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The 2027 fiscal year budget allocated less than $7 million for
the year’s operations of the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds,
including the 11-day fair for Southern Illinois.
By contrast, the Springfield fairgrounds had more than double
allocated, $15.5 million.
State Rep. David Friess, R-Red Bud, told The Center Square he’d
have to compare this year to previous years data on state spend
for the fair, but noted the state has been improving the
downstate fairgrounds lately.
“The fairgrounds went through a period of time where they were
not maintained well, but as of late, they really have started to
rehab some of the buildings, the grounds so they have really, I
think, made some big improvements to the fairgrounds,” Friess
said.
Jerry Costello, director of the Department of Agriculture, said
earlier this month that the state had spent hundreds of millions
of dollars on renovating and maintaining just the Springfield
fairgrounds under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration.
“That's about $190 million coming off of the heels of an
administration that went over 2 years without a budget,”
Costello said, in reference to the state’s budget gridlock under
former Gov. Bruce Rauner.
The state allocated $1.64 million between the current and
previous year’s state budgets for repairs, maintenance and
improvement projects solely at the Du Quoin fairgrounds, and
additional funds went to the Department of Agriculture for the
same at both fairgrounds locations.
Friess said based on previous years, the fair has been
beneficial economically in his district.
“It is a huge shot in the arm economically for the immediate
area. It just brings in people from all over all, over southern
Illinois, to it,” Friess said. “I go down there every year. It's
a nice fair.”
Last year, the fair drew in about 282,000 attendees, which
Costello noted meant the state broke 1 million between both
fairs.
“He told me when I took this position six and half years ago, we
have to beat Iowa. And at that point in time, they were at a
million attendees. They're at like 1.2 million. Exactly to his
point, we broke a million last year and we're going to get
them,” Costello said before the Springfield fair this month.
The Du Quoin State Fair runs through Labor Day, with six
grandstand performances, a governor’s day Saturday and a
Republican day Tuesday.
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