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For the past three years, Josephine’s Glazed Doughnuts owners Gentry and Emily Miller have taken the 10-hour drive up to the New York State Fair from their last stop in West Virginia. But this year, there was no trip.

Despite being based in Indiana, The Millers would normally be traveling across the country, going from fair to fair for 10 months, and along the way make their stop in New York. Their concession stand would be at the New York Stair Fair right now for its fourth year while they serve up humongous doughnuts to flocks of people.

But due to the cancellation of multiple fairs this year, including New York State’s, things have changed.

“We’ve lost everything. Our entire season is gone. There is no revenue,” Gentry Miller said.

This year marks the first year that the New York State Fair has been canceled since World War II. And the first time that Dave Bullard, the New York State Fair marketing and public relations manager, has ever taken a vacation during fair week.

“We work all year for this. It’s the thing we work hardest on, and to not be able to do it is sad,” he said. “We certainly understand and agree with the reason why because our foremost concern is that everybody who comes to the fair goes home safe and sound. So with that in mind, we understand, but it doesn’t make it any less melancholy for us.”

This year’s fair was supposed to span 18 days instead of the normal 13 and was set to have lower admission prices so it could be financially accessible for more people.

Next year’s fair will run from Aug. 20 to Sept. 6 and will be the “absolute best ever,” according to Bullard.

Many 4-H club members worked on their projects throughout the whole year and kept track of their progress in project books. Courtesy of Onondaga County 4-H

But the cancellation of this year’s fair didn’t come without its negative effects. The New York State Fair has an economic impact of approximately $100 million, Bullard said. In 2019, Spectrum News reported that 1.3 million people went to the fair and spent an average of $77 per person, generating around $100.1 million.

“That’s a lot of jobs, that’s a lot of people making improvements to their homes or buying cars,” Bullard said.

While there won’t be live music from bands such as REO Speedwagon this year, the fairgrounds will not be completely vacant.

At Orange Lot Madness events, visitors can enjoy fair classics such as funnel cake, blooming onions and other fried foods. The Villa Pizze Fritte, The Butcher Boys and Big Kahuna’s are some of the vendors participating in drive-thru events at the fairgrounds.

These events also feature free drive-in movies, including films like “Groundhog Day,” and “Dirty Dancing.” “The Binge,” a film from Syracuse-based studio American High, premiered at a drive-in screening at the fairgrounds on Thursday and was shown again the next night.

Syracuse University sophomores Leah Buxbaum and Kat Davey attended the premiere of “The Binge.” It was the first time that the two students had ever been to a drive-in movie. Buxbaum said she loved the film, which featured actors from “Booksmart,” one of her favorite movies.

Davey has never been to the New York State Fair before, so it was also the first time that she saw the fairgrounds themselves.

“(The attendees) just wanted to be able to have some fun at a local spot. It’s a really big place, so you can socially distance and still have fun,” she said.

Following the screenings of “The Binge” on Thursday and Friday nights, a performance from Metallica was shown on the drive-in screen at the fairgrounds on Saturday night.

Youth involved in 4-H have also found ways to adapt and maintain some elements of the fair despite its cancellation. The Onondaga County 4-H program hosted a 4-H Virtual Fair Activities program as well as Virtual Project and Animal Shows, the group wrote in a Facebook post.

Many of the 4-H club members worked on their projects throughout the whole year and kept track of their progress in project books, said Cindy Albro, the Onondaga 4-H program coordinator. The 4-H members were upset to learn that the fair, which serves as the culmination of their work, was canceled, so the Cornell University Cooperative Extension staff put on a virtual fair for them, Albro said.

Participants at the weekly virtual sessions learned about topics such as beekeeping and bird watching. At one session, a 4-H member gave a virtual tutorial on feeding baby goats. Another one of the 4-H programs, the Virtual Project and Animal Shows began with an in-person dairy clinic, where participants learned how to show a calf.

With the lifting of some COVID-19 restrictions, the fairgrounds also were able to host horse shows in the Colosseum as well as weekly Red Cross blood drives, Bullard said.

The fair generates 80% of the fairgrounds revenue while other events run by promoters who rent the grounds generate the other 20%, Bullard said.

One of the 4-H programs, the Virtual Project and Animal Shows, began with an in-person dairy clinic, where participants learned how to show a calf. Courtesy of Onondaga County 4-H

In order to keep people engaged, the New York State Fair social media accounts have been hosting various contests and virtual events. This includes a butter sculpting contest in which participants are encouraged to create a butter sculpture with up to five pounds of butter to commemorate the annual butter sculpture made by the American Dairy Association North East.

The official ADANE butter sculpture will be shown in a live-streamed video. In addition, they are hosting an event called “three for four” in which participants receive four fair tickets for the 2021 season if they visit three of the fair’s vendors establishments and upload the receipts, Bullard said.

“I’m not an epidemiologist so I’m not going to predict the flow of anything,” Bullard said. “I will simply say if the fair happens it will be the absolute knockout best fair we’ve ever delivered. We’ve been working hard on it, we’re going to put more of everything and more new things then we’ve ever done.”

Published on August 30, 2020 at 10:37 pm

Contact Sydney: sabergan@syr.edu