Statewide, Iowa — The governor has set aside six million dollars from federal coronavirus relief funds to create the “Iowa County Fairs Relief Program.”
Iowa Economic Development Authority spokesperson, Kanan Kappleman, says the program will give a boost to fairs.
(as said) “The program provides short-term relief to eligible county and district fairs to continue or resume operations, particularly as it relates to the current pandemic,” Kappleman says.
She says the fairs were impacted the same as other events that had to be shut down due to the pandemic.
(as said) She says, “Most of them were not able to proceed with their regularly-scheduled fairs just due to the nature of county fairs and holding public events.”
Kappleman says there are three levels of grants based on the economic impact on each fair.
(as said) “Depending on the revenue loss for the period of October 1st, 2019 through September 30th, 2020 as compared to the same period for the previous year, we will do an analysis of the revenue loss and how fairs are eligible to receive up to 75-thousand dollars,” according to Kappelman. “So they will receive either 25-thousand, 50-thousand, or 75-thousand.”
Kappleman says the amount of losses depends on the activities each organization holds.
(as said) “Some hold just a county fair, while others, of course, have their premiere county fairs, and also have non-fair related events as well,” Kappleman says.
Fair managers can see a full list of eligibility requirements at iowabusinessrecovery.com, and the deadline for applications is November 16th.
