State Fair cuts days, not vendor fees

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The New Mexico State Fair will be open fewer days this year to cut down on losses, but vendors who set up booths still are paying full fare, which has some of them upset.

Fair officials said the economy is to blame when it comes to the schedule change. However officials said it could have been worse.

The usual 17-day run was chopped to 13. On Mondays and Tuesdays the gates will be closed and booths will be empty.

There are mixed reactions about the schedule change down vendor row.

“We're going to lose probably a couple thousand, maybe more, in sales,” booth manager George Rodriguez said.

“Monday and Tuesdays were really slow for the vendors," Judy Barnes, another booth manager, said. "It was hardly worth us coming in."

State Fair spokesman Michael Henningsen said the closures will help make up for years of lost revenue. He said attendance dropped 12 percent from 2007 to 2009.

According to Henningsen fair officials did think about the vendors too.

“By closing those slow days it cut significant overtime,” Henningsen said. “It will hopefully save the vendors some overhead, labor costs themselves.”

However, it depends on who you ask.

Rodriguez agreed bigger vendors with more employees will probably benefit, but his refreshment booth won’t. Rodriguez said he and his wife are the only employees on the payroll.

“It's not going to help us any,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez is still optimistic, but other vendors are not.

Several vendors told News 13 they are even more upset about booth rental fees but wanted to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. They said they don’t understand how the fair can cut the number of days vendors will be selling but not lower the fees vendors had to pay.

One vendor said the money he will lose would cover his space fee.

State Fair officials said vendors are actually paying less than other states.

“We haven't raised vendor rates from 2005, and that was one of the options,” Henningsen said.

Henningsen said fair officials considered bumping up fees for vendors and even raising admission costs, but in the end they decided that wasn't the way to go.

No matter the reasoning behind it all not everybody is happy with the situation.

“It’s about 50-50," Rodriguez said. "Some say it's going to hurt; others say it's going to help them."

It's the first time in almost 30 years the fair won't run for 17 straight days. The fair starts on Friday.