The Sun City Fair will not be returning to El Paso in 2018, 93.1 KISS-FM has exclusively learned. And fair organizers say the condition of the county park is what's keeping them away.

David Renfro, Media Director for Universal Fairs, organizers of the Sun City Fair, confirmed to me via email they were not coming back and blamed it on the county's unwillingness to pave the area where the fair sets up.

We LOVED El Paso, however, we battled the dust storms in the sandy parking lot for 2 years in a row. We could not get the county to pave the lot, it's a real tough place for families with kids and strollers to have sand all over your food etc. Maybe in the future we can return to Ascarate Park if they can fix it up a little.

I contacted Alexandra South, Marketing Specialist for El Paso County Parks & Recreation, who said the county reached out to them numerous times but never received responses to their inquiries, and while she did not specifically address Universal Fair’s issue with the lack of pavement, she did say they are “actively working” on improving the park.

Our goal is to create family friendly environments and we are actively working on plans to make improvements to the area for future events. Part of our improvement project includes fixing the permanent bathrooms throughout Ascarate Park that have been inoperable for years. We want everyone to have the best experience possible at our venue and will continue to actively make changes and updates whenever possible.

The Sun City Fair was a first of a kind event for El Paso, so on a personal note it's too bad it won't be coming back. We need more fun, family events that aren't all concentrated downtown, and the fair seemed a promising start.

I hope improvements are made sooner than later and the county continues to attract events that utilize the park so that Ascarate doesn't go back to being such an under-used commodity.