Fall forecast: Fair

If approved, event set for Gulfstream Park

The Broward County Fair plans a return to Gulfstream Park.

The Broward County Fair will make its long-awaited comeback in November at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach — if plans get the green light.

There hasn’t been a county fair in five years because promoters have not been able to get city approval for the sites they picked. First, Lauderhill balked at plans for using a Swap Shop parking lot, then Pompano Beach would not approve the fair setting up at the Festival Flea Market.

Hallandale Beach officials have not signed off on the event yet, Assistant City Manager Greg Chavarria said Friday.

The fair has reached agreement with Gulfstream, signed up partners and sponsors, arranged advertisements and is ready to go, fair manager Harlan Bast said. A 60-ride midway, carnival games, farm animals, cotton candy, elephant ears and more are scheduled to return Nov. 16 to 26.

It will be a coming home of sorts for the fair, which set up at the park for several decades ending in 1996.

“We really always wanted to go back to Gulfstream,” Bast said. “This didn’t happen in 12 minutes. We’ve been researching this for the past five years.”

Chavarria said the park is designated a local activity center, so special events are allowed. However, the fair likely needs a temporary use permit that establishes the barricades, temporary toilets, modified traffic flow and extra police that will be needed. The city typically requires 30 days

of advance notice, he said.

The fair has been in contact with the city, but so far, the police department and development services haven’t received a formal application, Chavarria said.

Bast said he doesn’t foresee any problems because the park won’t be holding any horse races during the 11-day event.

“The race fans will be gone and the fair fans will be coming, so it’ll be a swap,” Bast said. He owns Hildebrand Amusement Rides, which is halfway through its 10-year contract to manage the fair, without having had a fair yet.

Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper was pleased to hear the news Friday that the fair was coming back.

“It’s very nostalgic, My kids went there when they were little. I was very disappointed when it left the city,” Cooper said.

The vagabond fair has set up in a half-dozen different locations over the past 41 years, but it was forced to cancel its plans in recent years because of problems securing city permits. The last fair was in 2012 at City Center in Pembroke Pines and drew just 32,000 paying visitors, fair officials have said.

Unlike most county fairs in the state, the Broward fair doesn’t have its own fairgrounds. Both the South Florida Fair in Palm Beach County and the Miam-Dade County Fair own their own property and annually draw up to a half-million visitors each. The South Florida Fair is in January and Miami-Dade’s is in March and April.

Over the years, the Broward fair has been held at Gulfstream, City Center, at the Davie campus of Broward Community College, at Pompano Park Harness Racetrack in Pompano Beach and at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.

In 2009, the fair ended up in a Pompano Beach strip center parking lot with no carnival rides, no food and no games, just animals and student exhibits.

Bast is hoping the fair can return to its heyday, when it attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors.

“The midway is going to be more spectacular than ever,” Bast said. “I think it’s going to be great.”

STAFF FILE PHOTO Police officers used their own horses in 1988 when the Broward County Fair took place at Gulfstream Park.