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Receive a presentation to summarize and highlight significant achievements at the 2016 California State and Solano County Fairs
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Published Notice Required? Yes ____ No _X _
Public Hearing Required? Yes ____ No _X _
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors receive a presentation regarding
1) An overview of the County’s exhibit and participation in the California State Fair; and
2) An overview of the 2016 Solano County Fair
SUMMARY:
The Board has asked to receive and update on the County’s 2016 Fair activities. In 2016 Solano County participated in the California State Fair in Sacramento and hosted the annual Solano County Fair in Vallejo. Participating in the State Fair and hosting the County Fair serves to promote the County’s rich agricultural history, tourism and industry to hundreds of thousands of visitors throughout California.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
State Fair Exhibit
This is the fifth year Solano County has used a fixed price contract concept to hire a project manager to be responsible for the County exhibit from start to finish as well as be responsible for covering all costs associated with the exhibit, including design, construction and staffing at the 17-day California State Fair event. The contractor could solicit in-kind and monetary donations to offset the costs of the exhibit. In addition, the contractor receives any prize money the exhibit earns from winning awards. The total General Fund contribution was $40,000. The contract also included a request that the State Fair exhibit be relocated in part or in full to the County Fair.
County Fair Status
The overall revenue results for the 2016 Solano County Fair were positive, generating $58,042 or 10.4% more revenue than the 2015 Fair and $45,593 or 8% over the 2016 Budget for the fair-time revenues. The revenue increase was primarily due to increases in food and beverage sales (up 10.6%), commercial spaces (up 15.3%) carnival rides and games (up 1.5%), exhibit entry fees (up 13.3%) parking (up 7.4%) and admissions (up 12.8%). Actual sponsorship and advertising revenues was up 1.2% over 2015, but fell short of budget by $9,685 or 14%. The number of lots in Junior Livestock Auction increased from 148 to 157 lots compared to 2015; however, the mix of animals shifted more toward smaller animals. Despite this decrease in animal tonnage, the Junior Livestock Auction raised $114,514 - equating to 99.3% of the 2015 total. The final figures on the expenditures for the Fair is still pending, but currently appears to be on target for the 2016 budget.
DISCUSSION:
The 2016 California State Fair: July 8-24, 2016
Solano County continued its winning tradition with the 2016 Solano County exhibit at the California State Fair, winning the Best of Show, the Best of Show - Community Built, Gold Award, People’s Choice Award and People’s Choice Award - Most Fun. Over the past 17 years the County exhibits have won 73 major awards, including 16 Gold Awards, nine Best of Show and 12 People’s Choice awards.
About the 2016 County Exhibit
This year’s County exhibit theme, “Solano Delivers,” featured a 360-degree visitor experience, complete with a series of “vehicles” used to illustrate how Solano County delivers good and services, including parks and recreation destination points, cultural activities, tourist attractions, business, food and industry. The exhibit also featured a variety of locally grown produce, fruits and nuts - all representative of Solano County’s rich agricultural history. The exhibit was tied together using lighting, sounds and video.
More than 750,000 Visitors to County Exhibits
There’s great value for Solano County to participate in the California State Fair. California State Fair officials estimate nearly 750,000 visitors came through the County Building and passed by the Solano County exhibit this year, a number of whom are potential future visitors to our County. As part of promoting Solano County, more than 95 volunteers passed out 10,000 Jelly Belly samples over the course of 248 hours, in addition to a series of promotional materials, including information on the County’s parks and recreation facilities, cities, Travis Air Force Base, local farmer’s markets and tourism destinations.
County State Exhibit Repurposed at the Solano County Fair
In previous years a portion of the State Fair County exhibit would be brought to Solano County and featured at the Solano County Fair; however, starting last year and again this year, the entire County exhibit was on display. Per design, the contractor fabricated the exhibit to be mobile and designed for use at multiple locations, including the State and County fairs.
All-Inclusive Approach Saves Time, Money and Resources
Starting with the 2011 exhibit, the County has transitioned from a County staff intensive process of exhibit design, construction and transport to a volunteer-focused approach. In 2016, for the second year in a row, the Richard Bay Puppet Theater Company was contracted to manage the all-inclusive design, construction, marketing, donation collection and coordination of volunteers for delivery of a County exhibit at both the State and County fairs for a fixed price. This approach continues to be successful as the promotion effort and cost effective by reducing the County’s financial contribution to the project, while retaining the award-winning quality that showcases Solano County as a desirable destination.
The 2016 Solano County Fair: July 27 - July 31, 2016
The Solano County Fair Association conducted the annual Solano County Fair this year with the theme, “Play It Again, Solano!” that built on the successful 2015 Fair, encouraging people to come back to the Fair for another great time. The campaign emphasized the return of crowd favorites from 2015 and years past. At the same time, the theme allowed for the addition of established events that would be played at the Fair, including Vallejo Together’s Youth Expo and Parent Summit on Thursday, the Napa Valley MMA/No Limit Fighting Mixed Martial Arts tournament on Friday and Vallejo PAL boxing on Saturday. The Gospel Rocks Solano! event was promoted directly to area churches. Signage on area buses was added this year in addition to its mix of radio, newspaper, magazine, highway billboard / electronic sign, and social media publicity efforts.
Solano Definitely Played It Again!
At 93 degrees on Wednesday, the weather was even hotter for opening day than in 2015; however, the weather did not precipitate a reduction in attendance or stress the capacity of the electrical system as it did last year. The weather was more challenging for the livestock, resulting in the need to acquire additional temporary cooling systems. The weather for the rest of the Fair was more temperate for human attendees, reaching temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s. Total attendance for the 5-day Fair was 40,455, up by 2.3% over 2015 and reflects the second year of increasing attendance for a two-year gain of 4.3%.
County Volunteers Represent Solano County at the Fair
A group of 10 County volunteers staffed the Solano County exhibit over the course of four days during the Solano County Fair. Volunteers mingled with visitors, passed out samples of Jelly Belly candies and touted promotional materials on tourism spots throughout the County.
Emphasizing Community Connections to Enhance Fair Experience
Several areas of the Fair program were expanded or modified to enhance the fairgoer experience and create stronger community connections while being mindful to reduce the overall cost of the annual 5-day fair.
• Added a Gospel Rocks Solano! event on opening day of the Fair that featured national, regional and local artists and groups.
• Partnered with existing successful events to hold their event during the Fair, including Vallejo Together’s Youth Expo and Parent Summit, Vallejo PAL’s annual amateur boxing tournament, and No Limit Fighting of Napa’s amateur mixed martial arts tournament that included two title fights.
• Expanded the appearance of Vallejo’s Mad Hatter Parade to Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
• Relocated the Cultural Pavilion to be a centerpiece of the Family Fun Zone and expanded the number of cultural groups represented in exhibits and on the Cultural Stage.
• Continued the Healthy Solano! Health Fair in a new location to provide health information and services from a variety of local healthcare and veteran organizations. The Health Fair launched in 2015 and received a first place award in New Featured Event, Exhibit or Program from the Western Fair Association.
• Incorporated the Solano County Master Gardeners and the Solano County Water Agency into the Solano Gardens, a shady area adjacent to Expo Hall, and added the Americana stage to entertain audiences in the adjacent picnic area.
• Added a “We Are Family” Award that encouraged more entries in the adult Fine Arts program, and provided 20 pieces of art for temporary display at Solano County Family Health Services’ clinics.
• Incorporated a special video tribute to movies made in Solano County into the Floriculture exhibits in the County Building Foyer.
• More local artists showcased their wares in our dedicated Local Artist exhibit area in exchange for performing demonstrations of how their products are made.
• Reconfigured Expo Hall to expand the number of paid vendor locations, which included relocating the County & Cities Expo. The County exhibit from the California State Fair was placed directly in front of the Solano Grill snack bar. This appears to have had the unanticipated benefit of increasing food sales at the Solano Grill.
• Partnered with Bids for Kids at the Junior Livestock Auction to keep the auction bidding momentum going throughout the entire auction. This strategic bidding helped overcome a decrease in animal tonnage this year due to youth entering smaller animals than last year.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board could choose not to receive this presentation; however, this is not recommended because it provides an opportunity to showcase the value of participating in the State Fair and hosting the Solano County Fair.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The 2016 County exhibit reflected the involvement of 26 local businesses and organizations as sponsors and more than 95 County and community volunteers who helped fund and staff the exhibit at the California State Fair from July 8-24 and the Solano County Fair from July 27-31, 2016.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION