Revenue record rings up better than fair

Alicia Robinson

In the last four years, the Orange County Fair & Exposition Center

has gone from a break-even concern to a blue-chip investment.

Revenue from year-round events at the fairgrounds, including the

annual three-week Orange County Fair, went from $13.1 million in 2000

to $21.5 million in 2003 -- an increase of more than 64% -- and

profits are projected to rise another 22% to $26.3 million by the end

of 2005.

Expenditures have increased also, but revenues have outpaced them.

The fairgrounds facilities were in the red in 2000, spending about

$300,000 more than they took in. With facilities booked year-round

for the fair, swap meet, concerts and other events, officials expect

to make a profit of $1.8 million in 2005.

How that turnaround happened was not so much a change in

philosophy as a focus on generating money to pay for improvements in

the $45.7-million, 10-year plan for the fairgrounds, fair Chief

Administrative Officer Dena Heathman said.

“It’s probably just become a little more a dose of reality lately,

now that we’re actually designing those projects,” she said. “The

only way we can do improvements and kind of spruce up our facilities

is to generate money internally to do that.”

In the last few years, fair employees have had more success

getting corporate sponsorships from companies such as Coca Cola and

Verizon, and the reopening of the Pacific Amphitheater in 2003 also

helped the bottom line, Heathman said.

“I believe that the fairgrounds are making every effort to better

utilize and maximize the facility for events other than just the

fair,” Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce President Ed Fawcett said.

But the fair itself also has had a big hand in boosting

fairgrounds profits. In the 2005 budget, the fair accounts for 68% of

the fairgrounds’ projected revenue, and fair attendance is expected

to top 1 million.

“Once upon a time our fair would barely break even, and now we’re

looking at an increase of over $4 million,” fair board member

Patricia Velasquez said at a recent meeting. “That’s impressive.”

Board members on Nov. 4 approved the 2005 budget, and on Thursday

they will consider a $1 increase in adult admission prices for the

2005 fair, along with new promotional packages that would reduce

prices at off-peak times.

The fair admission price -- $7 this year -- has always been lower

than other area fairs. San Diego County’s fair cost $10.50, and Los

Angeles County fairgoers paid $10 on weekdays and $14 on weekends,

Heathman said.

A price hike isn’t vital to fair finances, and at least one board

member has expressed skepticism.

“I know it’s always tempting to say, ‘Let’s increase it,’” board

member Ruben Smith said at the earlier board meeting. “I would like

to see us look for other ways of increasing revenue and leaving the

admissions price alone.”

If board members don’t approve the increase, the fair will make

about $700,000 less, Heathman said, but “we would still exceed our

expenses.... We just wouldn’t be putting money away for our

[improvements].”

Building projects on the slate for 2005 include upgrades to the

Pacific Amphitheater and replacing an exhibit building with a larger

one.

The fairgrounds’ success comes from a combination of factors,

including a central location, freeway access and a wide variety of

programs, Heathman said. But when people come to the fairgrounds, the

benefits aren’t just realized by fair officials.

“I think it’s a very definite asset,” Fawcett said. “It’s a

tourist attraction and a visitor attraction into Costa Mesa. It does

draw, with their different events, a lot of people into town, which

helps the hotels and helps the restaurants.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.