There will be a Southwest Florida & Lee County Fair next year.
Lee County Manager David Harner and County Commissioner Mike Greenwell held a hastily called news conference Thursday morning to dispel rumors that that fair wouldn’t be happening in 2024.
The Southwest Florida & Lee County Fair Association posted on their website Wednesday that “the Southwest Florida & Lee County Fair Association, Inc. 100th Anniversary celebration is officially canceled as of October 18.”
The next graph says the county informed the fair board Tuesday that the county staff would take over the fair.
The county ended its three-decade association with the fair association September 30 and the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement to allow the association to run the 100th edition.
The county’s parks and recreation department will run the fair at the Lee County Civic grounds, Harner said.
“Parks and recreation have been running events for a number of years,” he said. “We have a large staff that runs special events year-round. So, we are very confident in doing that.”
The county is working with a third-party vendor, Reithoffer Shows. Staff will bring a contract back to the board for approval.
Lee County staff said at Tuesday’s board meeting it will have to put money up-front to get ready for the fair but the fair should make a profit.
Mike Peak, fair association president, said this year’s fair was going to “easily cost $500,000.” The association planned to add some extra acts to celebrate the 100th fair.
He said the association was asking for a six-year contract. He said the county offered a contract from February 1 to April 1 but that wouldn’t work.
The county wanted 5 percent of the profits, but the association countered with a specific amount.
The fair association has to figure out what it will do in the future, which could include sponsoring its own fair.
“We have all the resources,” Peak said. “A location would be the biggest thing.
“But we’re going to sit back and look at all our options as a board and get some direction to decide what to do. But we’re not dissolving the corporation. Absolutely not.”
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