County fairs being innovative to stay open

Well, most of them are. From the California Farm Bureau Federation:

Every year, about 12 million people attend local fairs, but few see the efforts taking place behind the scenes to keep the events going. State funding for California fairs ended in 2011. To compensate for the loss, fair organizers have added new services and events, and have reached out to community groups for financial and volunteer support. Though some fairs remain in financial difficulty, all the fairs have managed to remain open so far.

Ag Alert has details. (Here's my story from May of 2012.)