SOUTH WHIDBEY: Whidbey Island Fair in jeopardy of cancellation (WW)
Kathy Reed reports in the Whidbey Weekly from the Port of South Whidbey board meeting on Tue., May 9, 2023.
The Whidbey Island Fair could potentially be cancelled should the Island County Fair Association, which puts on the fair, and the Port of South Whidbey, which owns the fairgrounds property, fail to come to terms on a lease agreement within the next few days.
They Said It
“The [interlocal] agreement doesn’t say there is a designated amount of buildings or square footage the Port has to provide, nor does it speak to the number of days it must provide to the fair association,” said Island County Administrator Michael Jones.
Whidbey Weekly sent several questions to the interim executive director of the Port of South Whidbey, Angi Mozer, per her request, last week. In a brief response Monday afternoon, Mozer wrote, “In the Port’s experience of renting the Fairgrounds to the Fair Association, we do believe it is possible for the Fair event to occur within the space it is allocated this year.”
Mozer went on to say, “We have commitments from both sides (the Port and the Fair Association) to continue negotiations with WSU Extension/4H’s assistance. We’d rather not discuss details while we are still in negotiations, but we would be happy to provide details after negotiations have concluded.”
“This was dropped on us like a bombshell, and we literally had to beg for it. That’s not fair,” said Carol Coble, the fair manager. “We could have had some notice, we could have had some planning. Now I’m wracking my brain, losing sleep over this issue.
“Everybody keeps talking about a compromise,” she continued. “No compromise was ever put in front of us. We didn’t do anything wrong. So bring something to the table so that we can actually figure out a fair. We don’t want to fight with you guys, we want to figure this out and we are running out of time.”
