State fair rebounds after critical audits, crime

If the figure holds, it also would top the 226,000 who attended in 2003. The fair opened Sept. 9 and closes Sunday.

An audit a few years back found that fair officials awarded $100,000 in contracts without bids, took questionable trips to spots such as Las Vegas, Dallas and Tampa and racked up more than $1,000 tabs in local restaurants on the state fair’s nickel.

A second audit covering much of 2003 and part of 2004 found additional problems of lax financial oversight by fair management.

David Jeter, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and business executive, took over management of the fair last year and said he is trying to bring stability to the event.

“The fair did not get into this mess overnight,” Jeter said. “There were some bad things that happened.”

Jeter said he’s implemented new rules to prevent abuses in the future. He says security also has improved, with the number of uniformed and plainclothes officers on patrol doubling to 40.

In 1998, two people were wounded after being shot near the rides at the fairgrounds. And in 2002 a 27-year-old man was arrested after police said he admitted raping a 5-year-old girl on two consecutive days he took her and a group of children to the fair.

“I want people to see the police and for people to understand they are safe here and that it’s a clean place,” Jeter said.

Officials want to make the fair more attractive to younger children and to school groups by adding educational exhibits.

A faux farm dubbed “Tiny Acres” has been a hit, said marketing manager Tiffany Johns. She points to children going through the indoor farm replica that shows how potatoes are dug from the ground, how apples grow on trees and that milk comes from a cow.

“Most kids think food comes from Kroger,” Johns said.