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13 <br />Orange County Farm to Fork <br />Billed as "The Best All You Can Eat Picnic in the U.S. ", this annual event brings <br />farmers, chefs, and food artisans together for over 600 picnickers at the WC Breeze <br />Family Farm for a late afternoon of delectable foods. Complete with horse drawn <br />wagon rides and live music, this event is very casual and family friendly. The event <br />is a benefit for new farmer training programs at the W.C. Breeze Family Farm and <br />the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS). Event planning is a <br />collaborative effort between Orange County, CEFS, and the NC Ag Foundation. <br />A calendar of events, and map showing the locations of the events, is attached as <br />Appendix 2. <br />V. Financial and Other Considerations <br />As non - profit entities or service organizations, many of the county fair budgets are not <br />publicly available. <br />However, the Cabarrus County Fair — which is coordinated by the County — does have <br />budget information available. The Cabarrus County Fair had a budget for FY 2012 -13 or <br />$613,000. Of this budget, $133,000 is for two full -time staff (including a Fair Events <br />Director) and the remainder for operations. There are many other staff involved from <br />Cooperative Extension and Parks and Recreation, as well as a plethora of volunteer <br />groups and associations. The budget is offset by estimated $628,500 in revenues from <br />the fair, with a net profit of almost $16,000. Revenues have fallen for the Cabarrus <br />County Fair in the last two years — in FY 2010 -11 the fair budget was $568,000 while <br />revenue was $770,000. <br />Staff has and is continuing to pursue additional financial information for various fair <br />events, and specifically the Chatham County Fair, and hopes to provide additional <br />information to the Board at the May 21St meeting. <br />It is also worth noting that the County invested $16,300 in the 2003 celebration of the <br />County's 250th Anniversary. This cost does not include significant staff time across <br />multiple departments leading up to, during, and following the event, or account for any <br />expenses which departments may have addressed within their standard budget line <br />items. <br />One key question regarding county fairs is the capability of the financial resources to <br />pull off the event, in a manner that at least covers expenses if not generating a working <br />fund balance for future fairs and events. <br />