I was somewhat saddened to read that a 160 year old Michigan tradition has ended -- without my ever having seen it.

I refer to the Michigan State Fair. Having recently fallen victim to Governor Jennifer Granholm's budget cuts, it is to be no more:

DETROIT - Rabbit breeder Rob Usakowski typically spends the week before Labor Day helping his daughters show their Jersey Woolies and Holland Lops at the Michigan State Fair.

This year, he and his family are home after Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm canceled the fair, saying debt-ridden Michigan could no longer afford to subsidize it. Granholm's decision makes Michigan the only Midwestern state and one of few nationwide without a state fair.

The Michigan State Fair had been a state tradition for 160 years and held at Eight Mile and Woodward, within Detroit city limits, since 1905. But the fair had been running deficits and needed $360,000 from the state in 2008 to cover losses. Fewer than 220,000 people passed through last year. At its peak in 1966, the fair drew 1 million.

Let's get real. The State contributes a whopping $300,000 to $500,000 a year for this event that is a family affair for thousands. Did you read the number right- 300 to 500 thousand. Not millions, not billions- just thousands. Heck, as one person blogged, that's chump change for the State budget that is in the billions.

Many think the Fair should be self-sufficient. I couldn't agree more, and believe it could be if located in Lansing or basically anywhere else but Detroit. Let's face it, the Fairgrounds are old and in ill-repair. And the location- one of the worst in Detroit limits the number of out-state people who will pay to visit the fairgrounds.

I think Jenny G and all those other people we pay to look over our tax money ought to consider a new location. They should appoint a state fair czar and give him three years to make it self-sufficient. Now I know that's been done in the past- but that was expected at the current location, and Bill Gates, himself, couldn't make that situation profitable.

Now it would be somewhat, gutsy, because Detroit lawmakers will scream bloody murder. Don't you dare take our State Fair from Detroit, they will say. But let's face it, no one- and I mean no one, has been able to make that parcel of property work. It's in a terrible location and the buildings are ready to crumble. Like its surrounding, its an urban wasteland that needs to be demolished. In its place maybe Walmart or Meijer would build an inner city store.

In a New York Times piece discussing the future of the fair last year, "development" was mentioned. So was "the value of the property."

Ms. Boyd said that while Ms. Granholm was open to private efforts to continue the fair, she also recognized the value of the property on which it is located -- a 164-acre site along Woodward Avenue near Detroit's northern border, where the fair has been held since 1905. "It's property that could be developed to create jobs in southeast Michigan," Ms. Boyd said.

Take a brief look at some of the Detroit properties listed here. They start at $1000, and yes, that buys a fully functional house, into which anyone could legally move.

I found a three bedroom colonial brick home almost next to the fairground:

Nice 3Bedroom 1Bathroom 2 Story Colonial Brick Home. Hardwood floors. Fireplace in livingroom. Would make a Great Investment.

Contact Owner for additional Information

Asking $2,000

And because the fairground neighborhood is rapidly disappearing, it would almost be like living in the country!

The State Fair neighborhood has all sorts of different, unique pockets, but the common characteristic of the area remains the eerie, spreading countryside that replaced what was long ago a stable residential neighborhood, where people could walk to stores and restaurants and churches in safety and comfort.

Today, the neighborhood is post-apocalyptic, having passed through the worst standard stages of neighborhood decline: falling housing values, longtime residents moving to the suburbs, crumbling properties converted to rentals, a growth of criminal activity, abandonment by anyone who can afford to leave, and finally the disappearance of the houses themselves.

Now it's the realm of crickets and meadows, where besides the dope dealers, the hookers, and the walking dead ambling past empty fields, are regular but poor people who have to live surrounded by decay and misery, in a neighborhood most others are too scared to drive through, surrounded by grinding poverty and the dregs of society, the only world they know, utterly unaware that a normal, safe neighborhood once stood here but was wiped off the face of the earth.

Lest anyone think that the end of the Michigan State Fair spells doom for state fairdom, the article points out that other state fairs are doing better, and some are turning a profit:

The 11-day Iowa State Fair drew about 970,000 this year. Along with typical fair fare, including 4-H livestock judging, a cow sculpted from butter, and chicken and husband calling contests, it had a musical lineup led by country music star Keith Urban and pop singer Sheryl Crow.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: The Iowa State Fair coverup continues full bore, and a police spokesman has found herself "reassigned" simply for admitting to the possibility that what her officers had heard the attackers describe as "beat whitey night" might have had "racial overtones." I guess the "National Conversation" demands zero tolerance for such talk.

I have no idea whether similar problems might have been anticipated here, much less whether that factored into the decision to kill the fair. Unlike the Iowa fair, the one in Detroit didn't draw big name acts:

In contrast, the Michigan fair's top entertainers last year were the aging rockers in Starship and Survivor, along with Billy Squier. Several little-known country acts also performed.

"The Michigan State Fair being canceled, that's just tragic," said Jerry Hammer, general manager of the Minnesota State Fair.

He thought one problem was the fair's reliance on state subsidies because when those ended, the fair essentially collapsed.

"We don't have any government support here, and that is critical to our success," he said.

The Minnesota State Agricultural Society controls the fairgrounds in Minneapolis, approves the $36 million budget, sets rates and raises money for the event. Last year, the fair drew 1.79 million people and made $1.5 million in profit.

But what seems to be getting no mention at all in the write-ups lamenting the loss of the official State Fair is that there is a very successful alternative in the form of the Upper Peninsula State Fair -- now billed as "Michigan's Only State Fair." Like the fair in Detroit, the Escanaba fair in the north also faced the budget axe, but local citizens and businesses raced to the rescue and it was saved:

Thankfully for fans of the fair, and the businesses in Escanaba and surrounding Delta County, it wasn't news that was taken lying down. The U.P. State Fair Authority worked since Oct. 1, 2009 to secure the funding and the sponsorship needed to ensure the fair came back to the area. Thanks to that tireless work, Escanaba can proudly boast this year that it is playing host to Michigan's one and only state fair.

There are a slew of events -- like every year that has come and gone before -- for fairgoers to enjoy. Of those are the notable Kenyan Safari Acrobats as well as the Whispering Pines Animal Kingdom, which features exotic animals. Of course, there will also be the Upper Peninsula International Raceway Triple Crown Race, an Antique Gas and Steam Engine Village and the Miracle of Life exhibit.

Government bureaucrats are too inefficient to run important and complex industries like state fairs.

They should stick to running simple industries like the health care system, and then we would all be safe.