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Residents on Lafayette say fair's absence hangs heavy

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Jason Lively said the fair gave a lot of people in the Lafayette Street area jobs, including him. He hopes it's back next year. (Rochester Voice photo)

ROCHESTER - Jason Lively of Rochester stood a stone's throw from the main entrance to what a year ago would have been a bustling Rochester Fair and said all the finger pointing over the fair's demise has got to stop.

Lively, who used to pick up some work in September operating kiddie rides for Fiesta Shows, which operated the fair's mechanical rides, agreed there was some poor management, but said all the stockholders and the committee members bear some of the blame for not keeping a better eye on the fair's financial position.

In May the Board of Directors of the Agricultural and Mechanical Association - which oversees the fair - decided to pull the plug on this September's offering citing crushing debt amid years of running in the red.

The decision ended a 140-plus year tradition.

Norm Vetter, board chairman said at the time the fair was almost $800,000 in debt, with the fair in recent years hemorrhaging between $60,000 and $75,000 annually.

In recent months however, Rochester Fair officials have renegotiated and reconfigured much of their debt service and our hopeful a smaller, more modest fair will return next year.

On Monday afternoon Lively and several young people sitting on a stoop at the top of Lafayette Street lamented the loss of the fair, which has been a staple in their lives ever since they can remember.

"I enjoyed it," said 20-year-old Darien Herbeck. "It was one of the few things we had going on in this town."

"It was a family thing, a tradition," added Hailey Hallin, 17.

For Devon Britton, 18, it was all about the rides and the food.

"Everybody around her misses it," he agreed.

"They hired a lot of locals, gave people some jobs," said Lively, who feels the city should do more to help the fair, which brings in lots of money to the city.

To add insult to injury, Lively said it irks him that the fairgrounds used to be open so folks in the neighborhood could exercise their dogs. Now the gates are locked, and it's a $175 fine if you're caught trespassing, he said.

With all the disappointment surrounding the fair's cancellation, there is one harbinger of hope: the fair's website at rochesterfair.com. If you click on upcoming events, it takes you to a page that reads, "Coming Soon!"

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