Brown County Fair revenue up slightly compared to 2021, Kippley tells commissioners
A preliminary revenue report for the Brown County Fair shows a slight increase in receipts this year compared to 2021.
Fair Manager Rachel Kippley gave a brief overview at Tuesday's Brown County Commission meeting of preliminary revenue information collected to date.
To date revenues are at $1.237 million, and that doesn't include money from the grandstand concessions operated by the Boys & Girls Club, nor does it include concessions at Centennial Village.
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Fair revenue last year was $1.22 million, according to the draft report.
The budget for this year's fair was $1.19 million.
In the report, Kippley noted a decrease in grandstand ticket sales for the four concerts, but an increase in rodeo ticket revenue. She said Tuesday's rodeo was sold out and Monday saw a near sellout.
Rodeo ticket sales this year were $88,534 compared to $74,420 in 2021. Ticket sales for grandstand concerts came in at $552,684, which is down from $728,794 in 2021.
Other revenues were up, she said, like camping, which is the result of more camping sites being added, and the carnival. Carnival revenues came in at $161,631, which is close to a $40,000 increase compared to 2021, she said.
Sponsorships were also up to $145,795 with another $17,765 in livestock sponsorships.
"All in all, we're looking like we'll meet or exceed revenue expectations," she said.
As for vehicle traffic, Kippley said, traffic counters were in place at each of the entrances starting Aug. 15 and remained in place for the week. Kippley said the counts didn't capture camper traffic as those start arriving at the grounds in the days before the fair started.
Those traffic counts showed 45,924 vehicles leaving the fairgrounds and 30,448 going in.
Counties get no share of sales taxes at fairgrounds
As the board discussed revenues, Commissioner Dennis Feickert asked about sales tax generated during the fair. Kippley said a report from the carnival shows $26,000 in revenue, but vendors don't report that information.
Feickert then noted how sales tax revenue generated on county fairgrounds in Minnesota goes back to the counties, although a bill proposing something similar in South Dakota "met a sudden death" when he was a state legislator.
District 3 Rep. Carl Perry, R-Aberdeen, who was in attendance at the commission meeting, said maybe there's a middle ground between asking for all of the fairgrounds sales tax revenue and getting nothing.
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In other action, commissioners:
Heard from Trevor Jones, a representative of Summit Carbon Solutions who has made himself available weekly for questions. In brief comments to the board, Jones mentioned the Dakota Gasification Co., which has a carbon dioxide pipeline in operation running from North Dakota to Canada. That pipeline is larger than the line proposed by Summit, Jones said, is buried at a 4-foot depth and has been in operation since 2000.
Approved an amendment for a bridge-replacement project at Elm Lake that acknowledges the receipt of state funding, which will reduce the necessary county match. Brown County Highway Superintendent Dirk Rogers said the state will put 12.7% toward the county's 20% match on the $1.1 million bridge replacement project.
This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Revenue collected at the 2022 Brown County fair is up compared to 2021
