I would like to comment on the Canyon County Fair "pulling up Stakers and leaving Caldwell". I am not sure where the comment from someone close to the Fair Board came from, but it is far from correct. Mayor Nancolas has been a tremendous supporter of the Fair from cooking in our Celebrity Cooking Show to singing the National Anthem to allowing City departments to help make the Fair a success in any way possible. The Caldwell Police and Fire departments are on site during the Fair to ensure safety of the patrons, Parks and Rec. loans items such as picnic tables and a generator, which the Fair Board would normally have to rent and the Street Department helps with clean up, traffic control, etc. It was never the intent of the Fair Board to leave Caldwell, however when looking into purchasing land that would remain the home of the Fair for many years to come there were a lot of criterias which had to be met. For example, SPACE, we would not want to spend money that has taken years to save on a "quick" fix. The new Fair site needed to be large enough to accomodate future growth, freeway access was important, availability of City services, good highways for easy access, etc. This decision was not made lightly. There was a site that was looked at which would have been in Caldwell City limits, however it was decided that there would not be enough room for future growth and we may end up in the same situation in several years. The Fair Board feels that the new location best fits our criteria. The site sits in a very central location to Caldwell, Nampa and Middleton which are the City's within the County with the largest population base. We feel that we can service the citizens of the County very well from such a location. The intent of the the Fair Board is for the Fair to become a self-sustaining entity and require no tax dollars for day to day operation in the future. That is a challenge which is impossible at the current site, with one dirt floor building. We hope to bring many more events to the County which will in turn bring a much larger economic impact to our cities. As reported in the Idaho Statesman, at this point it will be years before the new site is in place and once the move is made, we see no reason to abandon the current site. There are several interim events which are currently hosted at the old site that would more than likely remain at the old site.
Rosalie Cope - Fair Administrator
EDITOR NOTE: Why would Mayor Nancolas, City Councilors spend scarce tax dollars on a venue wanting to leave town? Case in point are all the improvments on the back side of the current fairgrounds for parking lots, paved streets etc. This all points to nobody looking out for those of us paying the bills and no cooperation or common goals with elected and appointed officials.
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