Great New York State Fair

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Great New York State Fair
The fair on Labor Day 2005
Location(s) Syracuse, New York
Years active 162
Date(s) third or fourth Thursday in August to Labor Day
Genre fall fair
Website The Great New York State Fair

The Great New York State Fair is an annual farmers' exposition and a 12-day showcase of entertainment, education, industry, and technology sponsored by the State of New York. Additionally there are midway rides, games, and concerts. The first fair took place in Syracuse in 1841. It is the oldest and one of the largest state fairs in the United States, with approximately one million visitors annually. (Minnesota and Texas have larger attendance records). From 1842 to 1889 the fair was hosted in many different cities across New York, until settling permanently in Syracuse in 1890. The year 2009 will be the host to the 163rd Great New York State Fair.

Gates open everyday at 8 a.m. Specially themed days include Beef Day, Dairy Day, Firefighters' Day, Governor's Day, Law Enforcement Day, Native American Day, Senior Citizen's Day, Student's Day, Veterans' Day, Women's Day, and others. The Mohegan Sun Grandstand features concerts from some of today's most popular musical artists, and Chevrolet Court features free concerts from acts of yesterday and today.

The Great New York State Fair begins on the third or fourth Thursday in August and runs for 12 days, ending on Labor Day. It is located on the 375-acre (1.52 km2) Empire Expo Center on the western border of Syracuse, in Geddes.

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[edit] Syracuse Labor Day Derecho

On September 7, 1998, two people were killed during the fair in the Syracuse Labor Day Derecho, which ripped across the region during the evening. A piece of roof from an exhibit hall tore off and struck a vendor, while an exhibitor camping on the Fairgrounds was crushed by a fallen tree.

The state fair, for the first time in its history, shut down one day early due to the storm and the resulting electrical outages.

Butter sculpture in The Great New York State Fair 2007

[edit] Attendance Records

Day Attendance[1] Year
Thursday 74,385 2000
Friday 92,782 2001
Saturday 94,959 2003
Sunday 105,894 2002
Monday 85,650 2005
Tuesday 102,136 1972
Wednesday 112,706 1972
Thursday 81,369 2003
Friday 103,117 2002
Saturday 120,516 1989
Sunday 119,726 1985
Monday 108,216 2001
Total Attendance 1,011,248 2001

[edit] Recent Controversy

In recent years, the current director, Dan O'Hara, a former Baldwinsville, NY mayor, has fired a variety of long-time employees[2].

Among those O'Hara has fired include Joe LaGuardia, the fair's marketing director of 32 years. In September 2007, Syracuse's daily newspaper, The Post-Standard, published an article that reported LaGuardia had announced his resignation, for which O'Hara had asked LaGuardia.[3] Furthermore, after firing LaGuardia, who had booked the bands who played at the venue's Mohegan Sun Grandstand during each year of LaGuardia's long tenure, O'Hara then engaged in a controversial deal with the concert booking agency Live Nation that was brought under fire due to the fact that it was made outside of the normal NY state bidding process to which it would have normally been subjected. [4] In 2009 O'Hara reversed his previous decision by accepting a bid from Triangle Talent, Inc.[5]

O'Hara has also been greatly criticized for his treatment of State Fair employees, perhaps most notoriously during a reported episode in which he allowed his daughters to attend an August 29, 2008, Jonas Brothers concert at the grandstand in seats normally reserved for the handicapped. When a fair employee who was ushering the concert attempted to tell the girls that they wouldn't be able to sit in that section, O'Hara's children called the director, who then threatened to fire the usher. [6]

According to State Fair employees at the time, O'Hara had also acquired a stack of Burger King applications, which he'd used as a prop during a 2007 meeting in order to convince them that if they didn't like his way of running the fair that there were other opportunities for employment. [7]

Since that time, O'Hara's actions have been under investigation by the New York State Inspector General, Joseph Fisch. Despite the investigations into the well-reported incidences, O'Hara remains the fair's director.

Since LaGuardia was moved from his post, the quality of music presented at the fair has also been largely criticized by the arts sections of local newspapers. The Syracuse New Times published a scathing preview of the 2009 country acts at the fair in its August 29, 2009 issue, for example. [8] Attendance at the fair's concerts has also been unpredictable since LaGaurdia's resignation, a fact presented in various, similar Post-Standard articles.

During the 2009 State Fair, the traditionally operated Post-Standard building in Chevy Court has been torn down. At the same time local media sources have reported difficulties covering the 2009 version of the State Fair. Some felt this was because the director was retaliating for the Post-Standard's previously critical coverage of the fair by reducing opportunities for photographers and restricting press credentials for State Fair concerts.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ http://www.nysfair.org/news/attendance.php
  2. ^ http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/state_fair_directors_come_and.html
  3. ^ http://blog.syracuse.com/news/2007/09/state_fairs_marketing_director.html
  4. ^ http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2008/08/grandstand_play_nobid_contract.html
  5. ^ http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/comptroller_approves_state_fai.html
  6. ^ http://www.syracuse.com/city/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1221728342199010.xml&coll=1
  7. ^ http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/new_york_inspector_general_inv.html
  8. ^ http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3485&Itemid=148

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_New_York_State_Fair"