It seems to me that sometimes Martin County cannot recognize absurd situations. The moving of the fair to its new home in Indiantown is one of those absurdities.

For years, we have heard how the Martin County Fair Association cannot raise the required funds to make the move. It isn’t for lack of trying but, according to Fair Manager Jay Spicer, they are competing with puppies and babies for funders. Mr. Spicer might be totally inept as a fund raiser, or perhaps it is the mission he is purporting that is absurd.

I know I would rather give my money to help kids and animals than build some giant “Agri-Plex” with an archery center, motorcross track, farmer’s market, and an assortment of other wow projects. Our local government is not immune to this disease of absurdity and often helps it along.

The BOCC cannot just build a community pool…instead it needs the razzle dazzle of a waterpark. It cannot operate a golf course but instead needs to create one that will bring golf to the next level with a Top Golf experience, night golf (for those that are not golfers) and the ability to simulate playing at Pebble Beach.

The new Sand Beach Cafe at Stuart Beach operated by the county cannot find a manager because of the pay scale. The Jensen Beach mooring field is off to a slow start based on the demand for ball rentals. I am surprised the county hasn’t decided to build a convention center yet.

Given all of this, why hasn’t the county stepped in and taken over the fair after years of non-accomplishment? Perhaps staff knows that if they propose just a simple fairground without all the bells and whistles, the commissioners will not be able to help themselves but to embrace the current absurd plan costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

That really is the crux of the matter…what should government do and what should the private sector (including non-profits) be involved in? It should be obvious for anyone that thinks about it for a moment. In absurd Martin County, there is no policy or philosophy which separates the two.

The reason that the private sector does not embrace the water park is because it is destined to be a money loser. The same goes for Top Golf and all the rest of the Martin County BOCC schemes to appropriate tax dollars for projects that should not be built in our small market.

Then, you have a non-profit, the Fair Association, that cannot raise money even for constructing a simple structure to house a two-week fair because there aren’t enough people that care whether there is a fair or not. They surely do not want to give money to a board that appears to be overreaching outside of their mission.

That is another one of Martin County’s absurd rationales. There are no boundaries between what the government, nonprofits, and private business should do. So, taxpayer dollars will continue to be spent on non-governmental functions from running restaurants to waterparks.

The Indiantown Chamber of Commerce successfully puts on the Indiantown Rodeo each year. It has a definitive mission and the chamber sticks to that mission. It isn’t a place to take horseback riding lessons throughout the year. Perhaps the Fair Association and the county government should take that  lesson. They probably will not.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t hear again that the move has been postponed to at least 2023 because of funding issues at the time of the 2022.