PORT ANGELES — A slate of fee increases for rentals at the Clallam County Fairgrounds has been unanimously approved by the county commissioners.
“The biggest things that we did is when it was brought to us, we decided we don’t want to come back here next year to make a dollar change to something,” Megan Bekkevar, fair advisory board secretary, told the commissioners last week.
“So we went about it asking, ‘What do we think everything is worth based upon different comps in the area, what things are renting for? And also what’s easy for people to remember and make sense with the dollar amounts on everything,” she said.
Said Commissioner Randy Johnson: “Can I just say thank you? You’re all nonprofit folks volunteering your time, spending your time reviewing all those, looking at comparables. I very much appreciate you weighing in, adjusting those up or down.”
Clallam County Administrator Todd Mielke agreed.
“I had the opportunity to sit in on a few of the meetings of the fair board, and they really should be applauded, both the park board and the fair board. We talked to them about the need to update instead of waiting 20 years and having a huge shock factor.
“We had the discussion about looking at the fair as well as a facility that gets used year-round,” Mielke said.
“Both parks board and the fair board said, ‘We think we have put down a foundation where you probably can come back every two to three years as opposed to every year.’”
Some of the increases include the following:
Fair event parking
• A reserved parking pass (Lot 1) will increase from $25 to $30 per vehicle during fair week.
• Overnight camping/parking pass (non-utility site outside fence, east side) will increase from $35 to $40 during fair week.
• Camping area E (utility site inside fence, east side) parking will increase from $60 to $75 per vehicle during fair week.
• Camping area D (vendor/carnival area, west side Lot 4) parking will increase from $18 per vehicle per night to $20.
Building rental
• Merchants building rental will increase from $275 to $290.
• Wasankari log cabin rental will increase from $200 to $210.
• Grandstand rental with arena will increase from $750 to $800 for the first day and from $600 to $650 each additional day.
• Carnival rental will include a $500 refundable damage/cleaning deposit.
• The refundable damage/cleaning deposit for a low-risk event such as a horse show will increase from $400 to $1,000 and for a high-risk event such as a demo derby or monster truck show will increase from $1,500 to $2,500.
Non-fair event fees
• Home arts building rental will increase from $350 to $375 per day for nonprofits and $450 to $475 per day for for-profit businesses and private parties.
• Fair kitchen rental will be $100 for six hours for nonprofits and $150 for six hours for for-profit businesses and private parties.
• Fair kitchen rental will increase from $125 per day to $175 for nonprofits and from $150 to $375 per day for for-profit businesses and private parties.
• The option of 18 percent of gross sales if the renter has a concession was dropped. All building rentals will require a $5,000 refundable damage/cleaning deposit and come with the use of the north parking lot if needed.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at brian.gawley@peninsuladailynews.com.
