Businessman proposes reviving State Fair in Novi


Novi —Three years after budget woes forced its closure, a Novi businessman is planning to revive the Michigan State Fair.
Blair Bowman, owner of the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, presented a plan to the City Council on Monday for a fair at the expo center over Labor Day weekend. He said he would donate the facility and its resources.
"We believe strongly that this is something the state desperately should have and needs," Bowman said.
Billed as the Great Lakes State Fair, Bowman said it will include indoor livestock exhibits, entertainment, education stations and product displays and outdoor rides, beer garden and entertainment stages. There will also be a Shrine Circus.
"I think it's something that has great potential," said Novi Mayor Bob Gatt at the council meeting. "This is a state that should have a state fair. Whether it's privately funded, like this endeavor is going to be, or state sponsored, we should have a state fair."

Blair is working with the Great Lakes Agricultural Fair, a nonprofit organization formed last year to revive the State Fair. The group's proposal for an agriculture fair at the Pontiac Silverdome last year fell through.
"There was a lot of really good effort to make it work at the Silverdome but for various reasons it just wasn't really going to work," said Kent C Roberts, vice chair of the organization.
He said he has confidence Bowman will produce a good event.
"We realize that this is going to grow and develop so we don't expect the first year to be completely lights-out," he said, "but it's going to be a glimpse of what could be and we think we can be successful."
Last week, the State of Michigan Land Bank Fast Track Authority said it would seek proposals for the development of the 160-acre former Michigan State Fairgrounds near Eight Mile and Woodward Avenue. The fair was held at the Detroit location from 1905 to 2009, when Gov. Jennifer Granholm ended state financing with the Legislature's approval because she said the state could no longer absorb the fair's losses.
The first Michigan State Fair was held Sept. 25-27, 1849, on field on "Pontiac Road" just north of Grand Circus Park, according to Detroit News archives. The fair was held the following year in Ann Arbor and returned to Detroit the following year after a drop in attendance. It was held in a few other Michigan cities before settling in to the Woodward and Eight Mile Road site.
The proposed revived fair is scheduled for Aug. 31 through Sept. 3. Bowman said ticket prices for unlimited access to the fair, circus and midway will be $25 in advance or $28-$30 at the gate. To visit the fair alone, it will cost $8 for adults and $5 for children. Parking will be available on sight for $5 and in surrounding lots.



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