ASSOCIATION FROM THE OABA CHAIR
Chair's Message Andy Deggeller, OABA Chair 2022
W
hile the Covid pandemic and the resulting year- long shut down were detrimental in many ways to our industry, it did have a few silver linings.
While it’s hard to imagine that there were good things that came out of 2020, we are realizing that many of the changes we made in order to operate during the pandemic were for the good of our in- dustry in the long run. One of the most important of these changes was making it necessary for fairs and midway pro- viders to work closer together than they may have prior to 2020. From patron safety, hours of operation, ride require- ments, to everything in between, discus- sions were being had that, quite frankly, should have been discussed years ago. Finally, fairs and midway providers were beginning to replace the idea of “this is the way we have always done it” with “how can we do it better,” especially in reference to the changes affecting us in today’s economic environment. Thinking outside the box has now become mandatory. Fresh ideas and innovative solutions to old problems are seeing great success since the pan- demic. Recently, a big change was made at one of our largest events. Due to the shifting calendar of kids returning to school from summer break, the weekday attendance of our Labor Day event and
substantially increasing overhead expenses. The decision was made to take the dates of the fair, which had historically been the 10 days preceding plus Labor Day, and add a third weekend while closing on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays (exception being Labor Day). This change only added two days
A Blueberry Mini Donut at the 2022 Minnesota State Fair (September, 2022). PHOTO: Melissa Kopka
the storms caused by the changing weather that comes when summer gives way to fall, fair attendance (especially on week- days) could be considered sporadic at best and was affecting the overall bottom line. Something drastic needed to be done in order to stabilize and increase patron attendance without
of being open while having more time for families who were just getting back into their routines of school starting to come out to the fair, not to mention the insurance it provided us against inclement weather and other advantages in respect to livestock shows and overall operations. The fair also decided
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4 OABA ShowTime Magazine | NOVEMBER 2022
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