By William R. Toler | [email protected]
HAMLET — A few changes are coming to the Richmond County Agricultural Fair this year — due to the state government.
The Hamlet Lions Club, which has operated the fair for nearly 58 years, will be raising ticket prices to $5 because of having to charge a sales and use tax. The previous cost of admission was $4.
According to information provided by the N.C. Department of Revenue, an exemption for admission charges to an agricultural fair was repealed Jan. 1.
“They don’t care how it affects families,” said club member Rena Shedrick-Marshall.
Other receipts subject to the tax — which is 6.75 percent in Richmond County — aside from gate admission charges include entertainment and special exhibit admission charges, concession sales and other tangible property sales.
That means all vendors at the fair will also have to collect a sales tax.
“Nonprofits like us have never had to do this before,” said Jerry Thomas, club president.
And the Lions Club, as operators of the fair, will be required to:
• maintain a daily registration list of all vendors — except farmers — selling or offering goods for sale at the event;
• inspect for valid certificate of registration
• require each vendor to keep the certificate of registration conspicuously and prominently displayed;
• maintain the registration list for two years; and
• make the registration list available upon request to an authorized agent of the N.C. Department of Revenue.
“We’ve had people who have not had to pay taxes on their food sales before,” said club member Ray Marshall. “It’s extremely detrimental to a nonprofit fair, especially since they want us to police it.”
CHICKEN LACKIN’
Another change this year will leave the livestock barn without feathers.
Last month, state veterinarian Doug Meckes and Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler issued a joint statement suspending all poultry shows and public sales in the state from Aug. 15 to Jan. 15 due to the threat of a bird flu strain.
The suspension includes the N.C. State Fair and Mountain State Fair poultry shows, bird shows at county fairs, live bird auctions and poultry swap meets. The ban includes all live birds.
“We did not make this decision lightly,” Meckes said in a June 11 statement. “Highly pathogenic avian influenza is a serious threat to our state’s poultry and we anticipate the threat of the virus will increase this fall.”
Although the virus, thought to be carried by migratory fowl, has not been detected on the East Coast, it has been found in 21 states — mostly in the Midwest — and officials say the strain has not been found to affect human health or food safety.
Meckes went on to say the state wants to “take appropriate precautions” to protect backyard and commercial flocks from being introduced to the virus.
North Carolina is one of at least 13 states to cancel shows due to the virus.
“We know this ban will affect a number of poultry shows and kids who have planned to exhibit at their county fair or the State Fair,” Troxler said. “We regret having to make this decision, but we think it is in the best interest of everyone involved.”
Troxler said the state is working on ways to keep the youth who wanted to show off their fine feathered friends interested in showing.
Marshall said chickens, turkeys and other fowl make up 75 percent of the barn.
The Lions are looking at bringing in extra rabbits to fill the cages and having a one-day rabbit show.
“The chickens will be back within the next year or two,” Marshall said. “The tax is something that, once it starts, it’s not going to go away.”
ABOUT THE LIONS
The Lions Club is an international service organization that helps out the visually impaired.
According to figures reported from 2012-14, efforts by clubs across the state resulted in:
• providing 3,759 support and mobility canes;
• providing 38,155 people with vision screenings via the Mobile Screening Unit;
• sending 2,001 campers to Camp Dogwood, located on Lake Norman, for a week;
• giving education grants to 41 sighted students with visually impaired parents;
• providing 3,108 eye exams;
• the purchase of 6,107 pairs of eyeglasses; and
• the recycling of 477,772 pairs of eyeglasses, providing improved vision to thousands of individuals.
This week, the Hamlet Lions Club sent six people to Camp Dogwood, four from Richmond County and two from Scotland County.
For more information about the fair or the Hamlet Lions Club, contact Rena Shedrick-Marshall at 910-206-0550.
Reach reporter William R. Toler at 910-817-2675 and follow him on Twitter @William_r_Toler.