; hamburgers, corndogs and fries. The number two vendor was the Thai food, and number three was the ice cream vendor. Our local Indian Taco vendor was in the top six. Wednesday and Sunday were the Pay What You Can Days. The community came through. Wednesday, which had no carnival, came in virtually the same as last year. Visitors donated $768.04, $17.86 less than than 2014. Sunday, however, saw a big increase. 2014 saw $849.50 placed in the box, this year had $1632.10 donated. Both of these figures represent a fairly close amount to what was taken in with paid admission around four years ago. Thursday’s attendance was up 150 people, as was Friday’s. Saturday saw a 150 decrease in attendance. Paid attendance for the entire fair was 6254 and unpaid was 4246 for a total attendance of 10500, 14 more people than last year. How’s that for consistency? Most of the compliments received by the fair was for the grounds entertainment. MindSurfin’, Capn’ Jack Spareribs and Circus Imagination were well attended. Chipperstock 2015 was fun and received a lot of buzz by offering 100 free tie-dye t-shirts to the first 100 attendees. That was thanks to the event sponsor Diamond Mountain Casino in Susanville, who also offered special coupons to fair goers as well. Many people were amazed at the condition of the fairgrounds, in light of the drought, the recent High Sierra Music Festival, and the abbreviated maintenance staff. Mother Nature helped with her brief but intense afternoon rainstorms in July, but much credit has to go to Maintenance Supervisor Oran Morrison for his excellent skills. The fairgrounds are lucky to have him. There were many exciting changes to the horse show this year and the credit goes to Marie Anderson, Horse Show Manager. The Junior Rodeo and Versatility Show were great successes and will come back next year in an expanded form. The Extreme Bulls and Broncs show on Saturday night was standing room only once again, and the American Valley Speedway races on Sunday are one of the biggest of the year. Finally, the Art Barn, Home Arts, Floriculture and livestock areas were all complimented for the decorating and presentation of our exhibits. If you have any exhibits that need to be picked up, or if you want to pick up your premium check, call or stop by the Fair Office. The number is 283-6272 and they will make arrangements to get you your things.