Governor Jennifer Granholm recently announced that 2009 would be the last year for the Michigan State Fair. Shuttering the fair was due to “budgetary” considerations.
The Michigan State Fair is the oldest state fair in the country, having been held in Detroit just south of 8 Mile for the last 160 years. It’s not the crowd-pleasing, uber-extravaganza of the Minnesota State Fair, and it’s not the small-town charm and compact Colorado State Fair, but hey, it was ours.
Monday is the last day and you have until 10 p.m. to get your fix of fried veggies, the Miracle of Birth exhibit, and the rides on the midway.
You know times are tough when a state doesn’t have enough money to host a state fair. Every state in the union has a state fair. Yes, Michigan is in a world of hurt, despite the dulcet tones of Joe Biden and others who say the economy is coming around. Take my word for it, the economy is NOT improving here. This free-fall has no end in sight, at least not yet.
With the downsizing of the auto industry – unfortunately the only big employer besides government workers — the state of Michigan lost its biggest revenue source. It’s trickle-down economics in reverse. No employers, no jobs. No jobs, no income. It’s no wonder tax collections are at an all-time low.
Of course, this didn’t happen overnight. This time two years ago, Michigan was scrambling to get a budget together in the face of a deficit that would have shut down the state. Instead of doing some serious cutting, the legislature decided to add another tax. To business, which sparked another exodus to points south.
Then in their infinite wisdom, legislators decided to give a 40% tax break to Hollywood if they brought their movie making machine to Michigan. The jury is out on how unsuccessful that program has been.
Article comments
1 - Ruvy
This was painful for me to read, Joanne. I often went to the Minnesota State Fair. In fact one year, I supervised the ice cream stand for the Democratic Senatorial Club I was a member of.
I really hope that other readers will absorb and carefully understand what you have said in this article - particlularly this Parthian shot: When you don't have the money, you can't spend the money
2 - Tony
The reason Michigan is in the state it is in is because the government never invested in diversifying the economy. Jenny's tax breaks for Hollywood are probably too little too late but at least she's trying something. Fat Cat John Engler never even tried. He's a big part of the reason we are in this mess. Again, I know Granholm doesn't have the first clue how to deal with this mess but the fact is it the lack of diversification happened on Engler's watch. If he could have seen this coming -- which shouldn't have been hard as outsourcing in an obviously inevitability in a capitalist system -- he could have been giving tax breaks to other industries a long time ago. But he road the last wave of automotive success, got out at the right time, and let Jenny deal with the mess, which she is totally unequipped to do. Even Blanchard has to take some of the blame in this mess. He was a joke.
Part of the reason the Michigan State Fair is going away is because it was an increasingly lousy fair in an increasingly crime-filled area. There is to much to do in the suburbs in Michigan to drive to the State Fair. That's the interesting thing about the exodus from Detroit. We have the best suburbs in the country.
3 - Tony
No other big cities have suburbs like Novi, Rochester Hills, Ann Arbor, Northville, Birmingham, Royal Oak all within such a close radius.