The announcement came Monday that the New York State Fair has contracted with Ovations Food Services of Tampa, Fl. to operate the restaurants in the Art and Home Center as well as the Center of Progress, the Horticulture Building and some mobile food carts that will be around during the Fair. It’s surprising and baffling that they would hire a firm from outside New York state, but the news is worse than that.

DSCF4110

Ovation is a big-business operation that runs many venues around the country including the concessions at our own NBT Stadium, home of the Syracuse Chiefs. Our boys of summer are having a great year on the field, but fans are certainly not experiencing the same satisfaction with ballpark food, which under Ovation’s management is nothing short of horrible.

We have to wonder if the Fair decision makers who chose this company have eaten their food. They’re touting a program they call “Everything Fresh” and maybe it will be better at the Fair than at NBT, but why risk it when there are so many great options on the grounds? Our advice—stick to the local vendors you know and love. You can count on them to give you a great meal at the Fair.

While on the subject of concessions, we’ll return to a topic that has caused us considerable consternation in recent years, the rules pertaining to bottled water at the Grandstand. Just a few years ago, patrons were allowed to carry a bottle of water into the Grandstand, something we did many times, never seeing it cause the slightest problem.

Then security staff decided that you could carry the water, but had to discard the cap, they said to prevent anyone throwing the bottle. Ridiculous, since it wasn’t happening. Soon after, the rule changed to bottles could not be carried in at all, so all you could do is buy it from the Grandstand vendor at a price that was more than three times what you would pay anywhere else on the grounds.

It’s a money grab, nothing more. There’s no security issue, no real problem at all. The grub in the Grandstand is sub-par and no one will buy anything from them if they have a choice, so the fans who pay good money to enter a show—let’s remember they’re Fair customers—are hit for more and more.

It won’t stop unless we protest by refusing to buy lousy, overpriced food and ridiculously expensive water at concerts while demanding better from Fair brass. We hope you’ll contact Fair administration to express your outrage. When you attend a show, chow down beforehand at one of the great stands on the grounds so you won’t be hungry and then smuggle in a drink or two. Things won’t change unless we take on this despicable status quo.