The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - Dayton Days will not "go dark" this year, thanks in part to the Columbia County Fair Board, but it will not likely offer any horse racing.

The Washington State Horseracing Commission decided earlier this month to give only six days of racing to the four-track Class C "Bush" circuit, with all of those days going to Sun Downs in Kennewick.

This news hit the Touchet Valley hard, with its tradition of horse racing every spring at Dayton Days and Days of Real Sport in Waitsburg. Last week Waitsburg's Days of Real Sport board decided not to try and have a weekend event without the races.

But some in Dayton continue to hold out for the miracle local horsewoman Lee Ann Literal has said may yet come.

"Let's just say we have a person very interested in keeping racing here," she said Monday, declining to reveal who this "angel" of the races might be. "We don't know if there's time to make it happen, but we're going to try."

This "interested person" would have just a few weeks to come up with nearly a quarter of a million dollars in private money to fund purses in Walla Walla, Waitsburg and Dayton. Not only would the racing commission have to okay the contribution, but it would have to agree to use it locally and not just add it to the general state racing funds or send it on to Sun Downs for their approved racing days. All this before contracts must be signed in early March - a long shot, Literal and supporters agree. But not a lost cause yet.

In the meantime, Columbia County Fair Manager Shane Laib, with the backing of the fair board, has secured approval from county commissioners to sponsor Dayton Days, without the races, for 2011.

"Our interest is in not losing the event," Laib said, referring to a concern voiced by many that if Dayton Days went "dark" as Waitsburg's Days of Real Sport plans for this year, many who normally attend the event will quickly find something else to do for that weekend in May.

"If we go dark for even just one year, there won't be enough horsemen left," Literal said, explaining that the purse money means having just enough to feed and care for the horses for many owners.

During an evening meeting of the Dayton Days board in Dayton last Thursday, tensions were high and the room was filled with worried planners and supporters.

When organizers floated the idea of cancelling Dayton Days, Waitsburg's Lanny Adams, vice president of Dayton Days and head of the event's rodeo committee, spoke up.

"I'm sorry," he said. "But Dayton Days is more than just about horse racing. We have got to bring stuff into the community. After 93 years we can't just quit."

Adams, and his supporters, expressed their fear that if the event were to lose the community's support, "how would we get it back?"

"I say that we accept that the racing is lost for this year," he said. "The longer we delay, the more we lose out on for the rest of the weekend. We should just stay focused on doing the best dang rodeo we can, go forth and conquer."

And that's just what the fair board plans to do, Laib said. "It will be just like Dayton days without the racing," he said. "We will have the Dayton Days court, the flags, the rodeo, the same pool of volunteers joined by fair volunteers, just sponsored by the fair."

Dayton Days, meanwhile, will hold onto its "nest egg," for racing next year, said Melissa Hansen, Dayton Days treasurer and race manager.

"We just want to continue to make this a lucrative weekend for businesses in Dayton," she said.

Columbia County Commissioner Dwight Robanski expressed his approval of the plan during the commissioners meeting Tuesday morning .

"I think it's a great idea," he said. "We need to fill that void. We need that event. I'm glad people stepped up. We need this in Dayton."

Robanski and Richard Jones approved the fair's request to hold Dayton Days this year. Commissioner Chuck Reeves was opposed.

The fair board plans to simply "break even" with the event, Laib told commissioners. It will provide the insurance and sign all the contracts, but it will work closely with Dayton Days staff to ensure it's the same event visitors are used to. Just no racing.

Organizers hold out hope that racing will be back in the valley in 2012. Racing commissioners just last week approved legislation in Olympia that lifts the requirement for tracks to run at least five consecutive years to qualify for the commission's race dates, so the one-year interruption will not disqualify them for resuming racing next year, Hansen said.