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Friday, November 21, 2008
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News Detail
Fair leaving with a bang
9/3/2008 12:04:11 PM
By Paul Hammel
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
LINCOLN -- The Nebraska State Fair is leaving the Capital City with a flourish.
The 2008 fair, which ended Monday, increased its attendance for the fifth straight year, with the highest turnstile count --309,137 -- since 2000.
The fair already is planning a super-sized celebration for next year, the last time it will be held in Lincoln before moving to Grand Island. It also will be the 140th anniversary of the festival of funnel cakes, carnival rides and cattle.
"It will be something that Nebraskans will never forget, I can tell you that,'' the fair's executive director, Barney Cosner, said of the 2009 event.
The 2008 State Fair saw a 3.3 percent increase in attendance over the previous year. Officials credited good weather, the trend toward "stay-cations'' due to high gasoline prices, lots of free entertainment and a desire of some people to visit the fair before it moves to Grand Island.
The Nebraska Legislature passed a bill this spring mandating the move and transferring State Fair Park to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which hopes to develop a research park.
"We got an awful lot of press in the last year,'' said State Fair Board President Jerry Fitzgerald of Gering, Neb.
Bob Opp of Hickman, Neb., said he and his wife recently moved back to Nebraska and wanted to "see the fair before it ran away to Grand Island.''
Grand Island, Opp said, is probably too far away.
"We probably won't go there,'' he said.
Fair officials already have begun planning the new fairgrounds at Grand Island's Fonner Park. On Tuesday, for instance, officials were talking with architects about how big new livestock barns should be.
Fitzgerald said plans need to be completed soon after the first of the year.
"By next spring, we need to start moving dirt,'' he said. "It's a daunting task. We'll have new everything.''
Fitzgerald and Cosner both said next year's fair will include several special events to recognize long-time workers and the 108 years of the fair at State Fair Park.
"We want to do some things that have never been done before for our final farewell,'' Fitzgerald said.
World-Herald staff writer Leslie Reed contributed to this report.
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