POP/CULTURE: Fair’s Fox answers questions
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By David Burke | Saturday, September 08, 2007 |
From big screens in the grandstand to overflowing toilets in the restrooms, several of you let your opinions be known about this year’s Mississippi Valley Fair.
Armed with e-mails from readers, I asked the fair’s general manager, Bob Fox, some of your questions and passed along some of your comments — paraphrased below — about the 2007 event:
Marlene Osterhaus of Davenport asked about the two flagpoles on top of the towers at the fairgrounds entrance:
“They’ve been laid down. ... They’re cracked and in sections. It’s an 88-year-old building, and no one wants to climb up there to (repair) it,” he said.
Several people asked about the possibility of getting large-screen video projection at the grandstand shows.
“Working on it,” Fox said. “(River Roots Live) had them, a couple of performers have shown up with them. I’ve got a couple — I don’t want to mention their names — of sponsors, big sponsors that are talking about doing that. ... They’re very expensive.”
Sofia Simmons was concerned about overcrowding in the grandstand. “It is a safety issue when you have 30,000 people at a concert with a lot of pregnant girls (ready to give birth at any time), newborns (born within the past week), babies in strollers, 3-year-olds on leashes, extremely overweight and/or underweight people, handicapped people and the elderly without even mentioning the heat, alcohol and chemical factors.”
“There are (snow) fences back here and there,” Fox replied, showing a video of the audience standing in the racetrack area before the Poison concert, “and we can let them out ... another 50 feet.
“Safety is always a factor, believe me,” he said. “Before every show, I pray, ‘Please, God, make sure everybody gets home safe.’ ”
Lee Jones asks, “How do they estimate down to the very number the attendance at the grandstand? We all know they don’t count people going in, and they can’t count the fun cards because they would have the same attendance for every show. A couple of years ago, they estimated it at something like 26,782 ... which is a pretty precise estimate.”
“We know the grandstand holds 6,000,” Fox said. “We have sections we measure off and have marked off in that area. We know how many people are in that 40-foot area and multiply that by the approximate number of sections.
“As far as the ‘782,’ that was just to make you (the reporter) happy.”
“What is the entertainment budget for grandstand acts?” asks Cheryl Osborn. “Who were the top five expensive performers?”
Fox’s reply was $600,000. “We’ll bump it next year, maybe $650,000.
“I want to raise the price of the Fun Card next year by $5 because I want to go after some big acts, and I can’t do it for six hundred (thousand dollars) — can’t do it.”
As for the most expensive acts, it was last year’s Brooks & Dunn show at $225,000. This year, Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich were $150,000 each.
Fox has some big names in mind for ’08, but he doesn’t want to make them public yet.
Osborn also asked whether there is a more organized way to enter the grandstand.
Fox said he’s looking into chutes for grandstand entry.
Osborn also brought up a need for more security.
“There are plenty of undercover cops out there,” Fox said. “There are a lot of (Scott County) sheriff and Davenport (police) out there, but there are also undercover.”
One reader complained about restroom maintenance, including clogged toilets, no paper towels and overflowing trash bins.
“We’ve got no excuse,” Fox said. “We just try to keep it the best we can.”
David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com. Comment on this column at qctimes.com.
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