THE MASON PRIVATIZED AFFAIR

MORE LOST THAN JUST A WORD IN A TITLE

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Tom Davis Mason County Progressive

It should come as no surprise to Mason County residents that our community is facing some serious problems. But the good news is that summertime is here and the long awaited Fair will soon be upon us. Not the Mason County Fair, of course, but a privatized version called the Mason Area Fair.

So here’s the recap:

The County bailed on the Port-owned fairgrounds three years before the lease was to expire, and the Port made it clear it has no intention of getting into the “Fair business". So after thoroughly searching the area immediately under his nose for candidates to run the Fair, Port Director, John Dobson, leased the whole shebang to Northwest Event Organizers, Inc., a local company owned by a couple of his friends.

Now this was not an entirely bad idea, as the owners of Northwest Event Organizers did a pretty good job running the Mason Area Fair last year. But the privatizing of what is essentially a publicly funded celebration of community pride should only be considered after all other possibilities have been exhausted.

A better alternative to privatization may be for Mason County to keep its name on the Fair, but have the Port of Shelton pick up the tab; Lord knows they have money. In this manner, the Fair remains a civic event, and the arrangement between overlapping municipalities stands as a shining example of government cooperation. The Port could then hire whatever special event organizer it chooses, on a set fee basis, and pocket the profits; a perfect melding of private industry and public domain.

Unfortunately, none of this is likely to happen. Am I suggesting having no Fair is better than one that is privatized? Of course not; to the contrary, Northwest Event Organizers should be commended for stepping up to the plate. But they are not at issue here, Port management is.

The bottom line is that our community deserves a real “County Fair", and the Port of Shelton is perfectly positioned to make that happen. Citizens need to know that by changing a “County Fair” to an “Area Fair”, they stand to lose more than just a word in the title; they lose a sense of ownership and communal identity at a time when it is needed most, and that in itself is no small matter.