State Fair is big business in Palmer

PALMER — With the Alaska State Fair already underway, some local businesses delivered a mixed review this week on how the event will impact their business.

Almost all the owners interviewed this week said they supported the fair, had grown up with the fair, and loved the fair. And most said the fair carried an enormous economic boost for their business. An economic impact report on the 2014 fair showed Palmer took in a $23-million economic windfall as a result of the fair. However, select local businesses said the fair’s impact depended on where they sat.

For example, Janet Kincaid, who is heavily involved in the hospitality business through ownership of the Colony Inn, and whose family owns the Valley Hotel, said the high-traffic fair days provides funds to get in and perform needed renovations and improvements during less busy times. She hesitated to call it the hotelier’s Black Friday.

“The fair impacts us hugely,” she said. “It is the one time of the year we can guarantee we’ll be full for 12 days, sometimes 13 days.”

The relatively less busy days in the fall months, after the summer tourism rush, are something of a come-down as a result, Kincaid said.

“Right after fair, of course, things kind of dry off,” she said. “That’s when you start doing the maintenance with the extra money you earned, and I get new carpet down, and little things you couldn’t do when it was just kind of maintaining.”

Community businesses — beyond hers — improve as a result, Kincaid said.

“It impacts not just us. I mean, I certainly get the extra income, but it helps me to be able to do the things that I need to do to spread it around,” she said.

Other businesses, like Shane Lamb Studios on South Alaska Street, operate booths out of the fair, providing opportunities to expand exposure for their products to Anchorage and elsewhere, said Linda Kelley, a manager at the gallery’s retail outlet. The fair actually served as a test run for the studio’s retail location, Kelley said. Lamb sells high-end prints of paintings and photographs on paper and metal.

“He’s actually been going to the fair and had a booth at the fair longer than he’s had a retail shop,” she said.

Bars and taverns downtown generally see a lull before a boost. For Klondike Mike’s Saloon and Road House BBQ, a lull proceeds a late-night bustle. The fair also keeps the tavern busy during weeknights, as fair workers stop by on the way home from work, said manager Peter Johnson.

“It’s going to be 10:30, 11 o’clock, and then it’ll busy, which is actually really good for us,” he said.

The bar boosts staff for both the bar and restaurant located on the premises, and extends hours for part-time servers, Johnson said. In all, the bar employs about 20 people.

“It’s all upside for us,” he said.

Business at the bar can double during the fair.

“It’s going to double, maybe even triple for that night,” he said.

While the fair’s impacts are mostly positive, some businesses fight through a lull. For example, the Noisy Goose Café and Colony Kitchen, a restaurant practically fairground adjacent, sees business drop off for the fair’s run, said manager Keilani Neckels. The restaurant actually reduces shifts during the fair days.

“I’m pretty sure it’s because everybody is at the fair eating fair food, and with the traffic around here, with the fair going on it’s really bad, so the locals who normally come for lunch avoid the traffic,” she said.

The café sees an uptick when the fair normally sees a slump, Neckels added.

“The only time we actually get busier is when it’s raining, or on the night of the fireworks,” she said.

Contact Reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2269, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.