REPORT DIGEST

ILLINOIS STATE FAIR

COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
FOR THE TWO YEARS ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2025

Release Date:  June 2, 2026

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT: 3

CATEGORY:  NEW -- REPEAT – TOTAL
Category 1:  0 -- 0 -- 0
Category 2:  1 -- 2 -- 3
Category 3:  0 -- 0 -- 0
TOTAL:  1 -- 2 -- 3

FINDINGS LAST AUDIT: 2

State of Illinois, Office of the Auditor
General
CHRISTOPHER B. MEISTER, AUDITOR GENERAL

To obtain a copy of the Report contact:
Office of the Auditor General, 400 West
Monroe, Suite 306, Springfield, IL
62704-9849
(217) 782-6046 or TTY (888) 261-2887

This Report Digest and Full Report are
also available on the worldwide web at
www.auditor.illinois.gov

INTRODUCTION
The Illinois State Fair (ISF), a function
of the State of Illinois, Department of
Agriculture, is responsible for
compliance with the specified requirements
for operations and transactions associated
with the ISF.

SYNOPSIS

• (25-01) The ISF did not maintain
adequate controls over contractual
agreements.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

WEAKNESSES IN CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION
ASSOCIATED WITH THE ILLINOIS STATE FAIR

The ISF did not maintain adequate controls
over contractual agreements.

During our contractual agreement testing,
we noted the following:

With regard to the 2025 Fair:

• Four of 60 (7%) contractual agreements,
totaling $14,926, were not properly signed
and/or dated on or before the start of the
contract.  The signatures and/or dating of
contracts ranged from four to eleven days
after the start of the contract.  For one
contract, we were unable to determine
timeliness due to missing signatures and/
or dates.
• One of 60 (2%) contractual agreements
could not be provided by the ISF.

With regard to the 2024 Fair:

• One of 60 (2%) contractual agreements,
totaling $2,800, was not properly dated on
or before the start of the contract. We
were unable to determine timeliness due to
the missing date.
• One of 60 (2%) contractual agreements,
totaling $3,725, did not have a
certificate of insurance filed with the
ISF. (Finding 1, pages 11-12)

This finding has been reported since 2017.

We recommended the ISF ensure all
contracts and related forms are properly
completed, approved, and executed prior to
the start of the services or lease terms
and maintained. Further, contractual
agreements should be updated for
procurements that require certifications
of insurance.

ISF officials accepted the finding and
stated they will implement controls
ensuring contracts are complete and
properly executed before the services are
used.

OTHER FINDINGS

The remaining findings pertain to
weaknesses in controls over space rentals
and camping revenue. We will review the
ISF’s progress towards the implementation
of our recommendations in our next
compliance examination.

ACCOUNTANT’S OPINION

The accountants conducted a State
compliance examination of the ISF for the
two years ended September 30, 2025, as
required by the Illinois State Auditing
Act. The accountants stated the ISF
complied, in all material respects, with
the requirements described in the report.

This State compliance examination was
conducted by Adelfia LLC.

COURTNEY DZIERWA
Deputy Auditor General

This report is transmitted in accordance
with Section 3-14 of the Illinois State
Auditing Act.

CHRISTOPHER B. MEISTER
Auditor General

CBM:emo