Committee to examine all aspects of state fair: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2014/11/23/kentucky-state-fair-evaluated/19463223/

Attendance was at its lowest in 30 years

Net loss of around $200,000 for the fair

Fair board president/CEO calls attendance drop "anomaly"

This could get interesting...

KFEC is quickly turning into a dump. Needs upgrades and renovations. Some of the previous draw like military display and Huey rides don't happen anymore. I remember when I was a kid....the place was packed and had a huge midway of every ride imaginable. Not anymore. Send it back to its roots, or cancel it altogether.

true that ^

A local news station made did a story about this and posted the news on facebook. There was at least 200 comments on that facebook posting and each commented said straight up that the fair was too expensive. Someone also said it is just cheaper to go to either Kentucky Kingdom and Holiday World then the fair.

In my opinion the fair is the same thing every year and nothing new are changes occur. The same set up, same rides, its just boring and it is expensive.

Facebook is a registered trademark. As such, it is always capitalized here.

I would have thought the fair would have had a banner year in 2014, what with the new setup, the new rides and the new $9.99 attraction (when purchased at Kroger), The New Kentucky Kingdom.

What major investors in Kentucky Kingdom are campaigning hard to have legal gaming in the Commonwealth? How many of the Democrat state officials are also involved in this effort?

How's THAT going to affect the Kingdom, the Fairgrounds and their future? How would that be received by much of the rest of the state?

http://kywins.com

http://kywins.com/our-coalition/

I went inside the Kingdom the other day and wanted to see T3 up close. In all honesty the red gives it a refreshed new feeling. Felt like going back to 1998 (even though I was 2 at the time). I have a really good picture, but under contract, I cannot share it until April 14th.

State Fairs are ran to long, and need a new change each year like a Regional Theme Park to make new, just my opinion. I feel there is a place in each State for a State Fair the showcase of the State, the celebration , the thankfulness of the Farmers, and a bit of the day in the farm.

But now over to KK good luck,

Huh? Most state fairs were UP this year, many of them dramatically.

To blame the Kentucky State Fair's problems on fairs in general is disingenuous, to say the least.

There was every reason the Kentucky State Fair should have had a banner year. It didn't. There is even an investigation going on.

And if Kentucky Kingdom, at $9.99 if bought at Kroger, wasn't part of the solution then it IS part of the problem.

The fates of the Fsir Board and the New Kentucky Kingdom are intertwined. What affects one affects the other.

The single most important day to the Kingdom's forseeable future is the first Tuesday in November, less than a year away. Its impotence cannot be exaggerated.

........Meanwhile festivals like The Salt Festival, and Wool Festival have been ever so slightly been decreasing and few even know of them anymore. Plus, once you go one year you've seen them all. I rarely even go to them anymore and to be honest, the crowd has really been dying off due to economics or due to death to be frank.

Stella or Lola??

Lola. Front sear, right side. (the magenta train).

Oh, how I wish.

(Stella, back seat, left side was pretty awesome, too! <the teal train>)

Like your cross threadin' there!

^neither were very forgiving with their brakes it was almost like getting into a car accident every time at the end of the ride.

It was not always thus.

I have a natural distrust of anyone in important positions of business and leadership that go by silly fratboy nicknames. i.e. "Rip"

Rides that Six Flags should not have removed?

Six Flags is a registered trademark. As such, it is always capitalized here.

The issue of what rides Six Flags could and could not remove was legally settled.

Also, the Kingdom isn't really in a position to be getting them back.

I still think that the kingdom's removal of Greased Lightning was a dumb move considering it was the last of its kind left with the drop weight launch on a shuttle loop, but I still love Lightning Run

^ the weight drop was one of the largest reasons it was gotten rid of. As the weight fell, there was supposed to be a pocket of air underneath the weight to help slow it down instead of slamming into the bottom of the support tower. This was not happening and the weight was falling with the full force of gravity, damaging inner components of the launch system.

Six Flags is a registered trademark. As such, it is always capitalized here.

The issue of what rides Six Flags could and could not remove was legally settled.

Six Flags took down and tried to get rid of the Superman Drop Tower after the accident, and before the state could finish with the investigation.

That matter was also legally settled.

The Six Flags that did all these things is not the Six Flags of today. The corporate entity is different, the leadership is different, the management is different, the philosophy is different.

To conflate the two is not unlike saying Kings Island or Cedar Fair management today is the same as it was during the Paramount Parks or Kinzel era, respectively. It is not.

So, by now Hart & Company had intended to approach the Fair Board about more lease concessions seeing as in 2014, with all the pent up demand, low prices, $9.99 advance admission during the State Fair and the stellar marketing and management of 2014, the New Kentucky Kingdom barely eked out 50,000 more visitors than Six Flags did in 2009:

http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2014/04/08/ed-hart-talks-about-why-the-new-and-improved.html?full=true&page=all

Seems the Fair Board is in no position to be entertaining such proposals, and is under its own political microscope at present. Word has it some "other party" legislators from Southern, West and Eastern Kentucky are pondering having hearings inquiring into the Kingdom's performance, subsidies, effects on Fair Board finances, treatment of persons with disabilities and of gays, lesbians and others, employment practices, adherence to lease terms, accounting and auditing practices, collection of sales, income and other taxes, maintenance practices, and who knows what else.

A very interesting, and perilous time for the Kingdom. Probably not a good time to be approaching the Fair Board with hat in hand, again. Especially since Hart & Company already enjoy a far sweeter deal than Six Flags ever had or the Kochs were offered.

A full, public and transparent accounting of the financial relationship between the State, Fair Board and Kentucky Kingdom would be mind blowing. It hasn't happened, and let's just say that there are numerous parties (or at least one political one) working VERY hard to try to make sure it doesn't happen.

And, oh yeah...those lawsuits Mr. Hart bloviated so bombastically about? Is it true those have...uh...settled down? Would that be something else learned in a full public disclosure?

Terp, known for asking questions...sometimes at inconvenient times. Speaking of which, where does Beech Bend fit in all of this? Hmmmm.

Keeping Mr. Hart's mouth shut this off season is very effective PR for the park. Should have thought of that one sooner.

Kentucky Kingdom would have never opened without the vast amount of concessions and deals they received, if these disappear the park will meet its end much sooner than later.

Meanwhile, at the fairgrounds:

This is a perilous time for the Kentucky State Fair, the Fair Board, and, in part due to that, The New Kentucky Kingdom.

Word is that several recently redundant SeaWorld senior managers have approached the park seeking employment.

I'm going to hope Kentucky Kingdom's attendance increases but advertising a restored ride as "new" not good and adding one of those sky catcher rides at fairs...

^^ "Recently redundant"? That's an interesting way of putting things.

WTOP Newsradio in the Nation's Capital reports Louisville has just passed an increase in the Jefferson County minimum wage, to $9, to be implemented over three years, the first such increase, it says, in the South.

One wonders how much impact this will have on Jefferson County's premier amusement and water park.

From what I've heard, Kentucky Kingdom was already paying most of their seasonal workers above minimum wage. I don't know what the average was, but it might not affect them much at all.

Then again, it could affect them in a devastating way. The next couple years will be interesting to watch play out. I've said before, if the park makes it to 2017, I think they'll be OK for the long haul. Time will tell if that happens.

http://m.utsandiego.com/news/2014/dec/18/louisville-1st-in-south-to-raise-minimum-wage/