Warrior Days, county fair losses pegged at $33,650; costs amount to savings over previous years

By Matt Ward

Carbon County commissioners got an accounting of profits and losses from hosting this summer’s Fourth of July and county fair events.
Scott Merrell, the county’s new assistant recreation director, provided financial details and attendance data during the commission’s regular meeting Wednesday.
Merrell started out with the county fair, reporting an overall attendance of about 2,000 people.
He said revenue from the fair amounted to $6,415, with expenses of $1,381 to put on individual events and an additional $3,020 in advertising costs.
Merrell said the county took advantage of $4,900 in sponsorships and $5,300 in in-kind donations, which mostly amounted to prizes for contest winners.
“[This] left us with $2,014 in the positive for the county fair. So we were able to make a little money on the county fair,” Merrell told commissioners.
All of the money made from the fair, however, was soaked up by labor expenses, Merrell said, which amounted to $3,659.
Adding in labor costs, the fair cost the county $1,645 overall.
That figure is minuscule compared to what Warrior Days, the county’s new Fourth of July event, cost to put on.
According to Merrell, expenses for Warrior Days amounted to $45,764.49, not including $9,752 in labor costs.
Revenue from the event, which included a concert and bull-riding competition, amounted to $23,512.45, for an overall loss of $32,001.04.
Combined, the county fair and warrior days cost $33,649.04 to produce.
Though a significant loss, by all accounts, this is actually a positive sign because for numerous years the county budgeted $40,000 to put on the county fair alone, without recouping much if any of that funding.
“Historically the county has set aside money for us to put on a county fair each year,” Merrell said. “I believe for the past little bit it has been $40,000 a year. That’s money that we spend to put on a great event for the community that we never really recoup. We never really bring in events or activities that generate an income to pay back some of that money. The idea was presented this year, why not create an activity that could bring back some of that money and that it was not simply a $40,000 loss of county funds.”
Under that logic, the county potentially saved itself $6,350.96 this year by hosting Warrior Days, which by Merrell’s estimate attracted about 3,500 people over three days.
Commissioner Jake Mellor, who helped lead planning for Warrior Days along with numerous volunteers, said the event was an experiment and he thinks the numbers reflect a positive outcome.
“It was an experiment. And it worked,” he said. “The other goal was could we put on a county fair without spending so much money out of the taxpayers’ pocket, and we were able to do that. So it was a multi-phase project and it was accomplished, the results of which could be argued one way or another if it’s what we want to continue to do. We learn through trial and error.”
Commissioner Jae Potter, who had raised numerous concerns early on, said he was pleased some money returned to county coffers, but also cautioned that short planning period and over-estimation of costs and revenue could have easily put commissioners in a financial pickle.
“I hope that going forward, and again there was good volunteer help to put this together, but if they go forward I would hope that we would take a different approach to our planning and estimating of numbers,” he said. “Another thing we have to look at is what is the budget and where do those funds come from. We were five over and yes we made part of that back, but what if it hadn’t been? What would we have done? So let’s be really cautious.”
Commissioner Casey Hopes said he wished events such as Warrior Days, particularly large concerts, were done outside summer time so that local university students could enjoy them along with the rest of the community.
Mellor agreed that more events should be jointly sponsored between Utah State University Eastern and the county. Early steps in that direction are underway, he said.