County fair season takes a bumpy ride: Attendance up, but where are the workers?

Inflation and labor shortages are changing county fairs this season.

From fairground volunteers to food concessions and ride operators, nearly every facet of your county fair lacks staff, while supply chain issues and fuel prices are stretching already thin operating budgets.

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To compensate for inflation, some vendors are raising prices and downsizing food portions, ride tickets are up and vendors are operating fewer trailers and trucks at one time.

Despite these changes, concessions operators, vendors and fair managers, such as Wayne County's Matt Martin, have largely succeeded to keep fairs a bargain and to limit inflation's impact on guests.

"We want to keep the fair affordable for families," Martin said.

Making an affordable fair experience

Among Martin's goals for the 2022 Wayne County Fair, which runs Sept. 10-15, is to keep entry prices the same as past years.

General admission is $4 per person, children are free and season tickets are $20. Veterans with an ID get in free on Tuesday while senior citizens 65 and older get in free on Wednesday, according to the fair website.

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"I firmly believe a family can come to the fair, pay $4 to enter and not spend any money the entire day," Martin said.

To do this, he has doubled down on free entertainment, something he believes is vital for county fairs and families who need to save money while having fun.

Disney princesses will walk around the Wayne County Fairgrounds for family photos while the live music entertainment tent returns, he said.

"But I do expect food prices to increase, just as they have everywhere else," Martin said.

Shortage of volunteers

One factor that could impact the public, he said, is the shortage of volunteers.

This is not a new problem for Martin, who shut Gate 2 at Vanover and West Liberty streets in 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic kept people at home. Few volunteers meant the fair was understaffed, he told The Daily Record last year.

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If he remains short on volunteers, Martin may need to close a gate once again.

"I'm not sure what gates will, if any, be closed this year," Martin said.

'Labor is the No. 1 issue'

David Drake has owned and operated Drake Concessions for 31 years at county fairs across Ohio. Now, the fair veteran is concerned his business will close as labor remains an issue during a time food costs are rising.

Like nearly every sector, the concessions industry is without workers, but Drake said this is not new.

"Labor is the No. 1 issue for me; we've seen this about three or four years before the pandemic," said Drake, who needs a staff of 15 to operate at full capacity. "I have five people."

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With few workers, he fields a fraction of his seven soft-serve ice cream trucks, lowering his monthly revenue. The lower his sales, the more unlikely he is to afford space at county fairs, he said.

"It's a trickle-down effect," Drake said. "If I can't pay for that space at a fair and it goes empty, it's a loss of revenue for the fair too."

Suppliers also are feeling the pinch as high fuel prices increase delivery costs for everything from food to material items, making his monthly inventory costs higher while he pays more at the pump to travel from fair to fair.

Making up the difference

Balancing the budget is hard. Drake wants to keep customers while staying in the black.

Some trends across the food industry include downsizing servings while increasing prices, he said. The idea is that slightly smaller servings combined with slight price increases will make up for inflation.

"We've tailored our business as well trying to keep prices low and portions the same, but we had to increase our prices," Drake said.

Other companies have reduced the size of napkins by one square inch, he said, while some reduced 32-ounce drinks to 28 ounces.

To attract more employees, companies have raised wages, but Drake said this creates its own financial strain on already struggling businesses like his own.

"People are doing what they can to save money and survive," Drake said. "I hope people are understanding of the costs because we are doing what we can and hopefully prices will come back down."

To find workers, he is always accepting applications, but he is also one of many owners participating in the H-2B Temporary Non-agricultural federal program that finds temporary jobs for nonimmigrant workers.

This program is a lottery, he said, and not a guarantee of finding staff.

High fuel costs meets few workers

Like Drake, fuel costs have impacted ride operators and other vendors who rely on diesel to power their equipment and travel across the country.

To make up for these high prices, ride operators and companies, have increased ticket costs for rides, said Eric German, communications director for the Greater Ohio Showmen's Association, a nonprofit organization that supports and lobbies for fair businesses.

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"Diesel fuel has increased by at least 30%," German said in mid-August. "These vendors not only use diesel to power their trucks and rides, but they use diesel to travel to fairs."

Some businesses cannot hire people at competitive rates because it would exceed their already strained expenditures, he said.

German said concession companies often rely on high schoolers taking summer jobs, but that workforce has seemingly dried up.

"Instead, people are bringing in family members while owners work more hours," he said.

Holmes County Fair has record attendance

Despite inflation and staffing shortages at county fairs across Ohio, German said, attendance has beens up this season.

That proved true for the Holmes County Fair that ran in mid-August, where, Fair Manager Kerry Taylor said, they broke new attendance records.

"It is possible that people had fewer road trips because of the high price of gas, so they opted for a local event instead; it's just cheaper than going on vacation or to a major amusement park," Taylor said. "We also have a strong economy in the area, so I think people could afford to spend money."

Like the Wayne County Fair, Taylor never raised admission costs but said food prices rose while some vendors were short on workers.

"Our concessionaires were happy with the turnout," he said, despite the ongoing cost and staffing problems.

German said these trends are true statewide and nationwide, and fair goers will notice the trends this season.

The silver lining to all of this for fair operators, he said, is that attendance is up, creating more opportunities to bring in revenue.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Labor shortages, inflation impact 2022 county fairs across Ohio