First the bad news. The Florida State Fair made money on that well-chronicled, open-air stage naming rights’ deal a few years back. But that three-year, Amphitheatre deal is over, and the Fair is now out about $75,000 a year.
The good news: What used to be the mocked and reviled 1-800-Ask-Gary Amphitheatre is now just “Amphitheatre” for now. A regional embarrassment is gone. One that was underscoring the tacky reality that we ambulance-chase with the best. One that was matching the notoriety of the world’s biggest Confederate flag. Unofficially, the Amphitheatre is now Axe-Gary.