MAPLEWOOD, Minn. — While organizers are already hard at work planning this year's Great Minnesota Get-Together, another fair in the same county announced it's extending its hiatus for a fourth year.
The Agricultural Society of Ramsey County announced in a statement the 2023 fair would not be held, saying the group could not reach an agreement with the county over "conditions and demands" from its commissioners.
The fair was canceled in 2020 and 2021 over COVID-19 concerns, while organizers said "outstanding arrangements" shuttered the event in 2022.
"After working on an agreement with Ramsey County for more than 3 years, we can not operate a Fair under the conditions and demands from Ramsey County Commissioners," the statement read.
The group went on to say they are "considering their options" for a potential change in location, or a possible merger of fairs between Ramsey and another county. Officials say the Ramsey County Fair has been held in Maplewood over the last "many decades," but organizers claim the county has now gone back on a past land arrangement and is implementing "impossible demands."
"Until there is a change in the management of Ramsey County Commissioners, we will see more of this kind of closed-mindedness," the statement read.
On Wednesday the Ramsey County Board released a statement on the Agricultural Society's decision to cancel the 2023 fair. Board members say a recent review of internal policies and procedures revealed that services provided to the Agricultural Society were not being provided to other organizations, like the estimated $25,000 in trash/recycling/utility costs required to hold the Ramsey County Fair on county-owned grounds.
"The county began developing a policy on county support to external events. In the interim, the Ramsey County Agricultural Society was required to come into alignment with standard practices applied to all other organizations working with Ramsey County to put on an event, which included providing necessary insurance and indemnification as well as paying the costs associated with producing the event," read the county board's statement. "These requirements would bring the Agricultural Board into an arrangement that is consistent with other organizations partnering with Ramsey County while ensuring Ramsey County taxpayers are not being burdened with the costs associated with event production. These requests were deemed not feasible by the Agricultural Board, and they ultimately determined not to produce the event on the county-owned grounds."
The first Ramsey County Fair was held in 1913.
KARE 11 has reached out Ramsey County for comment, but has not yet heard back.
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