Cost among concerns for vendors who may come to State Fair in G.I.

Heidi Davis, whose grandfather worked as Nebraska State Fair manager for more than 20 years, says no one event brings people to the fair.

"It's everything," she said. "Everyone has their own fair thing."

Lincoln resident Laurie Novak also has longtime ties to the Nebraska State Fair. She has worked at one of the food vendor stands at the fair since she was a young girl, starting in 1966.

Now, she owns that stand, as well as a second stand in another fairgrounds location.

Novak said she will come to Grand Island in 2010, but will have only one stand at the fair when it moves here, not two.

"It's what we do," said Novak, who works at events exclusively in Nebraska from March to November. In fact, the State Fair in Grand Island will be her longest trip.

That concerns Novak, who has always slept at home during the fair. She's not worried about comfort, but the added expense of lodging for herself and her Lincoln employees.

While she will come to Grand Island for a couple of years, the verdict on more trips will be a business decision based on profitability, Novak said. She has talked to other Lincoln vendors and she thinks most will be willing to try Grand Island despite added costs.

Lincoln resident Juli Michael works for her friend Joe Liss, a Lincoln vender of Irie Moon, which sells sunglasses at the State Fair, concerts and bike events. She said Liss will make the move with the fair to see how it works.

Personally, Michael feels having the event in Grand Island is more appropriate than big city Lincoln for the many rural visitors.

While Novak does not worry short-term about Lincoln vendors, she does about large, out-of-state vendors, who often work at several events at once. She wonders if they will work at other venues instead of Grand Island.

Joe Hedrick of Nickerson, Kan., has the opposite view. He has operated Hedrick's Exotic Animal Petting Zoo at the State Fair for 18 years.

Like Novak, Hedrick, who has many attractions going on all over the country, said, "This is a business, not a sideline for me."

Consequently, Hedrick and his employees own travel trailers. That means there will be no additional expense for Hedrick to be in Grand Island.

He said he -- and other traveling attractions -- go from state fairs in Missouri to Nebraska to Kansas. Others go from the Iowa State Fair to Nebraska and then Kansas. All have travel trailers.

But lodging for Lincoln vendors will mean higher costs, Hedrick said. He noted the Lincoln Kiwanis Club has a State Fair stand and he predicted the service club will never be able to follow the fair to Grand Island.

"But the Kiwanis Club in Grand Island could have a stand," he said.

"It'll be a challenge," said Hedrick, who said he hopes the change will be "for the better." Hedrick said he's an optimist by nature and said, "I'm excited."

He said he does not like to be around negative people, so he wants to leave complainers behind. He sees a chance to make the fair "newer and bigger in Grand Island that it was here."

Angela Petersen, public relations and marketing director for the Nebraska State Fair, said that is the purpose of a survey being taken at the fair. She noted a marketer's job is to know both her customers and noncustomers.

The survey will tell officials whether they need to reinvent the fair -- or feel confident if it is left the same when it moves to Grand Island, she said.

Local representatives are trying to simultaneously sell Grand Island and gauge public attitudes.

Stuhr Museum Marketing Director Mike Bockoven volunteered at the Grand Island table at the State Fair and said sentiment was 50-50. "Some were OK with the move," he said. "A lot of people were very interested in Grand Island, but there were just as many who weren't too thrilled, including people who were actually angry."