Mid-State Fair to no longer provide camping
– The Board of Directors of the 16th District Agricultural Association unanimously approved a new policy for the 2016 California Mid-State Fair: 4-H, FFA, and independent livestock exhibitors will no longer be provided with the option of camping on the fairgrounds.
Organizers say that they announced this information early so that other arrangements can be made for those who planned on camping.
The dates for the 2016 Mid-State Fair are: July 20-31.
This is too bad. These kids have to spend so much time at the fair and need a place to go to relax, eat and nap. They are required to be at the fairgrounds taking care of their animals very early in the morning and late at night. Not being able to camp is going to cause many issues for a large number of families that have children showing animals at the fair and club leaders who have to be there practically all day and night. This was part of the fair "experience" that many children and families looked forward to each year. It was a team building experience for many clubs as well. It was very expensive to rent a small spot for a trailer, so I can't see this being a cost issue. If these kids are having to go back and forth from home all week, multiple times/day, it is going to be difficult to find parking and cause a lot more congestion at the drop-off locations too. My kids are grown and not showing any longer, but if I were a current parent of a 4H or FFA child, I would be trying to get the fair grounds to reconsider this decision. It's sad to see another fair tradition being tossed aside.
I agree – this is terrible news. We still have 4 more years to go and have been camping for the past 8 years starting with 4H and are now in FFA. I don't know what they expect all of these kids to do all day for 9 days straight. It's sad that they would do this.
Sounds like we are all on the same page. Mid state fair no longer cares about the community just the profit the fair brings in. If they did care they wouldn't be getting rid of the camping, this impacts the kids in the 4h program. They already took away the roller rink, after 20 years of operation. It's so sad my boys use to play hockey year around and now have no where to play other than the make shift ice rink that's only in atascadero a few months out of the year.
Debbie Olson- join our Facebook group. "I support SLO County 4H and FFA." I totally agree with what you said.
The locals should rise up and get rid of the mid state fair and return it to the county fair that we remember and loved.
The locals should rise up and get rid of the mid state fair and return it to the county fair that we remember and loved.
There was no camping back in the day when I was in 4-H, early 70's. At that time there were more animals & participants. We stayed in motel rooms with 1 adult or parent per room. It would be nice if the motels would make accepting in their room capacities so it could be more affordable for them.
Don't blame the fair, blame it on the people who turned the campground into party central. They asked this year agin for no alcohol in the camp ground as it is for 4-H and FFA members, both which do not allow alcohol. But everyone thought it was a joke and kept on partying. Unfortunately, they ruined it for everyone.
petitions and rallys can change this! I say arise and do somethng.. The fair is one of the last county fairs left that support children raising animals and FARMERS!!!! WTF
This is certainly upsetting- we have several good size cutting horse events here and many of our exhibitors have motor homes and living quarters trailers.
Obviously the board is only concerned about making money and not having a facility that is used by the community for events. The big money comes with the fair and the entertainment
I don't think this will effect the horse shows…just the fair
Agreed!!! And to enforced this they should have given tickets
I was. 4 H leader in the late 60s and we camped on the fair ground free
So now the fair will also be losing alot of money from the people who were camping their and they need to where will these kids be able to stay that's convenient. The directors obviously don't care about all of the kids with their animals. I'm now worried that they will hike prices in other areas to make up for the loss of money of no campers. Stop changing our fair
Is that the reason though?
I haven't seen a reason why yet or did I miss it?
Poop on them ppl wont come money goes out window
yes they are in it for the money the Motley cru concert was a joke…..AND NO REFUNDS….all greed
It's was a far cry from free the past 2 years. $700 to stay in the parking lot! I think the fair has forgotten about the kids, also they make a lot of money off of the kids. People come to support the groups and their kids. The fair makes $$$$ off of them not only in entrances, purchases while attending they also get a % of the sales from the animals. One group was not mentioned in the camping and that was the horse people, will they be able to park their trailers all over like they do?
No mention was made of the horse people. Will they be allowed to stay and park their trailers like they have in the past? It should be the same for everyone! Paying $700 a week to stay in a dirt parking lot seems a bit over the top as well! The FFA and 4 H kids bring a lot of people and income to the fair! I think the board has lost site of that and it's more about the almighty dollar!
Jeff- did you camp this year? We did with our 4 kids. I did not see party central; especially in our 4H camp. We all had to sign documents sent from the fair to agree to all camping rules and it being a dry camp. We are getting kicked out to expand the main grand stand.
Amy I quit camping there years ago, also I witnessed the beer boxes piled up around more than one trash can in the campground. I personally do not know the reason they stopped camping, but have heard several fair officials as well as board members comment on the drinking in the campground. As well as know a couple young people who were kicked out of the fair for drinking in the campground. The reason we stopped camping when my kids were showing was due to the partying as well as kids running around camp all night. I understand the frustration, and feel for the people who live more than 20 miles from town. But I traveled 25 miles each way for my kids to show there over 16 yrs.
This SUCKS! The fair is not what it's supposed to be about anymore! Forget the kids, forget the vegetables, forget the cooking and canning displays. It's all about $$$ and to heck with the people of the county! I think the people of the county should say to heck with the fair! Why, if there was party central, didn't they kick them out? Why is it no one knows who it was? Just sounds fishy to me! They were looking for an excuse, and perhaps manufactured one? I wish this fair would get back to the basics and quit charging the kids so much to stay/ show animals there. So sad!
Heard they want to put in more barns to bring in more livestock to make more money $$$
<Ban The People Who Do Not Comply>
This Is Why I stopped Going To The Fair Years Ago(GREED)
I read somewhere that they are going to be putting in an area for the big entertainment acts. A place to change/dress and eat.
Us too Amy Luera , we followed the rules and didn't see any one not following the rules but that doesn't mean partying wasn't going on. I'm just curious what their reason is
Our fair has turned into an entertainment driven event rather than what it was originally designed to be. A sad day when high-priced entertainment takes the space of kids who need to be close to the barns where they feed and show their animals. This will be extremely hard for the parents with multiple kids showing multiple animals and parents of the younger kids. Most kids have to take several turns of feeding at 5 am–that means gettin up at 3 am and leaving your home by 4 am to park and walk to the barns! I have been going to this fair for 60 years, have family who have been in agriculture for longer than that, and this is such a bad decision. They should be expanding the space, not eliminating it!
Its all about the money…Too bad, my kids and I camped there several years while in FFA and 4H.
This is too bad. These kids have to spend so much time at the fair and need a place to go to relax, eat and nap. They are required to be at the fairgrounds taking care of their animals very early in the morning and late at night. Not being able to camp is going to cause many issues for a large number of families that have children showing animals at the fair and club leaders who have to be there practically all day and night. This was part of the fair "experience" that many children and families looked forward to each year. It was a team building experience for many clubs as well. It was very expensive to rent a small spot for a trailer, so I can't see this being a cost issue. If these kids are having to go back and forth from home all week, multiple times/day, it is going to be difficult to find parking and cause a lot more congestion at the drop-off locations too. My kids are grown and not showing any longer, but if I were a current parent of a 4H or FFA child, I would be trying to get the fair grounds to reconsider this decision. It's sad to see another fair tradition being tossed aside.
I agree – this is terrible news. We still have 4 more years to go and have been camping for the past 8 years starting with 4H and are now in FFA. I don't know what they expect all of these kids to do all day for 9 days straight. It's sad that they would do this.
Sounds like we are all on the same page. Mid state fair no longer cares about the community just the profit the fair brings in. If they did care they wouldn't be getting rid of the camping, this impacts the kids in the 4h program. They already took away the roller rink, after 20 years of operation. It's so sad my boys use to play hockey year around and now have no where to play other than the make shift ice rink that's only in atascadero a few months out of the year.
Debbie Olson- join our Facebook group. "I support SLO County 4H and FFA." I totally agree with what you said.
The locals should rise up and get rid of the mid state fair and return it to the county fair that we remember and loved.
The locals should rise up and get rid of the mid state fair and return it to the county fair that we remember and loved.
There was no camping back in the day when I was in 4-H, early 70's. At that time there were more animals & participants. We stayed in motel rooms with 1 adult or parent per room. It would be nice if the motels would make accepting in their room capacities so it could be more affordable for them.
Don't blame the fair, blame it on the people who turned the campground into party central. They asked this year agin for no alcohol in the camp ground as it is for 4-H and FFA members, both which do not allow alcohol. But everyone thought it was a joke and kept on partying. Unfortunately, they ruined it for everyone.
petitions and rallys can change this! I say arise and do somethng.. The fair is one of the last county fairs left that support children raising animals and FARMERS!!!! WTF
This is certainly upsetting- we have several good size cutting horse events here and many of our exhibitors have motor homes and living quarters trailers.
Obviously the board is only concerned about making money and not having a facility that is used by the community for events. The big money comes with the fair and the entertainment
I don't think this will effect the horse shows…just the fair
Agreed!!! And to enforced this they should have given tickets
I was. 4 H leader in the late 60s and we camped on the fair ground free
https://www.facebook.com/groups/817839508328763/
So now the fair will also be losing alot of money from the people who were camping their and they need to where will these kids be able to stay that's convenient. The directors obviously don't care about all of the kids with their animals. I'm now worried that they will hike prices in other areas to make up for the loss of money of no campers. Stop changing our fair
Is that the reason though?
I haven't seen a reason why yet or did I miss it?
Poop on them ppl wont come money goes out window
yes they are in it for the money the Motley cru concert was a joke…..AND NO REFUNDS….all greed
It's was a far cry from free the past 2 years. $700 to stay in the parking lot! I think the fair has forgotten about the kids, also they make a lot of money off of the kids. People come to support the groups and their kids. The fair makes $$$$ off of them not only in entrances, purchases while attending they also get a % of the sales from the animals. One group was not mentioned in the camping and that was the horse people, will they be able to park their trailers all over like they do?
No mention was made of the horse people. Will they be allowed to stay and park their trailers like they have in the past? It should be the same for everyone! Paying $700 a week to stay in a dirt parking lot seems a bit over the top as well! The FFA and 4 H kids bring a lot of people and income to the fair! I think the board has lost site of that and it's more about the almighty dollar!
Jeff- did you camp this year? We did with our 4 kids. I did not see party central; especially in our 4H camp. We all had to sign documents sent from the fair to agree to all camping rules and it being a dry camp. We are getting kicked out to expand the main grand stand.
Amy I quit camping there years ago, also I witnessed the beer boxes piled up around more than one trash can in the campground. I personally do not know the reason they stopped camping, but have heard several fair officials as well as board members comment on the drinking in the campground. As well as know a couple young people who were kicked out of the fair for drinking in the campground. The reason we stopped camping when my kids were showing was due to the partying as well as kids running around camp all night. I understand the frustration, and feel for the people who live more than 20 miles from town. But I traveled 25 miles each way for my kids to show there over 16 yrs.
This SUCKS! The fair is not what it's supposed to be about anymore! Forget the kids, forget the vegetables, forget the cooking and canning displays. It's all about $$$ and to heck with the people of the county! I think the people of the county should say to heck with the fair! Why, if there was party central, didn't they kick them out? Why is it no one knows who it was? Just sounds fishy to me! They were looking for an excuse, and perhaps manufactured one? I wish this fair would get back to the basics and quit charging the kids so much to stay/ show animals there. So sad!
Heard they want to put in more barns to bring in more livestock to make more money $$$
<Ban The People Who Do Not Comply>
This Is Why I stopped Going To The Fair Years Ago(GREED)
I read somewhere that they are going to be putting in an area for the big entertainment acts. A place to change/dress and eat.
Us too Amy Luera , we followed the rules and didn't see any one not following the rules but that doesn't mean partying wasn't going on. I'm just curious what their reason is
Our fair has turned into an entertainment driven event rather than what it was originally designed to be. A sad day when high-priced entertainment takes the space of kids who need to be close to the barns where they feed and show their animals. This will be extremely hard for the parents with multiple kids showing multiple animals and parents of the younger kids. Most kids have to take several turns of feeding at 5 am–that means gettin up at 3 am and leaving your home by 4 am to park and walk to the barns! I have been going to this fair for 60 years, have family who have been in agriculture for longer than that, and this is such a bad decision. They should be expanding the space, not eliminating it!
Its all about the money…Too bad, my kids and I camped there several years while in FFA and 4H.