I was going to stay away from this one, but I can't keep my mouth shut now. The OKC fairgrounds have been in dire need of work for many, many years. With all the emphasis in OKC (well, all of Oklahoma County) of money being put into MAPS, MAPS 2, and MAPS for kids, any sort of sales tax vote for the fairgrounds would never have come close to passing. Now that people have seen what the tax revenue from the MAPS project has done, I feel that the citizens of Oklahoma County would vote to pass a 1/4-1/2 cent tax for fairgrounds renovations.
DLD- It's true they charge the OYE an obscene amount of money. $130,000 is alot. Don't balme that on them. I feel 99.9% of the problem lies with the (former) CEO of the OYE, Jeremy Rich. It has been said that in his tenure, he darn near broke the show single-handedly. They used to charge $30,000, but because of his mismanagement and arrogance, they took advantage of that. He could have paid the rental just out of his salary for running the show though. That's how much he was being paid.
I feel optimistic about the state of the fairgrounds, as well as the future of the OYE. The new director has some very high expectations in the next few years to take this stock show to the next level.
P.S. The thing I'm the most concerned with, is the fact that kids have to be out of school so much this year for that show. Good luck!