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Illinois
Horse Fair Cancellation
Impacts
Council Finances, Projects
For release:
Immediate
For
information: Frank Bowman (217) 584-1600
Springfield,
IL – Cancellation of the 2008 Illinois Horse Fair a week before
its scheduled Feb. 29 – Mar. 2 run at the Illinois State
Fairgrounds may have profound effects on Horsemen’s Council of
Illinois (HCI) operations, according to Frank Bowman, HCI
president.
“Not only
are we out the ticket sales and income generated by the more
than 10,000 horsemen who annually attend the three-day all-breed
event, but also all of the front-end marketing and promotional
expenses and contract commitments to clinicians which could not
be cancelled,” Bowman said.
The State
has refunded facility leasing fees paid by Horse Fair, and in
turn Horse Fair has sent refund checks to vendors and
participants who paid advanced fees, and to advanced ticket
purchasers.
Although the
State had public safety concerns associated with high voltage
electrical distribution problems at the Fairgrounds as early as
January 25, the then Director of Agriculture, Chuck Hartke, gave
assurances and remained optimistic that the problems would be
solved in time for the event and did not tell Horse Fair
officials until Thursday, February 21 that the event would be
canceled, according to Joy Meierhans, Horse Fair manager.
“We learned
about 3 o’clock that afternoon,” Meierhans said. “By that
evening we had already alerted vendors and participants, most of
whom have email,” Meierhans said. “By Friday morning we had made
phone contact with those who do not have email,” she said. “And
we had cancellation notices on the Horse Fair and HCI web sites
by 9 a.m. Friday,” she explained.
Also
Thursday night, news releases were emailed to the equine press,
horse clubs, stable owners, individuals on the HCI database and
the general public media, including wire services, daily and
weekly newspapers and broadcast outlets, Meierhans said.
“We had
wonderful cooperation from editors who used their web sites and
email lists to pass the word, and still the phones in our office
rang constantly with calls from horsemen wanting to know if it
was true, that the Horse Fair was canceled, and when and where
it would be rescheduled,” Meierhans said.
“We
immediately looked into moving Horse Fair to the Prairie
Convention Center (in Springfield), the Interstate Center in
Bloomington, the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds,” Bowman said. “We
even looked into renting some of the large empty buildings here
(Springfield), such as the vacated K-Mart and Cub Foods
properties,” Bowman said.
“Timing
aside, truth of the matter is that there just isn’t another
practical venue large enough to accommodate Horse Fair’s number
of horses, vendors, participants and attendees – more than
10,000,” Meierhans said.
As for
re-scheduling to a new date at the Fairgrounds, the Director
told us that the State was taking a week-by-week position on
when the public could safely be allowed back into the
Fairgrounds, timing which eventually became “end of May” at the
most hopeful, Meierhans said.
“Besides,
most of our more than 140 vendors and a dozen clinicians are
booked into other horse fairs and events all year all across the
nation – it just isn’t practical to try to reschedule – until
2009 back at the Fairgrounds,” Meierhans said.
Current
status is that the State awarded a $1.8 million contract March
13 to B & B Electrical of Springfield to replace 22 miles of
“worn out” wiring and cabling in multiple electrical
distribution systems at the Fairgrounds, with a completion
targeted for before Memorial Day.
Horsemen’s
Council of Illinois, which has become known as the voice of
Illinois horsemen, is affiliated with the American Horse Council
but receives no financial support from the national
organization. HCI is the statewide association of equine
organizations and individuals working to provide centralized
leadership for Illinois’ 77,000 horse owners, 213,000 horses and
its $3.8 billion industry, which provides full-time employment
for more than 15,000 people.
“Yes, we
have financial reserves, but the plain and simple fact is that
Horse Fair generates the bulk of the annual revenues HCI needs
to run its legislative lobby programs, its educational outreach
efforts and its administrative functions,” Bowman said.
In serving
as the spokesman for and guardian of horse owners’ rights in the
state, HCI’s advocacy efforts currently include staying on top
of equine health and welfare, right to ride, environmental, and
tax issues in the Illinois Legislature. HCI’s web site (www.horsemenscouncil.org)
provides information and contact areas where viewers can see how
the Council is tracking legislation and status of the bills, as
well as locate and contact their representatives in the General
Assembly and Congress.
HCI’s
educational efforts include maintaining a speakers bureau
staffed by people knowledgeable on all manner of subjects
dealing with horse care and stabling as well as business and
legal aspects of the industry. “Most of these folks volunteer
their time, so this program is not endangered,” Bowman said.
HCI also
publishes materials on subjects such as “Buying Your First
Horse,” “The Basics of Horse Handling,” “Responsible Horse
Ownership,” “Laws Affecting Horses in Illinois,” “Illinois
Transportation and Ownership Transfer Regulations,” and
“Liability Risk and Recreational Use of Land.”
A very
personal appeal for horse owners to join HCI is the $1,000,000
personal equine excess liability insurance policy, which comes
as a free, automatic benefit of membership, Bowman said. People
can join HCI by completing an online membership application www.horsemenscouncil.org or
calling the administrative office at (217) 584-1600.
Illinois Breed Fair and Trade
Show Cancellation Impetus for Web Expansion
For release: Immediate
For information: Joy Meierhans (630)
557-2575
Springfield, IL – When the Illinois Ag
Department cancelled Illinois’ Horse
Fair last month, hundreds of vendors and
thousands of attendees were extremely
disappointed, according to Joy Meierhans,
Horse Fair manager.
“But we may have something to ease the
situation,” Meierhans said in announcing
plans to establish a contact center on
the Horse Fair web site at www.horsemenscouncil.org and
a new electronic Horse Fair newsletter.
Horse Fair is arranging to list complete
contact information, including web
addresses, for the more than 140 vendors
who had contracted to exhibit at the
annual three-day all-breed expo.
Plans also include listings for stallion
owners scheduled to participate in Horse
Fair’s Stallion Row and Parade, and
owners/agents for the more than 80
horses for sale who planned to be at
Horse Fair.
Some of these people also had placed ads
in the 52-page official Horse Fair
program, which was never printed or
distributed. The program is a
publication with a year-long shelf life
because many of the attendees who
receive the programs free at Horse Fair
save them as a buying guide and
directory of suppliers.
These vendors and participants, like
many of the 10,000 horsemen who annually
attend the event, look to Horse Fair to
kick off the selling/buying/riding
season. Cancellation of the Fair
especially hurt the people who booked
extra inventory specifically for this
event.
“In no way do we think that a listing on
our web site will compensate them for
their losses, but we’re hoping that in
some small way it will bring buyers and
sellers together in a way that will help
establish closer ties within the horse
community,” Meierhans said.
Also in the planning stage is a periodic
Illinois Horse Fair electronic
newsletter to be sent to anyone who
signs up and provides an email address,
Meierhans said. “We plan to keep
Illinois horsemen informed about our new
dates, clinicians, the All-Youth Horse
Judging Trials, and details about
projects new to Horse Fair,” Meierhans
said.
The newsletter will provide “stories
behind the stories,” such as
descriptions of the Equine Life Style
Fashion show that was to be introduced
at the 2008 Horse Fair and intriguing
new vendors such as those with
horse-themed custom chocolates, hay
substitutes, custom furniture made from
fencing, and horse hair pottery.
Anyone interested in receiving the new
Horse Fair electronic newsletter may go
to the Horsemen’s Council of Illinois
web site (www.horsemenscouncil.org)
and signup to receive it.
Posted:
March 23, 2008
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