Weather erodes Lakefair revenue
04.08.2007, 14:24
After three days of Capital Lakefair, some food vendors at the summer festival say their earnings have been washed away by rainy weather.
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On Friday, more rain and unseasonably low temperatures swept through South Sound, and the forecast is for more rain this weekend.
As a result, food booths operated by Tumwater Rotary, service club Altrusa International of Olympia and the downtown branch of the YMCA all are reporting sluggish sales during the first few days of Lakefair.
Lakefair President Teri Chmielewski could not be reached.
Tumwater Rotary, which is selling corn dogs, hot dogs and other fried foods at the fair, usually raises about $20,000, but gross sales are down, Tumwater Rotary past president Jamin May said.
For the Tumwater Rotary food booth, $20,000 in gross sales represents about $4,000 in sales during the five-day fair, he said.
On Wednesday, the first day of the festival, the food booth earned about $1,500, he said.
“People will still come out in hot weather, but with the rain, it deters people even more,” May said.
Money raised from the food booth is used to fund four scholarships that are split among Tumwater High School, Black Hills High School and the New Market Skills Center, he said.
If Tumwater Rotary misses its fundraising goal, the service club may have to dip into an existing scholarship fund to make up the difference, May said.
Altrusa International, which has been selling elephant ears at Lakefair for about 25 years, also has seen its sales drop, president Jodie Hildreth said.
Two years ago, the Altrusa booth earned $30,000, followed by about $25,000 last year, Hildreth said.
This year, sales are about half of what they normally would be, she said.
“When the rain lets up, we have long lines,” Hildreth said.
Joyce Neas, executive director of Olympia’s downtown YMCA, said the fundraising goal at the YMCA’s Lakefair food booth is a bit off-target.
The downtown YMCA is selling ice cream, mud pies and bottled water this year to raise $2,000 to $3,000, she said.
“So far, it’s not so great,” Neas said.
City councilman Joe Hyer, who has been cooking burgers at Lakefair, said it might be too early to conclude that nonprofit groups will suffer financially this year.
“Friday night, Saturday and Sunday is when probably 80 percent of the business is done,” he said Friday. “It’s just too early to get good data because so much of the business comes on the weekend.”
Traditional Lakefair dishes, such as demoburgers, tend to attract better sales regardless of the weather, Hyer said.
Hyer has been serving demoburgers at Lakefair and said rain has not hurt sales much.