The future of the Alpena County Fairgrounds has dominated local conversation in recent weeks, and for good reason: there’s a major development proposal on the table, multiple parties are involved, and the stakes are high. This has also been moving very fast–perhaps too fast. In the rush, concerns have been raised, confusion has spread, and one conclusion seems to have taken hold: that the Alpena County Fair Society Board (ACFS) is part of the problem.

We’d like to offer a few answers.

The Fair Society has been the steward of the Alpena County Fair for well over a century. We love this fair–the families, the 4-H kids, the agricultural traditions, the summer memories. That is who we are, and it is the lens through which everything we are about to say should be read.

We are not opposed to the Blackwater project, and we are not opposed to investment in the fairgrounds. In fact, we welcome it.

What we are doing – what we are obligated to do – is ensure that any agreement we enter into actually protects the fair we have been entrusted to operate. An agreement that could bind the fair for up to 40 years demands nothing less than that.

Like I said – the stakes are high.

But we are fully aware of what an opportunity this could be, and we know the investment is needed. That is why we have been engaging as urgently as we have–turning around drafts and detailed comments not within weeks or days, but within hours. We want this to work. We are not the bottleneck.

What we are is concerned–and for good reason. ACFS holds a legal right, more than a century old and still recorded on this property today, to operate the county fair on the fairgrounds. That right has protected the fair through generations of change. What Blackwater is asking, in plain terms, is that we voluntarily surrender a significant portion of that protection for potentially four decades. That fact has largely been missing from public conversation, and we think it deserves to be said plainly.

The practical concerns that follow are equally straightforward. After weeks of negotiation, we still don’t have answers to some pretty basic questions:

· Will ACFS have access to the track and grandstand during fair week — the heart of the fair — or won’t we?

· Who will have final say over fair programming and operations: ACFS, or Blackwater?

· Will we have reasonable access to the property in the weeks before the fair, when preparation is critical?

· And perhaps most remarkably: the agreement requires ACFS to follow Blackwater’s policies and procedure–but Blackwater has yet to provide a final copy of those policies. We cannot agree to be bound by rules we haven’t been allowed to review.

These are not unreasonable questions–they are the whole ballgame. A fair is not a seven-day rental. It requires months of planning, preparation, and coordination–with 4- H, vendors, exhibitors, families, volunteers, and the broader community. A vague promise of time on the calendar is not the same as a workable agreement that protects the fair.

This process has moved too fast, with too little transparency. ACFS was brought in late to the negotiation process, asked to move at an accelerated pace, and is now being cast as an obstacle. We’d ask the community to consider that framing carefully before accepting it.

Finally: a recent column stated that ACFS will not be voting on this agreement at our May 5 meeting. That is not entirely accurate. The purpose of this meeting is to conduct a vote that will guide the directors on how to proceed. If Blackwater submits revised language that genuinely addresses our concerns before that date, our membership will consider it. We want to say yes. We are looking for a path to yes.

The Alpena County Fair has endured for generations because people were willing to fight for it–not just cheer for it. That is what we are doing now. We hope Blackwater will meet us at the table with contract language that makes a genuine partnership possible. If they do, the fair’s future will be brighter for it.