Danielle Jones shows off her award-winning horseshoe art at the 2012 Sacramento (Calif.) County Fair.
Pamela Fyock had no worries that she could make the Sacramento (Calif.) County Fair self-supporting when she became the event’s CEO. She just did not know she could do it in one year.
At the same time, Fyock helped increase attendance by 40 percent, up to 88,000 from the previous year’s 60,000, with gate revenues jumping from $82,000 to $125,000. Food vendors were up 32 percent and the carnival’s grosses went up 15 percent, an impressive figure when factoring in that most pay-one-price wristbands were sold at a 50-percent discount.
Most importantly, sponsorships were up 70 percent at $95,000, compared to $47,000 in 2012, one of the biggest factors that saved the fair which was on the verge of extinction after the state of California eliminated funding for fairs, which meant a loss of $228,000 for the Sacramento County Fair.
When Gov. Jerry Brown took away fair funding in 2011, the cuts hit the Sacramento County Fair doubly hard. Not only is it a small fair, but it also takes place on the grounds of CalExpo, home of the California State Fair.
“It’s completely difficult for us,” Fyock said. “We don’t have interim events. So we have five days to make our entire budget. If anything negative happens, you could be in a world of hurt.”
Fyock, a former lobbyist and fundraiser for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn., used her skills to turn the fair around. She cut staff from three full-time and several part-time staffers to just one full-time employee – herself – plus four part-time people.
“We also increased sponsorships,” she said. “We really went out and started to develop a community about this fair and got the community involved. We got more volunteers involved, and we increased our sponsorship monies dramatically, which is particularly difficult with this fair.”
That is because of, once again, the fair’s location on the grounds of CalExpo. The fair started out in Galt, Calif., another city in Sacramento County, but moved to CalExpo after it opened in 1968.
“Sponsors cannot understand the difference between the county fair and the state fair,” Fyock said. “Both are important. We’re more of a hometown, small, intimate venue and CalExpo is a big state fair. We have 88,000 fairgoers and they have 650,000.”
The increase in sponsorships is impressive when factoring in the use of Cal Expo – Fyock has an office in a trailer next to the existing administration building – which also limits sponsorships in other ways.
“This fair is unique,” Fyock said. “We don’t get any of the parking money and we can’t sell beverage sponsorships. That’s through CalExpo and we have to use Coke. And all of our alcohol money goes to Cal Expo. So we have some unique challenges.”
And yet, the fair, which will be held May 23-27, not only made up for the loss of $228,000 in state funds, it also had operated on a revenues and expense budget of $556,000.
“When all was said and done, at the end of the year when we paid CalExpo, I think we made $282,” Fyock said.
Fyock also helped set up a 501(c)3 foundation that allows families to join for $500 a year, to ensure the continuation and security of the fair.
If the fair ever were to need that money, “we would have to request it from that board,” Fyock said. “It would be on an as-needed basis.
“Hopefully, we won’t need it. Hopefully, the fair will continue to grow so it has a balanced approach. That’s where I think some of the fairs have gotten in trouble. They had the state money to fall back on.”
Fyock credits sponsorships with a lot of the turnaround, as well as working with the community and with partners such as the fair’s carnival provider, Fair Oaks, Calif.-based Midway of Fun Brass Ring Amusements owner Harry Mason.
Mason credits a wider variety of marketing compared to previous years for the carnival’s success, including a Groupon promotion.
“I don’t think anything like that has been tried before,” he said. “What a huge difference that was.”
Between that and other discounts, including discounts at Costco and Walgreens, fairgoers essentially could get a pay-one-price wristband for $12.50 instead of the usual $25.
“In the times we’re in, that makes sense to do that,” Mason said. “We’re in a unique demographic area and we need to do some deep discounting. By doing up to 50 percent off, we actually increased the total carnival gross by 15 percent, which is pretty amazing.”
Fyock also worked to make community connections and spend money wisely. For instance, junior livestock premiums were not cut.
“In fact, I increased their awards,” she said. “I did cut down on ribbons. There is give-and-take in everything and I looked at every dime we spent.”
Interviewed for this article: Pamela Fyock, (916) 263-2975; Harry Mason, (916) 226-9146