Change isn’t easy and it sometimes brings hard feelings and misinformation. In January, the Ravalli County Fair Commission began looking into credit card charges which garners a three percent charge for the credit card company on every purchase. County finance officer Klarryse Murphy and county treasurer Dan Whitesitt both had concerns and wanted Fair Director Cryss Anderson to look into other means to process credit cards at a lower rate. About the same time, it was also brought up that the ways the food booths reported their income were not uniform and the consensus was to make one reporting system for everyone.
While Anderson was researching the credit card charges, she came upon the Square payment method which works well on smart phones and tablets, is easy to operate, and most importantly, has a lower charge on the transactions. The Fair Commission talked about how society now uses more cards, less cash and virtually no checks. This product accepts cards and cash; and offers an easy reporting system which Anderson said would not only allow the fair office to keep up to date but also would allow the vendors to see what worked each day.
At the same time, the Ravalli County Commissioners were looking at an additional liability insurance (a waiver of subrogation) for those who use county properties and take part in the Fair. They instructed the Fair Commission to include this in the packets for the vendors. The waiver of subrogation is an additional premium the vendors would have to pay for and imposed quite a burden on the non-profit groups. After much discussion, the Ravalli County Commissioners agreed to look at this issue case by case and have been rescinding the requirement on the booths.
The vendors all were concerned at the extra expense of both the implementation of the Square and the waiver of subrogation. Anderson and other fair commission members have met with different groups to work through the issues. One item that has cropped up more than once is the fact that many of these non profits are running out of volunteers to help man the booths for four days plus set up and clean up. In fact, Anderson said over the past couple of years at least three groups have dropped out due to declining numbers in volunteers. A few groups have addressed this issue by combining resources and volunteers in one fair booth and this has worked well.
The fair charges 12 percent of the gross sales for food booths. Surrounding counties are higher at 17 percent. In addition, the Ravalli County Fair only charges gate admission. Parking is free and once inside, there are no extra charges for shows. Anderson said that instead of increasing these fees, the fairgrounds hopes that by booths having the ability to accept debit or credit cards, sales will increase and it’s a win/win situation for everyone.
As of today’s publication, 21 food booths have renewed their contracts. Six vendors have opted to not return. The Soroptimists already use the Square in their See’s Candy booth so it wasn’t because of the Square, they left because of a lack of volunteers. Another booth, Lighthouse Ministries left because the individual who ran the booth is having health issues and no one else had stepped up. The Victor FFA’s booth, behind the rodeo arena, ran into problems staffing because the FFA members are busy showing and taking care of their projects.
With groups leaving, there are others that are wanting to come in. The fairgrounds looks at each group to make sure there isn’t a duplication of product. If the group coming in is a commercial entity, they have to pay the 12 percent plus an additional 10 percent to the Ravalli County Fair Foundation or a charity of their choice.
For more information about food booths or other vendor spaces, call the Fairgrounds office at 363-3411.