Vermont fair organizers tell Senate committee grants and permitting changes are keeping community fairs alive

Organizers from county and community fairs told the Vermont Senate Institutions committee on Feb. 18 that state capital grants and stipend payments are critical to keeping fairs operating across the state, and they urged clearer permitting guidance on a new "3-acre" stormwater rule to prevent costly re-permitting and construction that could temporarily shutter events.

Jackie Olson, who identified herself as the fairs' lobbyist and board secretary, told the committee the fairs generate broad local economic activity: "it's over $9,000,000 for all the fairs that they're bringing into the community and putting back out into the community." Olson also summarized existing legislative support as capital grants of roughly $300,000 and stipends of about $110,000 statewide.

Why it matters: fairs are largely volunteer-run civic institutions that draw visitors, vendors and local spending while hosting year-round community uses such as concerts, youth sports and public-safety trainings. Witnesses warned that large infrastructure fixes tied to the 3-acre stormwater rule may force fairs to sacrifice critical income-generating activities during multi-month construction windows.

Caledonia County Fair representative Chris Vance described how state capital support helped the fair recover after its grandstand burned in 1993 and said the small stipend awards also help sustain participation: "We get probably $15,000 of stipend money, which goes towards paying premiums," he said, noting the fair paid $71,000 in premiums last year to encourage participation. Vance also said the fair will host a 30-foot weather-monitoring station this spring in partnership with the University of Vermont to improve flood and river-depth data in that region.

Smaller operations described steeper near-term capital needs. Neska Bushey, representing Bongo Fair, said recent electrical upgrades and code compliance work cost the fair more than $85,000 and that without state grants "we would be out of business." Bushey described a five-year plan to refurbish aging buildings and said fairs often reinvest earned revenues into infrastructure and community programming.

Several fairs said they were early participants in state pilot projects to address stormwater. Tim Shanks said his fair received grants to address impervious-area issues and reported roughly 33 impervious acres at his site; he estimated the current stormwater project nearing completion would total "just under $550,000." By contrast, representatives from the Vermont State Fair described a more complex site with a brook, a box culvert and multiple constraints and reported engineering and feasibility work that could cost in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars, while some total-solution estimates discussed during testimony ranged from roughly $2.7 million to $3.6 million.

Multiple witnesses and committee members raised a common permitting concern: the current approach treats a permit as a "snapshot in time," which can force fairs that later add buildings or change layouts to re-permit and re-engineer. Cindy Kate Hart of Madison Fair recommended that fair boards, engineers and agency staff meet jointly and share memoranda of understanding or templates so other fairs can replicate successful approaches. "That Zoom meeting with everybody together was worth its weight in gold," she said.

Speakers also warned that some technically feasible stormwater fixes — for example, large buried tanks or chambers — could preclude parking or rides if sited on high-value fairground space, and that a year or two of construction would imperil vendor relationships and carnival contracts that underwrite fairs' finances.

Committee members responded with offers of assistance and follow-up: they asked fairs to share engineering plans and specifications so other organizers could learn from early implementers, and several members offered to visit fairgrounds to see site constraints firsthand. One member noted the legislature had provided a $2,000,000 appropriation toward the work, but witnesses said gaps remain and that solutions will require phased engineering and targeted funding.

The committee did not take formal action during the testimony. Members closed by thanking organizers for perseverance and encouraging continued contact and sharing of engineering documents that could inform other fairgrounds' projects.