Fair board reviews public feedback

This year's fair had some minor problems, but overall it went well, said Sanders County Fair Commission Chairman Randy Woods, who spent much of the week roaming the grounds and helping in various capacities, whether it was answering questions in the office, directing foot traffic or running the water truck for events. 

"We're still learning and with more people coming we're still learning, but now we need to polish the turd," said Woods at the fair board annual recap meeting at the fairgrounds pavilion last Wednesday. "From the board's point of view, it went great, but there's always room for improvement," said Woods, who added that they'd like to get more constructive criticism from the general public. 

Only two people from the general public showed up at the board meeting and both had negative comments about the fair. Dale Williams of Plains complained of the lack of handicap parking and suggested that there be separate parking for people who want to pop in at the fair just to get food to go. Plains resident Teresa Garrison said she was disappointed in the fair this year and said a lot of others felt the same way, particularly in the carnival, where she said the lines "were ridiculous" and the "cost was outrageous." 

Board member Kim McMahon conducted an online survey on the fair's Facebook page and said Paradise Amusements' carnival received the most negative responses. Forty-eight percent of those in the poll were not at all satisfied with the carnival and 28% said they were not very satisfied. Only 1% of the pollsters were extremely satisfied with the carnival. Paradise Amusements had only nine rides at the fair, half of what they usually have on hand, and a reduced number of games. They had no Ferris wheel and the Tornado broke down after the first day and sat idle throughout the week. The major complaints from the survey were too few rides, the prices for wristbands were too high, and the "time slot" issue of when wristbands were valid. "These are all elements that the fair has no control over as the carnival is a contractor, but we will be working to negotiate a better situation for next year," said McMahon.

This was the last year on the three-year contract for Paradise Amusements, a Post Falls, Idaho, company, but Woods said there aren't a lot of options. He said that owner Sherry McKay had to split the number of her carnival rides between Plains and another fair and she was also having trouble finding employees. He said the board was not notified there would be fewer rides until Wednesday when she was setting up. Melissa Cady, the fair manager, said they'll be looking into ways to improve next year's carnival. The fair pays McKay nothing to bring the carnival to Plains, but gets a percentage of what she makes, said Woods.

McMahon received more than 350 responses and 1,500 comments on various aspects of the fair. This is the first time such a survey had been done. She went through about half of the responses prior to last week's meeting and plans to have a full report at the October 12 meeting. 

"I wanted a way for people to provide feedback without having to be at the meeting. We want people to get involved and give us feedback on what went well, what needs some improvement, and what they'd like to see done differently. We want it to be a conversation, for everyone to be part of what makes the Sanders County Fair the best it can be," said McMahon, a board member since 2019.

4-H received the best marks, followed by the availability of trash cans, the home economics building, picnic tables, the availability of toilet facilities, and food vendors. She said there were a lot of complaints about the ticket prices for parking, the carnival and events. A lot of people said they were unhappy with the two-beer limit in the beer garden, which got an overall grade of 2.9%, so far. The "Carnage on the Clark Fork" demolition derby's only complaint was for more cars and it was put on too early in the day, making it too hot for spectators. Woods said 64 cars signed up but only half showed. He also said they might consider moving the start time back to 6 p.m.

The board talked about minor issues to be rectified, such as more lights in certain areas, adding and spreading out the picnic tables, getting better signage, hiring ushers to help people with event seating, and adding an ATM machine. They discussed hiring security to roam the vendor area between midnight and 6 a.m. in lieu of the theft of just over $7,000 of merchandise from the vendor Spin-Em Rodeo Company. The incident is being investigated by the Sanders County Sheriff's Office. 

Food vendors received high marks with 50% either very or extremely satisfied and only 8% not at all satisfied. Woods said there was a good variety of food, but he would like to see even more food items people don't normally see. "You come for those weird extravagant foods, not hamburgers," said Woods, who also wants to look at spreading the food vendors out in order to reduce congestion. 

Food vendors fetched $43,580 for the fair this year. River Roadhouse of Trout Creek gave out free meals to members of the sheriff's office, search and rescue, and the fire department during the fair. Manny's Moms Tacos of Polson received the people's choice award for best food vendor for the third consecutive year, bringing the family a blue ribbon, a certificate and "bragging rights," according to Hailey Coe, the fair office administrative assistant. Cady said most food vendors already said they'd like to return in 2023 and about half of the commercial vendors plan to return. Even the pavilion meals, run by 4-H, had a good year. "We had 148 more meals eaten in the pavilion this year versus last year. We had 32 more public meals eaten than the year before, said Juli Thurston, the Montana State University Sanders County extension agent, who heads 4-H.

Overall, the fair rated a 3.0 on a scale of one to five, said McMahon. Woods felt that most people enjoyed the fair, but he said the survey helps them get important feedback. "I think people need to realize that all the money the fair makes goes right back into the fair," said Woods. "We don't have a savings account somewhere that we're all going to cash in on down the road. It goes back into improving the fairgrounds to make it more of a community center for anything, whether it be for a prom here or for a family that wants to rent the fairgrounds for a family reunion. 

Event ticket sales were up this year, according to Woods. They had 450 people at the Thursday rodeo, taking in $11,880. The Friday rodeo sold 1,513 tickets and fetched $44,335. Saturday's rodeo sales this year was $74,330 with 2,597 tickets sold. The demo derby tickets amounted to $121,630. Presales for the carnival wristbands were $14,900. 

"Our numbers are pretty good on every night but Thursday," Woods said. adding that they need to have some sort of discount tickets for the Thursday night rodeo next year to bring in more locals and it motivates the contestants. "I think it looks better for the riders and the contestants when they look out in the stands and they see there's lots of people there instead of empty seats," said Woods, who would like to double the numbers for the Thursday night rodeo.

McMahon said that anything below an average of 3.0 on the survey should be looked at, which includes the beer garden, non-profit/political booths, and the carnival. The major complaint about the beer garden was the two-beer per trip limitation. She said a lot of people stated they don't like seeing the political booths and want the board to bring back the nonprofit booths. "What folks don't understand is that we would love to have all kinds of nonprofit booths, but the reality is that those groups struggle to find people willing or able to work the booth. Without workers, a group can't run a booth. Simple as that," said McMahon.

Woods said he received a lot a good comments on the fair. "A lot of people understand there's quirks. I think we're there. I think we have a pretty good show. We just gotta start fine tuning it. We need to work on the little things," said the board chairman. "People need to understand that we're not trying to put on a terrible carnival. We're doing the best that we possibly can." Woods added that the money raised at the fair isn't just for the fair. Sanders County Commissioners asked the board to turn the fairgrounds into a year-round event center, which he feels they've done. He said they're not borrowing money going into the fair as they used to do.

"We need to work more on some of the behind the scenes, now we need to work on what the public sees. The public is very important to us. I think we have the best crews we've ever had," he said.