Fair board talks about fundraising

In a lengthy discussion after an otherwise short meeting, the Great Northern Fair Board at its monthly meeting Tuesday talked about how to raise more funds to improve the fair and the grounds.

“If we’re going to grow this thing and improve it, we have to figure out some way (to raise money),” board member Gus Sharp said.

Board member Missy Boucher, who also sits on the fair funding foundation board, said if people have ideas, the fair board and foundation could give them a try.

“We can’t keep saying we’ve got to do it, we’ve got to come up with those ideas … bring those ideas to us,” Boucher said.

Sharp started the discussion by suggesting approaching community businesses to sponsor the fair, possibly putting that money specifically into a fund for improvements instead of using it for the general budget. He has suggested at several meetings that the county set a line in the budget to collect money for an improvement fund.

Commissioner Jeff LaVoi said that, although he does not know all the details of setting up such a fund, it could be done. In the status quo, he said, if the fair raises more money than it expends, that money goes back to the county general fund rather than being kept for the fair.

Fairground manager Tim Solomon and Boucher said the foundation in the past approached businesses. That generally raised $15,000 to $25,000 a year, they said.

After other groups started approaching businesses for specific sponsorships, such as for the rodeo, the fair foundation stopped, Solomon said, adding that business owners were getting upset when they were approached by multiple groups looking for fair donations and the amount of donations dropped off, he said.

“We used to have good, reliable sponsors and other groups started hitting them up and most of them started getting upset because we wanted them to give more … ,” Solomon said.

“(At one point,) we paid someone to do fundraisers for us we found out it wasn’t cost effective. … We ended up paying more than we were collecting in the end.

“It wasn’t that we weren’t out there doing it … ,” he said. “We’re leaving those sponsorships for 4-H and (rodeo) and the derby because if we’re all doing it, we’re soaking up the community.”

He added that those sponsorships still end up funding the fair, by funding the events at the fair.

But several audience members joined Sharp in saying the foundation could make a list of what businesses are sponsoring different groups and contact other groups.

Boucher said the foundation had done that in past years, with little success.

Chelby Gooch, echoed by Sharp, asked if the board still was considering charging a parking fee. If that fee was specified to be used for a project, such as new bathrooms or a new grandstand, people probably would not mind, she said.

Solomon and Boucher said the board had tried to set that up, but was unable to find any group willing to monitor the parking lot to charge the fees, so it was dropped for the moment.

Solomon said the foundation had tried for years to raise money, with the project still at the top of the list new restrooms, including the Rockin’ the Hills concert and a microbrew festival as well as prospecting for sponsorships and selling chute advertisements on the rodeo chutes.

The funds raised have never been enough to get the project moving forward, he said.

“We haven’t gotten beyond that first (bathroom) yet,” Solomon said.

Board chair Bert Corcoran said the board already has a fundraising entity, the foundation. The board and foundation need to find some way to find funds, he said, adding that groups like the Northern Montana Hospital funding foundation and the youth wrestling funding foundation are examples of successful fundraising efforts.

Their fundraisers sell out, Corcoran said.

“Why can’t we do something like that,” he asked.