AUGUST 2007: FROM THE EDITOR
With a little bit
of cluck
I grew up in Ohio, only a generation removed from farm life,
and most of my summers were spent visiting relatives who still
worked the land. For a city kid, they were glorious weeks of
sun-warmed vegetables from the garden and cows with soft noses.
I remain deeply in love with chickens because of Aunt
Ethel’s coop. I grew up and moved away, but kept close to
those summers by hunting down every state fair in every place
I’ve lived.
So of course I’ve loved Oregon’s annual summer
fair in Salem. Despite the decrepit buildings. Despite the
beyond-the-usual-bad bad food. Despite the general shabbiness.
It was enough that I could visit the exquisite, if also
decrepit, poultry house, which is on the National Register of
Historic Places, and get my chicken fix. I’ve been loyal
despite it all.
But Dave Koellermeier, a fourth-generation Wilsonville farm
owner who grew up with this fair, wasn’t willing to
settle for the disrepair that had befallen the 144-year-old
institution. “I was embarrassed by what it had
become,” he says. “It was a pathetic
product.” So, two years ago, he took over as the state
fair’s manager to fix it.
The state fair might mean just chicks and caramel apples to
some of us, but to Koellermeier and the Oregon Parks and
Recreation Department, the fairground is a 186-acre
underdeveloped economic engine that could and should be the
pride and joy of the state.
So last year Koellermeier brought back concerts, instituted
free parking, made sure there were “better manners”
at the attendance gate and generally spiffed up the place. The
result? Fair attendance was up by 13%, after a downslide for
several years. With about 350,000 people attending, it’s
the fourth-largest city in Oregon during its 11-day run.
That was just the start. Since then, a dozen buildings have
been demolished, including the ramshackle 4-H dorms that
greeted fairgoers like a smile with bad teeth as they entered
the grounds. When the fair opens Aug. 24, there’s more
cool stuff: a Lego competition, a jousting event, the return of
the fiddlers and the square dancers.
The poultry house will have a fresh (and historically correct)
paint job and rounding out chicken heaven will be the Big Cluck
Grill-off. Chief among the improvements will be a threeacre
sports health and recreation park with bocce ball,
skateboarding, BMX demos and several run/walks; an area devoted
to renewable energy (with, if all goes to plan, a full-size
wind turbine); and a new picnic grove with an area
dedicated to all-Oregon food and beverages.
These are harbingers of Koellermeier’s plans. He
doesn’t want to just polish the fair, he wants to
reinvent it. He wants this fair to connect to roots beyond
agriculture.
“I want to showcase the best of all of Oregon,” he
says, including the arts, energy, tourism, food and sports.
Even bigger, he wants to use the fair to bridge the urban-rural
divide and to help lift the downtrodden north Salem area.
That’s a tall order for a state fair, but why not dream
big? A draft master plan for the expo center and fair calls for
a permanent wine and culinary center and energy-park pavilion
among other things, all with an eye toward making the site a
year-round destination. That’s key to getting the fair
out from under its $22 million debt pile, and providing the
foothold for long-term growth.
It will take time, and money doesn’t grow on
cotton-candy sticks. But Koellermeier plans to get there bit by
bit every year. “Continuous improvement” is his
strategy.
That’s a fitting segue to our September issue, where
continuous improvement is also part of our strategy. When the
end of August rolls around, check out your state fair and your
statewide business magazine. Both will have a few surprises for
you.
— Robin
Doussard
editor@oregonbusiness.com
