Economic Impact of Saratoga County Fair
BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Tuesday was the opening day for the Saratoga County Fair. For the 182nd year the event run by the county's Agricultural Society remains an economic staple for Saratoga. Fair General Manager Jennifer Flinton crunched the numbers for us:
"We bring in probably about 15 million throughout the year of revenue for the village of Ballston Spa."
For fair organizers like Jennifer, preparation is key.
A lot of effort that goes into making sure that we have enough vendors, enough rides, enough safety, enough animals, the whole nine yards.
This downstate family ventured from Queens to Ballston Spa. Despite having Coney Island in their own backyard they wanted to see what Saratoga had to offer.
History of the Saratoga County Fair
But we had to make an experience. We always come up by Lake George and stuff so we had to stop in and see what the whole life was about
But for youngsters Urell and Ethan Elder, there was a lot at the fair for kids to enjoy!
"The horses their really big and they're really pretty. I like them" said Urell. "The food is really good" Ethan added.
Of course barrage of severe weather in the Capital Region has impacted businesses like Vincent Nelson's.
"The weather has affected all of us in this industry, not only myself. You know Sunday night a lot of fares did wash out when we were coming to...we got to this fair little earlier over it, but the weather definitely hurt us financially." Nelson told us. " I'm a firm believer that it takes a lot of puzzle pieces to make a beautiful picture so we rain out one or two here and there we still have a lot of other piece to make the nice picture for the summer" the Italian food vendor added.
There are precautions in place for rain such as public announcements and closing down certain rides that would be impacted. The fair runs July 18 through 23rd.