Bad economy good business for fairs, festivals

Would be even better if Mother Nature would cooperate

By: Sharon McBrayer | Morganton News Herald
Published: September 01, 2009

Morganton --

With unemployment at 15 percent in the county and the country still in the grips of recession, folks appear to be turning to local entertainment options.
Larry Taylor, treasurer of the Burke County Fair, said gate receipts were down this year about $1,500 but that was mainly due to a one-night rain washout. The fair was ahead of last year's receipts every night except the night of Aug. 5, when the skies opened up with rain, Taylor said.
He said Aug. 7, they had the largest attendance they've had in 10 years. Taylor believes if the fair hadn't been basically a wash-out on Aug. 5, fair receipts would have been bigger than last year.
The Drexel Fair also had a big turnout, said Don Deal, president of the fair, even though rain fell four out of five nights. He is confident if the weather had been good, they would have done better than last year, and last year was a great year.
Proceeds were down about 5 percent from last year, Deal said.
"We were extremely pleased," Deal said.
Food sales were up this year, Deal said.
Attendance also was larger this year than last year at the Waldensian Festival, said Barbara Hefner, the tourism and community affairs director for Valdese.
The festival saw about a 10-percent increase this year in the number of vendors, Hefner said. Some vendors did well and some didn't, Hefner said.
And organizers expect turnout for the Historic Morganton Festival to be larger than the previous year.
Sharon Jablonski, Morganton Main Street director, said people are looking for local things to do close by and her office has geared all of its marketing effort for the festival locally and within the Charlotte and Spartanburg area.
Vendor response for this year's Morganton festival has been good, Jablonski said.
Jablonski said they took the economic tough times into consideration when planning this year's festival. She said they have asked food vendors to come up with a recession menu. In other words, to offer a couple of items at a better-than-normal price.
Jablonski said there will be about 18 professional vendors at the festival.
People also will be able to buy bracelets for the rides this year for $15. The color of the bracelets will be different for each day of the festival. Jablonski said she's expecting between 15 to 18 rides.
The Historic Morganton Festival is Sept. 11-12.