MANTI—As one step in an initiative to promote wider use of the Sanpete County Fairgrounds, the Sanpete County Commission approved just under $4,800 last week to help a private promoter stage a concert in the fairgrounds arena in June.
At the same meeting, held on Wednesday, Feb. 16, Scott Bartholomew, commission chairman, assured the founders of the Fun-on-the-Farm exhibit that the initiative would in no way undermine the Sanpete County Fairboard’s control of the fair itself.
“There is a lot of misinformation going out there. So I’m glad you guys came in,” Bartholomew told former commissioner Steve Frischknecht, and his daughter, Corinne Olsen, who, with family members and volunteers, built the 10 buildings in Fun on the Farm 13 years ago. They have maintained and improved the exhibit ever since. Olsen is also a current member of the Fairboard.
“The fair itself is still under you guys’ hands and direction. We have no desire to take that over,” the commission chairman said. “You guys do a wonderful job there,” he said, and the commission has no reason to consider interfering.
But Bartholomew said the county was putting Kevin Christensen, director of economic development and travel, in charge of the fairground’s property itself, including scheduling and overseeing maintenance.
“We’re trying to get some more events to use that facility, especially during summer” when “it just sits there.”
Scott Bartholomew, commission chairman
The long-term goal, all three county commissioners agreed, is to make people around the state aware of the size and caliber of facilities Sanpete County now has at its fairgrounds, to attract more events and eventually to bring in more money for maintenance and improvements.
Nonetheless, the commissioners had a lively discussion of the proposed sponsorship, which would go to Disciple Live Events, whose corporate address is in Monroe, Sevier County. The promotion company plans to bring in a country music concert, but hasn’t yet specified the group or artist.
Disciple Live Events has concerts scheduled between now and June in Vernal; Rupert, Idaho; Rock Springs, Wyo.; Loveland, Colo.; Flagstaff, Arizona; Cedar City and St. George, to name just some of the locations.
Up to now, Sanpete County’s top sponsorship contribution has been $1,500, Christensen said. Like all sponsorships, the $4,785 for the Disciple Live Events show will come from the Sanpete County Travel Council, which is funded by transient room taxes paid at hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfast inns in the county. None of the funds come from county taxpayers.
Disciple “brings in the concert, they sell the tickets, we provide some sponsorship money for them, but they take all the risk. So if the concert bombs, that’s their problem,” Christensen said. The promotion company would also get to use the arena at no charge.
“My question is, ‘What do we benefit from this?’” asked Commissioner Reed Hatch. “Because you want $4,500 as a sponsorship (the amount ultimately approved was $4,785), then we don’t get a percentage of sales; we don’t get anything back.”
Christensen responded that the county sponsors all kind of events from golf tournaments to rodeos to bike races. “The purpose is just to get people to come to the county,” he said.
Hatch said he believed a concert would bring people in, “but as far as them spending money, I don’t see a lot happening that way to benefit the county,” he said.
“I disagree in the sense that for a couple of years, we’ve got to get all the events we can in that place, so it’s got its name out there” and people looking for event locations can book fair venues on the county website, said Commissioner Ed Sunderland, who is the commission’s liaison with the fair.
Corinne Olsen said she feared if outsiders were able to rent the Fun-on-the-Farm area, her family would be obligated to be on hand to supervise. Even if the Fun on the Farm wasn’t open to visitors, she feared visitors would get over a fence around the exhibit and damage the buildings and contents.
“Of the areas available for rent, Fun on the Farm is not one of them,” Hatch said.
Bartholomew said the county planned to install some keypad locks. Groups renting fair facilities would be given codes for entry to the areas they were renting. The codes would expire after the events were over.
Fairboard members, he said, would be given different codes so they could access areas year-round, whenever needed.
If visitors damaged fair property, the county would have to cover the damage under its insurance policy, Christensen said.
Hatch said last year, the county received complaints about problems with the roof on the large animal barn. Hatch said he informed people who should have been responsible for fixing the roof. “But it wasn’t fixed,” he said, and posed a safety risk throughout the fair.
“We’ve got to have some way of getting things fixed up…,” he said. “If we had some money coming in, it would help fix up the grounds.”
Hatch noted that Rep. Steve Lund, who represents Sanpete County in the Utah Legislature, had asked for some special state funding to put in restrooms, the final project in a Fairgrounds upgrade that began almost a decade ago.
But, he said, the response of legislators was, “Your fairgrounds only get used once a year. We’re not putting any money into that.”
Until the county can show greater use, it will be hard to get state support, Hatch said.
The three commissioners seemed to agree that the main goal right now is exposure for the fairgrounds, which they hope in a few years will lead to a significant amount of rental income.
