Choppers event puts dent in fairgrounds coffers

Although the Orange County Choppers tour stop last month may have gained Spokane national exposure, it cost Spokane County’s fairgrounds more than $23,000.

The Spokane County Fair and Expo Center spent about $107,000 – primarily on security and other personnel – for the July 28-30 event, which a producer estimated cost almost $1 million to produce. But revenue fell short from rental charges, food sales and a highest-ever fairgrounds parking fee of $10, with half of the fee going to OCC producers. In the final tally, the fairgrounds was left to make up $23,589 from its budget, the fairgrounds reported Wednesday.

The fairgrounds will look to profits from the Spokane County Interstate Fair – which brings in about $1.6 million – to cover the gap, said Dolly Hughes, fairgrounds director. The fairgrounds’ total yearly budget is about $3.6 million.

“We’ll just hope that we have a super-good fair,” she said. The fair starts Sept. 8.

Hughes said she was disappointed by the OCC loss.

“So it’s a case of, in essence, for future activities, how much can we afford to be losing?” Hughes said. “The fair can never afford to truly lose that much. We looked at it in many ways as a learning experience for us for future event negotiations.”

The loss was due in part to lower-than-expected attendance. Fair staff counted about 17,000 people entering, but Hughes said they estimate approximately 3,000 of those were returnees. Producers said they sold 22,000 tickets, Hughes said.

Prior to the event, Spokane Convention and Visitors Bureau President Harry Sladich estimated 55,000 would attend. Sladich said that estimate was formulated before Skyfest – an annual air show at Fairchild Air Force base that drew 70,000 July 29 – was planned for the same weekend. The estimate was also based on information from Tempe, Ariz. – the only city that hosted the 2006 OCC tour before Spokane.

“It’s the only place that we had, unlike a convention that has a history of meetings,” he said.

Fair advisory board members were led to believe attendance would be much higher than it was, said member Curly Werner. As a result, the fair spent more money than necessary to prepare for crowds that didn’t materialize, he said.

Werner said the board might consider questioning groups it has never worked with before when booking future events.

He added that the $35 daily admission price at the door and $10 parking charge may have been too high for the number of activities offered.

“People expected a lot more, and I guess maybe word got out pretty quick,” he said.

Yet board member Jeff Fox said the event was a success considering the economic impact of attendees on hotels and other local businesses.

Spokane County’s Boys & Girls Club still hasn’t heard how much it will receive from the event. Prior to the tour, it was slated to get as much as $200,000 from sales of tickets and donated items.