The House Agriculture Committee approved a bill on Tuesday to create a $500-million-a-year grant program to support local, county and state fairs that lost attendance and revenue due to the pandemic. An estimated 98 percent of the fairs were canceled last year and more are at risk in the fourth wave of Covid-19.
County and local fairs, which combine agricultural displays and competitions with entertainment such as carnival rides, concerts and races, are run by nonprofit societies reliant on ticket sales and attendance, said sponsor Rep. Jimmy Panetta, a California Democrat.
“They emphasize our agriculture in our country and they unify our communities,” said Panetta, while generating $4.67 billion a year in economic activity. “With the Delta variant on the rise, we have to provide these fairs the support they need.”
The bipartisan American Fairs Rescue Act, HR 2424, authorizes $500 million a year during the pandemic national emergency and for the first year after the end of the health emergency. The USDA would send the money to states, which would be in charge of parceling out the money.
Some 2,000 fairs are held annually in North America, according to the International Association of Fair and Expositions. Elkanah Watson, credited as the “father of U.S. agricultural fairs,” organized the first fair, at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1811 and for years helped communities organize the agricultural societies that staged the fairs.
It was not immediately clear when the grant bill would be debated on the House floor. A companion Senate bill, S 1092, awaits a hearing in committee. If the legislation becomes law, backers would need to win passage of funding to put the grant program into operation.
Also during a two-hour meeting, the Agriculture Committee also approved a House resolution honoring blueberries, a fruit native to North America. Both items, the resolution and the fairs bill, were approved on a voice vote with little or no opposition. Republicans on the increasingly polarized committee spoke at length against the administration’s $3.5 trillion “build back better” bill, an increase in the U.S. debt limit and the committee’s “misplaced” priorities.
To watch a video of the committee meeting, click here.