Photo by Howard Owens
While larger city fairs are struggling and even shutting down due to poor attendance, the one on Route 5 in Genesee County only gets better with an expanded schedule, Agricultural Society Treasurer Norm Pimm says.
“There’s very few that grow in attendance, and a lot that are hurting. Probably about four years ago, we went from a five-day fair to a seven-day period and then to an eight-day fair. And really, we’re almost a nine-day fair because now we’re starting the Friday night with the draft horses, because we just tried it, we can’t fit everything in the schedule we have, which is a great problem to have,” Pimm said during his annual report to legislators this week. “A lot of fairs now are actually either shrinking down their days or are, some of them just aren’t having them. So we’ve gotten the county support from you guys, the businesses and the attendees. That means a lot to us because that’s what we can use to keep running forward.”
Those larger areas on either side of this county, including Erie and Monroe, don’t seem as agriculturally focused — cue the more than 1,500 animals, 12 six-horse hitch teams from throughout the country, rating it the second largest show in New York State, 170 4-H youth participants aged 8 to 18 and another 35 ages 5 to 7 — and that seems a big draw from in and outside the county, Pimm said.
They were on track to meet or beat the prior year’s record attendance of 70,000; however, Mother Nature really showed up in full force for a first-time Enduro race, causing organizers to cancel that event.
“We were going to do $5 admission all day, just to try and make it family friendly, the kids come in, you know, bring a family member and have a good day for 20 bucks. And then we had the rain,” he said. “So the sad part is, we had a ton of messages and phone calls on Friday and Saturday from people, like more than any other event, so we held off as long as we could. But we finally said we gotta cancel that. So that put us back a little bit. But we still had about 64,000, which is the year before it was 70, which was the biggest year ever by far.”
Unlike in past years, when many outgoing calls had to be made to secure vendors and entertainers, he said many of them are requesting to come back this year. Musical groups, including an Eaglez tribute band and BB Dang, will be returning, and the draft horse show “continues to be really huge.”
“I’m not a horse person, so I don’t understand all of it, but they said our footing is the best around,” he said. “They want to be the biggest show in New York State. But it's the second biggest for now. We just don't have any more room to store any of those big, huge horses. They take a lot of space, so we're working on that. We had 122 of them last year, those big, big horses, which was every pen we had.”
The Genesee County Fair’s midway is also popular and something not to be taken for granted, he said.
“Midways are going away; it’s hard to do business in New York State,” he said.
Although organizers would have liked a full week from Saturday to Saturday, this year’s midway will operate from Tuesday to Saturday, he said, per the company’s schedule. To fill in the first weekend of Saturday, Sunday and Monday, there will be bounce houses, roaming entertainment, and other activities, he said.
The youth livestock auction will also return, competing with 2023’s record year intake of $340,000 of local support that went right back to the kids and to support youth programs, he said.
Admission will remain the same at $10 per carload “even though expenses have been up by 20% the last two years,” he said. “We’re trying our best to keep it at that as long as we can,” he said.
By comparison, Erie County charges $22.60 a person, he said.
The stage will feature new entertainment with Nerds Gone Wild and a fun 80s tribute band that has already attracted a Batavia High School class reunion requesting a piece of the action under the yellow tent.
This year’s fair—set for July 20 to 27—will also include remote-controlled race cars free for kids, an 80s night—come dressed in 80s attire—with discounted prices such as a $2 hotdog, entertainment slated for every night of the fair, two nights of fireworks, karaoke, a demolition derby, truck pull, small tractor pull and figure eight racing, plus, of course, the Chuck Wagon and other midway goodies and treats, games and activities.
He said it takes large amounts of money to operate the fairgrounds year-round and pay for electrical maintenance—"our electric bill has gone up dramatically," he said—and on-site projects are always in the works.
“People don’t realize what it costs to run the fairgrounds for the year. I mean, it’s hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep that place going, and us being a nonprofit and all-volunteer, nobody’s paid, but we do it obviously because it’s been here forever and wants to keep it going,” he said. “We do a lot outside of the fair. So camping does help when we have these livestock shows and horse shows. Those are good moneymakers for us. The food truck rodeos and the horse shows are booked almost every weekend in the summer between the horse show and the livestock show. And then besides, we have the racetrack that we lease that runs almost every weekend as well.”
Legislative Chairwoman Shelley Stein encouraged him to appeal to the county for more funds, given all that the Society members do and the community participation involved. The county increased its funding by $1,000, he said.
The group reviewed and approved a resolution for $12,000 in funding, $1,000 more than in 2023. The resolution will go to the full Legislature for final approval on May 8.
