Close Up: Preparations underway for the 2021 Iowa State Fair Share Updated: 4:09 PM CDT Jun 6, 2021 Close Up: Preparations underway for the 2021 Iowa State Fair Share Updated: 4:09 PM CDT Jun 6, 2021 Hide Transcript Show Transcript ahead on K c C I eight news close up fair preparations. We speak to Iowa State Fair Ceo gary slater about what you can expect at this year's big event. Plus he opens up about the decision last summer to cancel KCC. I ate news. Close up starts now This is Iowa's news leader. This is KCC eight News close up. We are nearly two months away from the big return of the Iowa State Fair. People across the state are more excited than ever since the fair was canceled last year because of covid 19. But organizers say the fair took a big financial head skipping a year. KCC I Cynthia photo shows us how much the fair lost and the challenge it faces now. This is a big week out of the fairgrounds. You have all your seasonal staff back, right, Starting this week, right. Were, I wouldn't say they're all back. But yeah, we, we started putting back seasonal people this week so that we could, I've got a lot to do in the next uh 65 70 days before fair, and so are 65 employees, uh really can't keep up, you know, we've uh, we've been on moors and trying to keep up with the grass this time of year, didn't even have to rain and you have to know it twice a week for it to look good and so that It takes time and trying to get set up for off season events, trying to uh get set up for the fare as well. Uh just is a big, big job when you've got 445 acres to take care of UU 65-70 structures that all need to a little attention coming out of winter. And uh, so it's a big job and probably last year they didn't get a lot of attention, did they? You know, last year, uh, most of our buildings were shut down because our uh, offseason events, uh, most of them did not happen. We, I think we lost over 200 events uh, here on the fairgrounds to covid 19. Uh, so we were uh, yeah, we put buildings in mothballs and and are, we didn't have that seasonal staff that help us, uh, do do the normal things so that our staff can, can pay attention to buildings that need assistance, because we do have plumbers and painters and carpenters, electricians out here. But what they found themselves flexing their job descriptions and doing anything that needed to be done, and sometimes it wasn't uh, in those disciplines, but uh, so we're finding that uh, there were a lot of areas of buildings that that do need attention and, and we're trying to do that as best we can now. And I think everybody is relieved that, you know, we're able to uh start gearing up and getting ready for the fair at this point and trying to do it with within that uh, reduced budget that we have for this year, uh reduced budget and um, let's talk about that for a minute because I mean, you, you just mentioned also that you didn't have 200 or 300 other events that you normally have at the fairgrounds as well as losing the fair. Um, it's no secret that you took a financial hit and how much of a loss scary did you see? Yeah. You know the, the Iowa State Fair, missing the 11 days of the Iowa State Fair last year is the same as any other business being closed for, you know, most of a full year for us. Uh, the fair is about 80 5-90% of our income, and the offseason events are somewhere between 10 and 15%. So uh the combination of the two of that, Of those things really are income just went to nothing. And so uh and of course without the expense of the fair, there was a lot of expense that wasn't occurred as well, but all in all, we lost approximately $13 million dollars Out of a $34 million dollar budget. So uh it a big hit to take uh and uh coming out of that, we have to design a budget for this year's fair that takes into that into effect. So that coming out of the fair this year, We will have uh funds to make it to 2022. My fear is if We don't have as good of a fair as we would hope, uh then we would possibly have less funds to get to 2022 than we did from a year ago to get to now. But I'm optimistic that that won't happen. But we are uh, cutting back our budget and a lot of it is in the personnel that, you know, we normally start gearing up in april and may with, with office uh, interns and, and with maintenance staff and folks uh, working on our gardening and landscaping and the mowing crew, um, set up and tear down for off season events. We just haven't had that until now that it's june and we put those back on staff so we're excited to do that. And I think that the budgetary things that we are faced with will not be all that no Zobel to the general public that comes to the fair because a lot of it had happened already and in that savings that we were able to take, but We're geared up 100% and ready to go for the fair now. Uh, and uh, we, we do need a good fair. So we're excited that, uh, the vaccination rate is going up and the virus transmission rate is going way, way down and hopefully we're across the state of Iowa today looking really, really good. And by august, I hope that's even better. Still ahead. Gary Slater opens up about the decision last year to cancel the state fair. Plus the plan in place to keep everyone healthy. They say when you come from a small town, like it's been nearly a year since the Iowa state fair canceled last year's event. KCC I Cynthia voter spoke to the Fair Ceo Gary slater about the decision. So it was last june around this time where you had to make that decision to cancel the fair? I mean, have you just been on pins and needles all year wondering waiting? Uh, what has it been like? Just not knowing what this year would bring? Well, Cynthia, it was june 10th. Exactly. And it weighs in my mind as probably the worst or the hardest day that I've ever had as Ceo and manager of the Iowa State fair to, uh, go through. Uh, the, the, the meeting that we declared the fair to be officially postponed from last year, uh, to this year And tough meeting. It's, it's been a, it's been a hard 12 months. I told my staff it would be the longest 14 months from that point to the next fair, which is coming up in two months, uh, that they would ever have. And I think that the winner did drag on very, very slow. Uh I was always optimistic that you know science and technology and modern medical science would prevail and that we would get what has happened a vaccine rolled out and that would help us get back into what we do consider to be normal. Uh and and we're not quite there yet. But hopefully by august we will be with the goals of the vaccination rates nationwide. Uh And uh the fact that we and Iowa are doing very very well with that vaccination rate. I would encourage everyone coming to the Iowa state fair to get, get your vaccination. Uh so that you are free and clear and no worries. Uh And uh less because everyone that does that helps out all events. Uh This because we can't guarantee that everyone will be social distance at the Iowa state fair. There are just certain areas that aren't that and we would like everyone to be able to come and take advantage of the whole fair. Uh, and so vaccinations are, would be the thing that would help all of us continue in the event management no matter whether it's the Iowa state fair or the Iowa cubs or or or any other event that's happening in the city, having that fact that you've been vaccinated will help us all. And of course, as you said, it's difficult to do social distancing at the fair, especially if you have big crowds. But I assume that you were planning for that up until recently um or how, how that could work or or happen. Um in terms of lines or whatever. Are you still thinking that some of that might, you might try to implement that or um do you envision it being back to normal? It's hard to know, I'm sure at this point, well there are some just good practices of hygiene that will continue. We we have our hand sanitizing stations and we will probably have three times more of those scattered throughout the grounds than we've than we've had two years ago before. Covid our hand washing stations are the same way we've added a lot of those and of course our restrooms and have hand washing facilities. So we would encourage that uh you know, just when you're standing in line for uh food or or any other thing, it's just a good practice to give people a little bit of distance. I think it's just good uh good hygiene practices on our part are always good for us to practice. And so maybe that's a good uh thing that will stay with us as we go forward. That came from covid uh The only good thing I can think of, uh, to be honest with you, that could uh, is that maybe it'll keep us healthy in other ways because we've we've we've started to do that. And I will say that if anybody feels like they continue to want to wear a mask, there certainly welcome to uh, and and uh, encouraged to if if that's what will help their peace of mind and keep them safe as they come to the Iowa state fair. Um, so those types of things, I think are are things that we will continue to do. And of course, the answer your question fully, we had a full blown COVID-19 Protocol, uh, and procedures for affair that would would happen if we needed to implement that. And it probably 100 different versions of that plan we've talked about as we got closer to this point in nature, we would drop uh some of those restrictions uh maybe limiting people inside of a building or uh talking about uh seating in in different areas of the grounds and and how we could limit those uh seats uh in terms of spacing people out but but those of those are still in the protocol, but uh but ones that we will not have to adhere to for this year's fair, so it's just gone from 100% restriction uh as restrictive as we could be down to the fact that most of those protocol have gone gone aside. But those uh more general practices that we all should know and do keeping our hands clean and uh maybe not not getting as close to other people as maybe we did for the past. Umpteen years might be good for all of us in the future, but we want to have an event that is fun and, and, and as much as people love the Iowa state fair, we want it to look as well as they can remember it because everybody can remember their favorite times at the Iowa State fair and Gary. Have you had to cut back in any other ways? Um, Given the, given the budget in terms of um, looking forward uh, to future capital improvement or projects anything like that, you know, the good part about the Iowa State fair is that we have the blue ribbon foundation. Uh, and giving has continued in that area. So we were able to continue, uh, those projects that the blue ribbon foundation already had the money in hand for and that included kind of the long list that, uh, some of them would have opened last year. Uh, and in, some are slated to be a part of this year's with a generous donation from the Danielle. Well family were able to to do Phase One of the outdoor entertainment area. Uh The L. L. Family park if you will and will be able to have a tractor pull and maybe some other events scheduled on that area, and it's just to the north and west of the current grandstand. Uh And we're able to do tractor pull this year. Uh It will not be a completed facility, but it will have bleachers, it will have safety precautions from from the motorized events that separate the crowd from from the the actual exhibitors and pullers of the tractors. Uh But we'll be able to do that and do that in a fashion that is somewhat limited in nature because we're not able to complete the whole thing. But having a good fair this year, we hope to do phase two next year and probably finish it off the third year with phase three next on close up. The jobs still needing to be filled in order to make this year's state fair possible. A new dawn a new day. Yeah, welcome back with the return of the Iowa state fair in just 65 days. The need for workers is huge fair. Ceo Gary slater spoke to K. C. C. I. Cynthia photo about what position still need to be filled. I also wanted to ask you about uh The job situation because we're hearing businesses everywhere having trouble finding employees. What are you seeing out there? Do you have a lot of jobs open for the 10 days of affair? We do have a lot of jobs open and, and we're taking applications. You can go to our website right now and and take a look at what jobs there are available. Uh There are quite a few positions and admissions and parking that we're looking at bank tellers. So we have a bank in the in the main administration building that uh we're looking for for help from uh thrill parks, the giant slide. Uh you know the the the other thing this year is we have a brand new Barksdale State Fair cookie building. And mr Barksdale and mrs barksdale generously gave that business to the I was to the people in Iowa through the Iowa state fair. And so we're able to open that in a brand new building. We'll need to staff that as well. And then of course all of the concessionaires and uh and commercial exhibitors hire staff to help them with their stance and their commercial exhibit boosts during the fair. So We hire somewhere around 13 to 1400 people. And I would guess that all of our partners in uh, food and commercial exhibits have that as well. So a lot of, a lot of people employed here at the Iowa State fair during the fair. Uh, and we'll be looking for work and we hope that this labor market uh gives us a number of people that we want. But please look at our website and contact us uh, if you're willing to come and uh give us a part of your time and effort uh, to make the Iowa state fair a great event this year. Are you concerned about finding enough people? Yes, I am somewhat concerned at this point. Not panicked, but we're trying to pull out all the stops and do everything that we can do uh including including the information on our website this early in the year and then having a job fair, which will be july the eighth uh, here on the fairgrounds. And uh, and yes, having those uh, seniors and, and other people that uh maybe are retired and have the time apply. Uh They're some of the best workers that we can get. We know that and we'd, we'd love to have everybody apply. Okay. Well you're under a bit of a time crunch now. You've got two months to get everything ready. Um, And uh, I, I think people, and I know you're hoping people are eager to just get back out there and, and they missed it so much last year that they're going to enjoy it and appreciate it twice as much this year. The United State Fair is much more special than any other fair around the country that I've been to or that I can think of because it's not just an event that, that we come and we compete to, uh, with our agricultural exhibits or maybe our hobbies or our passion, maybe our career. It's not just an event where we find our favorite foods, our favorite entertainment. The Iowa state fair is an event where Everybody in Iowa comes to celebrate why we love living in the state of Iowa so much. And we celebrate that for 11 days, uh, every year in August, we missed it last year. And, and it will be so nice uh, to open the gates on August 12 and have the celebration of, of all things good in Iowa continue, uh, this year and, and it's been a long been along two years by that time. I think we'll, we'll all relish in the fact that we're somewhat back to normal by august right. And, and, and it's a reunion for a lot of people to haven't seen a lot of their old friends there for two years. And what what's the theme this year? Gary. How do you fare? uh and that uh is in a lot of different ways. So how do you fare? Some people come to fair and uh love their entertainment. Some people love their food. We we know 70% of the attendance at the Iowa State Fair. Tell us that the the best reason they come is for the food. Uh and and on down from then. But certainly watching the animals and competitions uh in our agricultural shows is high on the on the list going through the ag building, seeing the butter cow. Uh Those uh, I always say that if you don't take the time to go see the butter cow, I may not believe that you really came because that is the one thing that everybody needs to go by and see our butter cow. Well said still to come on K C. C I eight news. Close up celebrating. I wins the new events this year for the month long pride fest. Mhm Yeah, welcome back. Get ready to see a lot of color and rainbow flags in des Moines. Pride fest is back with a twist. Organizers say they'd love to be in person with 30,000 people along six blocks in the east Village. But they knew that couldn't happen this year. The VP of Capital City Pride says instead They came up with 30 days of pride. The month long event will be structured by themes. Monday is all about mindfulness with yoga and meditation live and in person Tuesday. You can cook up some fun flavors and learn about mixology from local bartenders, Wednesday is drag night and thursday includes comedy and a storyteller series, friday's about family with baseball, a downtown scavenger hunt and they even rented out the entire zoo, Saturdays and Sundays will anchor the larger events. We represent marginalized communities, a lot of intersectional, marginalized communities. We wanted to think how can we be creative to get people out and involved if they want to be and back together to feel some community or how can we reach the people that still can't in meaningful ways. We had to find a way to pivot because for us connecting in person after a year of really a lot of solitude and quarantine was super important, but how do we do that and also be safe you know, and have public health in mind and executing that. They're also bringing back the popular pet parade, but at Principal Park this year and a lot of the events can be done virtual if you're not comfortable in person. Well, thanks so much for joining us. This was KCC. I close up. We'll see you back here next sunday.