"The Ferndale Fair" will no longer have on-site horse racing
Read on and weep.
The California Authority of Racing Fairs—which represents all of Northern California fair meets, except Santa Rosa—announced today it will not submit future race meet applications.
The statement from CARF, said the organization will “reorganize operations to focus on addressing obligations and future efforts to support California Fairgrounds and their Satellite Network.”
Dan Ross, writing for Thoroughbred Daily News, reported, “The California Association of Racing Fairs (CARF) voted unanimously Tuesday morning not to apply for racing dates in 2025.
“The summer fair meets this decision could impact are at Alameda County Fair, The Big Fresno Fair, Cal Expo at California State Fair, and Ferndale at Humboldt County Fair. Sonoma County Fair runs a summer fair meet independent of CARF.
“In theory, individual tracks can still independently apply for a 2025 racing license similar to Sonoma's approach.”
Good grief! What will that do to attendance overall? It will probably fall off a cliff, and then how long will the fair last?
So, "the Sonoma County Fair runs a summer fair [racing] meet independent of CARF." If Sonoma can do it, the Humboldt County Fair Board needs to find out how to do the same thing.
Just HOW does Sonoma County accomplish that?
FIND OUT!
What ARE they thinking?