EUREKA FAIRGROUNDS IN FINANCIAL STRAITS
Fairgrounds face substantial hurdles in face of COVID-19
Redwood Acres may have to shut its doors in the near future depending on how the COVID-19 pandemic plays out locally.
The annual fair, which represents a third of Redwood Acres’ budget, had to be canceled and the fairground’s two main facilities that can be rented out for events are currently housing the COVID-19 testing site and an alternative care site, which is being reserved for a surge in COVID-19 patients, said Redwood Acres’ CEO Ben Brown. There are some events and activities currently planned, such as stock car races and, tentatively, a monster truck rally, but those would need to be canceled if a patient was admitted to the alternative care site, he said.
“If a patient is admitted then loud events won’t be allowed,” Brown said, “so that would cancel all of those.”
Once the fair was canceled, Brown said two people had to be laid off, hours were cut for the remaining staff and his own salary was cut by 30%. Initially, the fairground wasn’t eligible for Paycheck Protection Program funds, but some changes made by Congress recently opened that funding up and Redwood Acres should be getting around $80,000 to $90,000, which would be about three months of additional breathing room, Brown said.
An email update sent out by
Brown showed cash flow statements indicating the fairground would potentially have to shut down by December if it didn’t receive the PPP funds.
The cash flow statement shows the fairground’s account balance at $122,658 in July, $91,994 in August, $64,088 in September, $35,534 in October, $6,980 in November and overdrawn by $5,892 in December.
Redwood Acres anticipated income hovers between $50,000 and $58,000 from July to December while expenses range from $70,000 to about $86,000 per month, leaving the fairground over its budget by almost $30,000 through most of the fall and by $12,873 in December, according to the cash flow statement.
The Humboldt County Fair Board Association is also facing major financial challenges during this time and had to layoff its general
manager, Richard Conway, about a month ago because of a lack of work with the fair and events canceled, said the fair board president Andy Titus.
“We have very limited income coming in,” Titus said. “Not enough to cover our overhead completely, but we do have money coming in. So it’s not like our reserves are paying for all of our expenses.”
The fair board was able to bring expenses down, has some revenue coming in from storage facilities and its campground, and shifted the funding for the general manager to two hourly positions, Titus said.
“It’s the hourly employees that we need working right now because those are the jobs we need to get done,” Titus said. “When you don’t have a fair and you don’t have events, there’s nothing for anyone to manage.”
The income Redwood Acres is currently receiving is the result of an innovative financial model, including bringing in a business incubator, it developed after the state pulled $250,000 in funding to fairgrounds in 2011, Brown said. The 12 businesses that rent out facilities at Redwood Acres provide almost a third of the fairground’s annual income, he said.
Additional revenue is coming from 21 horse boarders, an active RV campground and storage for boats and RVs.
Additional relief may be available through the state, but Brown said it was important for people to reach out to local elected officials and advocate for the fairground in order to make that a reality.