By Staff
BERRIEN SPRINGS – The Berrien County Youth Fair announced the Michigan Department of Agriculture has eliminated the fair's annual premium grant.
With the latest budget cut by Governor Jennifer Granholm's office and the state legislature, grants for premiums to county fairs have been eliminated for 2009 and 2010. For the Berrien County Youth Fair, this will result in an over $31,000 loss of funds for each of the two years.
These state monies were used specifically to fund what the BCYF pays out in premiums to its youth exhibitors each year. Exhibitors receive small cash premiums for the awards that they receive on their exhibits, which range on average from $.25 up to $8.00 per class. In 2008, the fair paid out over $42,000 in premiums to 2,400 youth exhibitors. The state grant funded almost 75 percent of this payout.
Fair President, Bruce Foster said, "This is a large cut for our budget. We will be looking at every possible way to reduce expenses to account for this reduction. The Fair Board is reviewing its expense budget line by line to save dollars." One area being reviewed is maintenance expenses. However, cutting maintenance dollars this year only puts off necessary repairs and jeopardizes the long-term future of the physical condition of the fairgrounds.
Another area being considered for cutting expenses is labor. Although many individuals volunteer to staff the admission gates during the week of fair, the fair pays out a significant amount each year to augment those volunteers with paid labor.
"We are looking for more volunteers to man the ticket gates to cut down on the number of people that we have to hire. It's not a glamorous job, but a very important one. It is especially difficult to get volunteers for the early morning or late evening shifts on the ticket gates," stated Chris Carlin, Fair Manager.
Volunteering is an ideal opportunity for students and others who need to put in community service to fulfill their obligation and help out the fair at the same time.
The Fair Board will also investigate the possibility of reducing the premiums paid to exhibitors. "This, obviously, is not our first choice," said Foster.
"We have to cut some big dollars from the budget and the Board may have no choice but to reduce premiums. There is a statement in our Exhibitor Handbook that gives us the option of pro rating premiums if funding is not received from the state." The Fair Board decided at this week's meeting that premium payments would be determined after the fair.
"The bottom line is that the Berrien County Youth Fair exists for only one reason, to serve the youth of Berrien County," Foster continued. "We are asking people to step up to help us keep the fair operating at the same level as it always has."
People interested in volunteer or contribution opportunities at the fair may contact the fair office at (269) 473-4251.