The Missouri Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman says the 2017 State Fair is one of the best he’s seen in more than 40 years of traveling to Sedalia.
State Senator Brian Munzlinger
State Sen. Brian Munzlinger, R-Williamstown, is finishing his 15th year in the Missouri Legislature.
“You know every year we try to add something to the Fair,” Munzlinger says. “I really know we have to upgrade the campground facilities, but we’re doing a lot of work on a lot of buildings.”
Munzlinger is a member of the State Fair Foundation, which is focused on cultivating agriculture’s future through preservation and improvements.
Munzlinger says a representative of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources attended the 2017 State Fair in Sedalia.
“And he’d (the Massachusetts representative) never been to an agricultural state fair,” says Munzlinger. “And he was amazed how we’re still tied into agriculture here at this fair. And that’s what this is all about.”
Lieutenant Governor Mike Parson (R) says there was record attendance at this year’s fair, noting there were record crowds everyday.
The Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) is still calculating the attendance numbers.
Munzlinger represents 14 counties in northeast and north-central Missouri.
Meantime, Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, R-Joplin, says the State Fair in Sedalia is a great opportunity to showcase agriculture, the state’s largest industry.
Pro Tem Richard notes a bonding bill sponsored by former State Senator and current Lieutenant Governor Parson contained funding for Fairground improvements.
“Tourism says that we have 5 or 600,000 people go to this thing (State Fair) and they’re wanting to push it up to a million. And when you do that you’ve got to have facilities to take care of it,” Richard says.
MDA says agriculture is an $88 billion industry in Missouri, employing nearly 400,000 people statewide.
