In the Community
The Benton Franklin Fair Community Relevance
The Benton Franklin Fair Association is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization which produces the annual Benton Franklin Fair & Rodeo each August. The Fair Association receives no tax support from Federal, State, County or City sources.
More than 115,000 people attend the fair during five days each August.
The Fair Association leases the Benton County Fairgrounds for the month of August. The cost is approximately $160,000, helping to underwrite year-round operations of the Fairgrounds. The Fair Association also is responsible for more than $150,000 in improvements to the fairgrounds annually.
The Fair Association has three full-time employees year-round and one part-time groundskeeper. It hires an additional 100 employees during the month of the fair and is supported by hundreds of volunteers.
Even though the fair is in August, the Fair Association and its staff participate in events year-round. In March, the Fair Association hosts Cowboys & Kids assemblies at area schools, reaching 3,750 students with an antibullying message. Each of those students received a free ticket to the fair.
The Fair works with the Mid-Columbia library system’s Summer Reading Program, providing 4,000 admission tickets to youth who complete the program. Fair staff also participates in Farm Fair each March, teaching 1,384 area 5th-graders about the dairy industry with model milking cows.
The Fair Association supports a large number of community groups as a sponsor and/or host.
Some of these events include:
- Service groups and churches hired to work at the fair earned $33,391
- Sponsorships and donations for community fund-raisers: $6,443
- Scholarships: $4,750 annually
- Camp Patriot: $5,000 for this organization
- Breast cancer: the Fair has donated more than $100, 000 to area hospitals in the past six years, providing free mammograms and treatment for uninsured women in the community.
- Revenue for four service groups with food concessions at the fair in 2011: $127,092
- A food donation tied to fair admission gathered nearly 8,322 pounds of food for 2nd Harvest
During the annual fair, 1,645 youth and adults entered 10,437 items in the Benton Franklin Fair in 2011. The fair paid out more than $52,000 in prizes and cash for those exhibits.
The Market Stock Auction generated more than $645,200 for local 4-H and FFA members. Many of those members use their money toward developing their livestock projects or their college educations.
The Fair produces an annual parade in downtown Kennewick, with thousands of participants and spectators.
Five-hundred fifty-three amateur entertainers perform during the Fair.
One-hundred seventy-seven sponsor businesses supported the fair in 2011 providing more than $450,000 in cash and $200,000 in in-kind donations.
