California Business Minute™

Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.

The Cal Expo board of directors has shifted the dates of next year's state fair. 
At its October 9th meeting, the board voted 8-2 to set the dates for the 2010
fair for July 14-Aug. 1. For many years, the fair's two-week run has occurred
in late August and early September, ending on Labor Day.

In recent years, school districts have increasingly shifted their school year
starts earlier into August, before the fair. Cal Expo staff blames that trend
for the fair's decreasing revenues.

Board members largely agreed that a mid-summer run would open greater opportunities
for increasing weekday attendance among grade school age children on summer vacation.

Organizers say the fair has attracted an average of around 19,000 visitors a day
in recent years, down significantly from the 35,000 it used to attract. In
Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado and Yolo counties, from which the fair draws much
of its attendance, about 400,000 students attend grade school, according to Cal
Expo figures. Board member Steve Beneto, who voted against the change, said the
possible gain of drawing more teenagers and children would not compensate for the
loss of Labor Day weekend, which has always brought high attendance.

But not all board members were happy with the shift in dates. Steve Beneto said,
“Once the state fair gives up the holiday, other fairs will adjust their schedules
to capture it, said. “Once fairgoers become accustomed to that change, Cal Expo
will lose any chance of regaining Labor Day in the future,” Beneto said.  "It's
the biggest screw-up that ever happened in the California State Fair," Beneto said.
"I think we gave away the store."

I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.