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Director reports a good week as Georgia State Fair closes
Ticket sales 10 percent below last year's level
By Thomas W. Krause
Telegraph Staff Writer
The Ferris wheel is coming down, rolling into another town.
The Macon air won't smell of elephant ears, roasted corn, boiling peanuts and corn dogs until the next festival hits town.
The 2001 Georgia State Fair is closed.
Fair Executive Director Allen Freeman said it was a good event this year, but the profits just couldn't get back up to last year's level. In all, ticket sales came in about 10 percent below last year's numbers.
"That's rough. Real rough," Freeman said. "But I can't say we were really down. It's down from last year but we're still making money. I guess I just forgot what a great year we had last year."
Saturday was by far this year's best day, he said. About 20,000 people walked through the gates bringing in $64,000 in ticket sales. Although the total attendance and total profit will not be available until an audit is completed in December, Freeman said Saturday was definitely the best night the fair has seen in the four years he has run the show.
Unfortunately, he said, the first day of the 2001 event was one of the worst opening days in the fair's history. A long-time tradition that let Bibb County students out of school for the first day of the fair ended this year. A normally scheduled teachers' work day did not coincide with the fair.
"That's the day we've been playing catch-up over," Freeman said.
But cool weather and clear skies helped bring in people by the droves. The fair did not see one drop of rain, or even a threat of rain, once the gates opened.
Leonard Masters, 41, worked a game booth Sunday where players throw ping-pong balls at small fishbowls. Winners took home a goldfish. Plenty of children left the fair with plastic bags containing their new pets.
"I'd say close to 15 ... that's 15-hundred," Masters said.
About 5:30 p.m., just 2 hours before the gates closed, a pack of Macon teen-agers rated this year's effort.
"I'm gonna miss it," said Katrina Maxwell, 14.
Maxwell said she came out to Central City Park five times this year.
Janelle Blue, 17, said she came a bunch of times too but she wasn't as sad to see the fair pack up and leave.
Bethany Powell, 19, said she and Kelshanique Harris, 12, convinced the others to come out Sunday for the fair's last day.
"I think it turned out pretty good this year," she said.
The troop expected to stay until closing time.
Although the teens' fair-going expertise led them to believe the Georgia National Fair in Perry was a better event, all said they would keep coming to Macon each year.
"It's real convenient for me. I don't have to drive all the way out to Perry," Powell said.
All agreed that Perry's fair will never replace the Georgia State Fair.
Bibb County Sheriff Jerry Modena, with a large smile, made one last walk across the midway early Sunday evening.
"We've had a safe fair," he said. "That's our main concern."
- To contact Thomas W. Krause, call 744-4477 or e-mail tkrause@macontel.com
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