Weber County Fairgrounds Manager Cindy Williams just shrugs off the $113,301 loss at last year's fair and points out that the fair is only a small part of what goes on at the Golden Spike Arena.
"If we didn't have the bad weather (during last year's fair), we probably could have made a stab at it," Williams said. "Besides, the Utah State Fair last year lost $127,000."The Golden Spike Arena cost county taxpayers about $12 million and the building is being paid off through revenue bonds, a transient room tax and money generated through events at the arena.
The arena seats 7,000 people and last year the facility attracted 153,500 people, Williams said. The fairgrounds and arena opened for the public in the early fall of 1988.
"We can readily identify more than $1.2 million in new money that the facility brought into the economy in 1989," Williams said. "There are reasonable indications the figure could be significantly greater, perhaps twice that amount."
To get to the new arena, visitors and local residents can drive down Bill Bailey Boulevard, named after County Commissioner Bill Bailey. The arena employs six full-time people and 40 part-time employees, most of them high school students.
The facility was designed to hold mostly horse and equestrian events, but a hard-surface floor can cover the dirt so other events such as home and garden shows can take place.
"Typically, we might have three different kinds of events going on at the same time," Williams continued. "We're getting national events here now, which is important to Weber County."
The schedule at the arena is full so far this year, with events such as rodeos, antique shows, wedding and anniversary receptions, cattle sales, horse and dog shows, trade shows and of course the Weber County Fair.
Also scheduled at the arena is the Jehovah's Witnesses Conference, a Halloween spook alley and dance, Cinco de Mayo celebration, a Scout-O-Rama and a Worldwide Military Maintenance Conference.
Besides housing the arena, the fairgrounds also has a horse-racing track for cutting-horse and chariot-racing events.
Williams said that next month, the track will be accredited by the American Quarter Horse Association.
Cliff Thompson, who handles public relations for the arena, said that the county fair is but a minor part of the operations at the fairgrounds.
"You know that people come from all over and spend money here," Thompson said. "The people who dwell on the fair loss are missing the whole point. We generate revenue all year long."
Thompson pointed out that people who come from out of town to attend events at the arena, also pump money into the local economy through restaurants, hotels and gas stations.
"This is an important facility," Williams added. "It gets the attention of people throughout the Western United States."