New Santa Cruz County Fair CEO looks to bring stability

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CALIF. (KION-TV)- The grounds of the Santa Cruz County Fair are empty now, but soon people will fill the area to enjoy what the fair has to offer.

New CEO Zeke Fraser talked about how his first 10 days have been working with the staff.

“There are just so many people here who want to help and have the experience of how Santa Cruz fair gets put together and how it gets launched,” Fraser said. “So it's been, it's just been kind of a joy working with these people.”

As far as his mindset when he started his first day…

“I came in wondering, you know what, what's not working right and what really seems to be the case most of all is it is functioning great,” Fraser said. “So I stepped right in and I met some people and we just started getting it done right away.”

Now becoming the new CEO can come with a little bit of pressure after the last CEO was fired due to some financial findings.

But Fraser isn't worried about what happened in the past. He's worried about the here and now.

“My first focus is the fair,” Fraser said. “But my larger focus is to sort of bring a sense of stability and bring some order to that chaos. And we're actively doing that right now.”

Because he came in close to opening day the fair may look like the one people remember.

“We want to preserve what we have this year is about getting the fair to the people and so they can have the experience they remember,” Fraser said.

He also said there will be some new things too.

“I think what we have is pretty much what everyone will remember,” Fraser said. “We have a few new acts, we have a few new vendors, but by and large, it's going to be the fair that we've seen in the past.”

The fair will run this year from September 13th to the 17th.