Division of the New York State Fair (Consolidated Laws of New York: Agriculture and Markets Law; Article 2−A; §§ 31 − 31−c)

1 Agriculture and Markets ARTICLE 2-A DIVISION OF THE NEW YORK STATE FAIR Section 31. Fair grounds. 31-a. Organization. 31-b. State fair. 31-c. Receipts and disbursements. § 31. Fair grounds. The property described in the conveyance to the state by the New York state agricultural society of its property in the town of Geddes, Onondaga County, New York, by deed dated July twenty-eight, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, and recorded in the office of the comptroller and any other property heretofore or hereafter acquired by the state for state fair purposes shall be under the management and control of the department, and it may, from time to time, make rules and provide for the care, preservation and improvement thereof. When the exhibition buildings and facilities are not in use for state fair purposes, the commissioner of agriculture and markets may manage and lease such exhibition buildings and facilities and may lease space in such buildings, and may execute contracts in relation to such rentals and fix, impose and collect rentals and license fees therefor. All rental and license fees and such other income as may be provided by the leasing of such buildings, space and facilities shall be considered moneys payable to the state on account of said fair in accordance with the provisions of section thirty-one-c of this article. The commissioner of agriculture and markets may convey to the industrial exhibit authority certain real property in the town of Geddes, Onondaga county, New York, as heretofore or hereafter acquired by the state for state fair purposes. The commissioner is authorized to execute and file in the Onondaga county clerk's office an instrument in writing defining specifically the plot or plots of land transferred to the industrial exhibit authority pursuant to this section provided, however, that such plot or plots of land shall be no more than is sufficient to accomplish the purposes described in the instrument. When such written instrument is so filed it shall vest the authority with the title to the real property defined therein provided, however, that nothing herein shall prevent the industrial exhibit authority from transferring back to the state and vesting title in the state for state fair purposes under the management and control of the department of agriculture and markets any land which the authority heretofore received as state fair land or any state fair land which the authority may hereafter receive pursuant to this section. In the event that the industrial exhibit authority shall be abolished or for any reason cease to exist the title to all lands held by the authority which were formerly state fair lands shall revert to the state for state fair purposes under the management and control of the department of agriculture and markets. All conveyances heretofore made between the commissioner of agriculture and markets and the industrial exhibit authority are hereby confirmed and recognized as valid and sufficient to convey good title. The maintenance and repair of the improved roads on said property shall however be under the direct supervision and control of the superintendent of public works who is hereby authorized and directed to maintain and repair the same, and the cost of such maintenance and repair shall be paid out of any funds available for the maintenance, repair and reconstruction of improved state highways. 2 § 31-a. Organization. There shall continue to be in the department a division to be known as the division of the New York state fair. The head of such division shall be a director, who shall be appointed by the commissioner. In addition to the functions, powers and duties provided in this article, such division shall continue to exercise and perform, subject to the provisions of this article, the functions, powers and duties of the former state fair commission, as provided by law immediately prior to January first, nineteen hundred and twenty-seven. § 31-b. State fair. It shall be the duty of the department to hold a state fair to be known as the New York state fair at such times as it may deem proper, and between January first and February fifteenth in each calendar year to publish the time for holding said fair in such year. If such fair be held on the first Monday of September, known as labor day, the department shall designate such day as "organized labor day." It shall not be lawful for any corporation, association or individual to hold or conduct any trotting or pacing race or races during the week in which the New York state fair is held, except upon half-mile tracks, and except at the fairs held by agricultural societies which have received moneys from the state, and no corporation, association or individual holding such races during said week shall be entitled to any of the benefits conferred by article twenty of the membership corporations law, or by any general or special law. The department may make, alter, suspend or repeal needed rules relating to such fair, including the times and duration thereof, the terms and conditions of entries and admissions, exhibits, sale of privileges, payments of premiums, and any other matters which it may deem proper in connection with such fair. It shall furnish to each person who, on the seventeenth day of January, nineteen hundred, was a life member of the state agricultural society, a free admission to the fair ground during the fair of each year during the life of such member. § 31-c. Receipts and disbursements. The department shall receive all moneys payable to the state on account of said fair and make all disbursements therefrom and also from any appropriation made for that purpose by the legislature as may be needed, from time to time, in carrying on the work of the department. The provisions of section one hundred twenty-one of the state finance law requiring that money received for or on behalf of the state shall be paid monthly into the state treasury shall not apply to the proceeds of the state fair, and the department may pay from the race and other entry fees, gate admissions and other receipts of such fair such expenses as shall be necessary for the proper conduct of the New York state fair and the purposes of the department. Any balance remaining in its hands received in connection with the state fair shall be retained by the department of agriculture and markets as a special fund for such permanent constructions on the state fair grounds or for administration expenses as shall be approved by the director of the budget, the chairman of the finance committee of the senate and the chairman of the ways and means committee of the assembly.