Fair Admission Goes Up $1, And Parking’s Next But Extra Charge To See Entertainers Dropped By County Commissioners

It’ll cost a buck more than last year to get into the improved Spokane Interstate Fair this September.

But that’s not all.

Next year, it’ll cost an additional $2 for every carload of fairgoers.

Faced with a $2.9 million bill for a new exhibit hall and pavement in the parking lot, county commissioners John Roskelley and Phil Harris this week said it’s time to start charging for fairground parking.

That comes on top of the $1 increase in fair admission, which commissioners approved late last year. The increase means fairgoers won’t have to pay extra to see entertainers, as they did last year.

By the time the county parks board receives bids from companies that could manage the parking lot, looks them over and accepts one, September’s fair probably will be history.

But Roskelley and Harris hope the fairgrounds lot will generate a tidy profit by next September. The fairgrounds does not get money from the county’s general fund, so must pay its own way.

The two commissioners said they doubt many people will balk at the fee once they see how nice the fairgrounds look.

“They’re going to be very proud,” said Harris.

There’s fresh blacktop on the dusty parking lot, which violated air-pollution standards most years. Landscapers are putting plants around the edges.

Crews this week are screwing the blue roof on a 40,000-square-foot addition to the main exhibit hall. The new wing replaces leaky buildings and a tent some fairground employees called “A River Runs Through It.”

“I know four wedding dresses got wet (in the old building) last year,” said Fran Boxer, the county’s assistant chief administrative officer. “The people were pretty devastated.”

Commissioner Steve Hasson, who opposed improvements, said he also opposes the parking fee. If there isn’t money in the budget to pay for the bond without charging for parking, Hasson said, then the work shouldn’t have been done.

Voters should have had the final say in 1992 when they rejected an $18 million bond issue for fairground improvements, he argued.

“If the paving is important, if the air quality is important - and it is - then we should have gone before the public” with a scaled-down proposal, said Hasson.

Fair admission this year will cost $7 for adults; $5 for teens and senior citizens; and $3 for children aged 6-11. Children younger than 6 still get in free.

It is the first increase since 1992, said fair manager Paul Gillingham.

“There are a lot of fairs that are higher than us,” Gillingham said.

The increase will pay for entertainers like “Weird Al” Yankovic, country singer Tracy Lawrence and a reconstituted version of the aging rock group Creedence Clearwater Revival. (There still will be a charge to see Gallagher, a popular comedian.)

Last year’s fair was the first at which visitors paid extra for entertainment. But it also was the first that featured big-name entertainment, Gillingham said.

Sorting out who had paid and who hadn’t created so many security problems that “we decided it wasn’t worth it,” he said.

, DataTimes