Del Mar Fairgrounds could get aid from bill

After a difficult year of layoffs and revenue loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Del Mar Fairgrounds could get a boost from a bill in Congress that would provide $500 million in grants for agricultural fairs nationwide.

The bill, the Agricultural Fairs Rescue Act, was introduced earlier this month by U.S. Reps. Jimmy Panetta, DMonterey, Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, Billy Long, RMo, and Dan Newhouse, R-Wash.

Levin said in an interview that the pandemic “has just taken a huge toll on the Del Mar community.”

But, he added, “We're not alone in this problem. There are fairs all throughout the country that have experienced devastating losses because of COVID.”

Levin also mentioned the bill during a brief address to the Del Mar City Council on Monday. Over the last year, council members have repeatedly pointed out that the city's full financial recovery from the pandemic will depend on large, revenue-generating events returning to the fairgrounds.

Since COVID-related public health guidelines went into effect last year, the workforce at the state-owned Del Mar Fairgrounds has been cut from 158 to 62. Revenue dropped by about 90 percent in 2020. The fairgrounds received a boost from a $40.3 million allocation that Gov. Gavin Newsom made last year for distribution among all the state's fairgrounds, but the board members who run the fairgrounds have been searching for more financial lifelines.

If the Agricultural Fairs Rescue Act is signed into law, each state's department of agriculture would oversee the distribution of the funds. The bill has been assigned to the House Agriculture Committee.

After the cancellation of last year's fair, the Del Mar fair board is planning a scaled-down version of the monthlong event called Homegrown Fun, which will run from June 11 to July 4. Fair board members have said that the event, which will be limited in attendance, is their first big sign of a return to normal.

A statement from the Del Mar Fairgrounds, sent by spokeswoman Jennifer Hellman, mentioned the wide array of needs that all the state's fairgrounds provide.