Town board votes to charge businesses for Candy Dance booths

Genoa businesses that rent space to crafters for the Candy Dance will have to pay a portion of the event's costs, members of the Genoa Town Board decided last week.

Town Manager Mike Brown said that of the 403 booths in Genoa for the annual craft fair, only 289 were sanctioned by the town. Another 55 were on Antiques Plus's property south of the Genoa Post Office. Others were throughout the town.

Booth fees are the major source of revenue for the town during Candy Dance, and range from $260 to $400 a booth.

With those fees, the town must pay for trash collection, portable toilets, security and traffic control.

Not collecting the fees hurts the town's bottom line.

"Those private booths are competing with the town for dollars we use to maintain the roads, provide snow removal, and pay the town staff," Brown said during the town meeting, "We are attempting to be fair. The private side of the fair is continuing to grow."

The Candy Dance Craft Fair brings in 80 percent of the town's revenue, Brown said. Begun in the 1970s, the fair has expanded to take over the entire town during the weekend of Candy Dance. Proceeds from the sale of candy and the Saturday night dance contribute much smaller amounts to the town's coffers.

"Looking to the future two or three more years, I project 40 percent of the craft fair will be private booths," Brown told board members. "I'm not saying that is a bad thing."

He proposed taking the bills the town receives for services, dividing that amount by the number of booths, then billing the individual businesses based on the number of booths they have.

Genoa Country Store operator Gail Dellavedova said that method wasn't fair.

She pointed out that not all the people coming to Candy Dance were necessarily visiting her booths. Dellavedova said she has already arranged for four crafters to come next year.

"I can't go back to those crafters and ask for more money," she said. "I will have to pay it out of my pocket. It seems small businesses keep being asked for more money. I'm just tired of being nickeled and dimed to death."

Brown estimated the cost per booth from this year's Candy Dance would be $88 apiece. Since the bills don't come in until after the event, business owners would not know ahead of time how much their cost would be.

Town Board Chairman Bill Donohoe said he felt it was important the town implemented the policy.

"We are expending public money for a private business," he said. "If we decided to shut down Candy Dance, there wouldn't be a craft fair."

The motion was approved unanimously.