Volunteers were all smiles as they took payments from drivers entering the parking lot at one of the gates at the Illinois State Fairgrounds on a recent cloudy and muggy day. An older gentleman, wearing a polo with the American Business Club logo, placed a parking pass inside the dashboard of a vehicle window as a Springfield High School student and member of the student council stood next to him, observing his movements.
Kevin Lust, a longtime ABC member and volunteer staff coordinator for admissions, said the volunteers’ friendly approach is intentional. It’s part of their mantra – “We are the first face of fair fun.”
This year’s fair brings changes for the organization, which no longer staffs the grandstand concession stands after losing the bid to a local catering company. The club had been managing that portion of the fair since 1954.
“The change has been really hard on our club and on all of our supporters, and it’ll be even harder this spring when maybe we don’t have as much available to donate,” Lust said.
He said the loss of the grandstand contract could lessen the money ABC can distribute to nonprofits, “but we’re working hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Last year the organization distributed more than $150,000 to area nonprofits with proceeds from the grandstand contract, Lust told IT.
“Our focus as the American Business Club has always been about how we can help these groups do the very good things that they do on a regular basis in our community,” Lust said. “We’re working hard to make sure that we’re able to contribute to the community.”
And while sore feelings may still linger, Lust said, they’re focused on the contract they continue to hold.
“We have a task to accomplish,” Lust said. “We have to charge people for coming in, and there’s a lot of moving parts to that.”
ABC will receive a fee for staffing the parking lot and entrances and the organization then distributes those dollars to the volunteer groups that take shifts during the fair.
As IT first reported in April, the Illinois Department of Agriculture awarded Nelson’s Catering, based in Springfield, a two-year contract for staffing the beer tents at the grandstand and multipurpose arena. In its bid, Nelson’s said it would provide the state with 21% of gross sales, while the ABC bid proposed IDOA receiving 15%.
Related
ABC loses State Fair contract
ABC filed an unsuccessful appeal in July with the Illinois Department of Agriculture. ABC president Trent Thompson said the organization made the appeal based on the process used for determining who would receive the contract.
Thompson said he’d hoped IDOC would take into consideration ABC’s knowledge and experience in managing large events, “but instead, it was with more the money side.”
Nelson’s Catering spokesperson Mindy Beeler declined to comment. It’s not clear how many paid employees Nelson’s is utilizing for staffing the fair, but during the weeks leading up to it, the company was also recruiting volunteers to sign up for shifts in exchange for donations to their favorite nonprofit.
Nonprofit organizations including Mini O’Beirne Crisis Nursery, CASA of Sangamon County, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Illinois, Feeding Springfield One Lasagna at a Time, Animal Protective League and WILD Canine Rescue took turns covering entire shifts.
Jill Egizii, the founder and president of WILD Canine Rescue, said her group has signed up to volunteer with Nelson’s Catering on Friday, Aug. 21, during the Ella Langley concert.
Egizii acknowledged that she was motivated to get involved due to the anticipated $10,000 donation Nelson’s will make to WILD. She said the dollar amount groups receive is determined by a percentage of sales at the grandstand concession stands.
The money will help the organization cover its veterinarian care for their rescue dogs,which totals about $498,000 a year, she said.
“I think that there were some sour grapes and sour apples in the ABC Club that have tried to really sabotage what Nelson’s is doing,” Egizii said. “And, really, that only hurts the not-for-profits that are agreeing to help out there and hurts the persona of the fair.
“It makes it look like it’s not well run, when it is,” Egizii said.
Egizii said WILD has recruited 125 volunteers for Friday’s shift.
“There’s a lot of people interested,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s (because) people are interested in just seeing the concert.” Friday’s grandstand show for Langley, a country artist from Alabama, is sold out.
Something I don’t quite understand here: if Nelson’s was actively recruiting volunteer groups to work the grandstand in exchange for donations to local nonprofits, couldn’t ABC members have volunteered for shifts as well and directed those donations toward some of the same organizations ABC has traditionally supported?
There’s been a lot said about losing the grandstand contract and how that will impact ABC’s ability to give back to the community, which is certainly understandable. But if the real concern is making sure those nonprofits continue receiving support, it seems like there was still an opportunity to show up, volunteer and help funnel some of that money back into the community — even if ABC wasn’t the one holding the contract anymore.
Maybe there’s something preventing that that isn’t explained in the article, but it seems like a fair question to ask.