PUEBLO — "A hot dog please," yelled a Vineland Methodist Food Booth manager, Donna Klun.
Vineland is the oldest food vendor at the Colorado State Fair.
"We're so thankful to the community for supporting us because if they didn't do that, we wouldn't have our church and our doors open, this is what keeps it going," said Klun.
She told me business has been steady, but it is nothing compared to last year. Still, Klun said they predict more than $10,000 coming in.
"It's been up and down, I think that right now, [the economy is] hard for a lot of families, it's hard for even us."
The fair's general manager, Scott Stoller, told me that could be because attendance is a bit lower this year compared to more than half a million people last year.
"Ifeel really good about 490,000 people, if last year didn't happen, that would be the best year in recent time," said Stoller.
Stoller said the last fair economic study was done in 2021. It reported people spent about $30 million at the fair, which generated $1.5 million in sales tax back into the city.
The fair has about 60 food vendors every year, said Stoller. Most local to Pueblo or the county.
Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham told me she's looking forward to this year's revenue helping the city's budget.
"I think it really helps with public services we have, as everybody knows, this city is facing potentially budget cuts over the next couple of years with our influx in stimulus dollars, a little bit after Covid and how our budget grew," explained Graham.
I asked Stoller why it's important to have the state fair in Pueblo.
His answer; history. "The fair has been here since the 1800s, there's so much tradition here and just walking around the fairgrounds you can see the architecture really tells the story of Colorado.'
Klun said she loves being a part of and making a difference in this community. "It's our home and we got to take care of our home in order to make it successful."
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