There are plenty of bargains to be found at the New York State Fair, but this year one of the best will be eliminated. A news report by Andrew Donovan on Channel 9 revealed a change for 2018 that is certain to draw criticism from patrons and create problems for vendors. According to that report, which included comments from Acting Director Troy Waffner, all bottled water sold on the grounds this year will have to be Pepsi’s Aquafina brand and vendors will have to charge two dollars per bottle.
Up to now there has been competition for water sales, with different vendors selling various brands, often for a buck apiece. 
Donovan interviewed State Fair Essentials’ Casey Stock, who lamented the decision, which will prevent his General Store stand from selling Poland Springs water for one dollar. Water had been their best seller, but Stock fears that this could hurt sales.
The change is part of a deal between Pepsi and the Fair and Waffner said the Fair wants to see how much water is sold and to assure consistency and quality while putting the State Fair logo on water bottled in New York. But it’s a bad deal for customers and sellers alike. Certainly PepsiCo will make a bundle and Syracuse.com reported that the Fair will get a one-dollar kickback on each 24-bottle case sold.
Fair visitors have found it easy to buy one-dollar water as a healthy choice and a vital one on hot days. It’s also noteworthy that Aquafina is not spring water, but purified tap water. If a customer prefers spring water, the Fair won’t allow you to make that choice. Aquafina’s website says it has 40 “purification sites” throughout the US and Canada, so it’s hardly a New York product.
Food and drink sales at the Fair have long relied on competition between vendors to set prices and give customers a choice, so this greed-driven, 100-percent increase is deeply troubling. What’s next–one sausage vendor setting sandwich prices or a single beer company monopolizing suds sales?
And what about the veterans’ organization that has been raising funds by selling donated one-dollar water in front of the Veteran’s Memorial?
This is an outrageous idea and one that deserves pushback from Fair visitors.
Contact the Fair and demand better.
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