Options mulled for troubled fair, including downsizing, selling off portion of land

Board Chair Norm Vetter (Rochester Voice file photo)

ROCHESTER - The Rochester Fair could well morph into a smaller, more financially sustainable event if a majority of stockholders get their way.

The sentiments were conveyed Tuesday night as fair stockholders held a much-anticipated meeting after revelations in May that the Rochester Agricultural and Mechanical Association, which oversees the fair, was almost $800,000 in debt and that the fair had been hemorrhaging $60,000-75,000 annually in recent years.

Board Chairman Norm Vetter announced on May 6 that no fair would be held this year ending a 140-year tradition due to the financial straits the fair was in.

Some 100 shareholders showed up at the fairgrounds Tuesday either in person or by proxy to let the board know they wanted to sell off a portion of the 50-acre property to pay off what had become crushing debt and have a downsized fair in the future on the remaining property.

Consensus was that most didn't want a housing projects situated on any parcel of the property, however, no official decision were held pending an Aug. 8 meeting at which shareholders will also elect a new board.

An official appraisal lists the property worth at about $2.4 million.