Kansas State Fair General Manager Robin Jennison announced he is stepping down due to the cancellation of the 2020 Kansas State Fair and lack of anticipated revenue.
Jennison sent his resignation to the board Tuesday, stating it was an effort to help keep the jobs of full-time employees who work all year to make the fair an annual tradition. The fair board voted unanimously Monday to cancel the 2020 Kansas State Fair, scheduled for Sept. 11-20.
“The impact that COVID-19 has had and will continue to have on the Kansas State Fair will be significant,” Jennison said in the letter. “It is my intent that — in serving as the first casualty — it hopefully will lessen the impact on our other employees.”
The Kansas State Fair is a fee-funded state agency, and the fair says it survives on what it makes from each fair, which includes gate admission, grandstand entertainment, food and beverage sales, and vendor fees, plus RV park rentals and non-fair events.
In a letter to the Kansas Division of Budget, Jennison noted the fair’s situation and reminded them the state still owes the fair its statutory share to the Kansas State Fair Capital Improvement Fund.
The Kansas Legislature was required to match what the fair put into the fund – up to $300,000 each year – to help with building upkeep and improvements. However, the fair said those transfers were not made regularly, or on occasion, adequately, for several years – leaving the fair at a more than $1.8 million shortfall to the account.
The first official Kansas State Fair was held in September 1913. For 106 uninterrupted years, the Fair has been the state’s largest gathering of Kansans — with not even the Spanish flu, World Wars or the 2001 terrorist attacks halting the annual end-of-summer rite. The 2021 Kansas State Fair is Sept. 10-19.