It has been very rewarding to see much of our preparation yielding results and things are beginning to create their own momentum!
Fair Book. The fair book is being printed on demand. I printed out 300 copies this week (239 are for exhibitors from last year). I am going to make a 2nd version of the fair book and take out the exhibitor pages in the back and have those available to people who are not exhibiting but want information on what is happening at the fair (citizen state bank, alone, handed out 1.5 cases of books last year). There is also an online interactive version of the fair book.
Jr Fair Volunteer. Informational meeting went great! Lots of creative ideas and enthusiasm. Here is the list of teenagers: Lillian Boyer, Elizabeth Boyer, Linley Meier, Gabe Leverton, Rebekah Visel, Hannah Visel, and Ella Brennen. I can’t wait to get them started on some projects!
Taste of Stephenson County. We worked out all the details while consulting with the health department, so we are all good to go! The flyer and sign up is open now.
Beer & Wine Tasting. We have 8 participants already, with more that are interested. Lena Brewing is going to run the event on the Saturday of the fair. The City is working with us on the appropriate license (there are several that can work). I also have about 20 glass bottled sodas that will be served for those not participating in the beer & wine.
Inventoried and ordered all the ribbons. I also found a donation of 500 bookmark ribbons for read for rides program through the library.
Small Garden Project: Dale & Dennis built four small, raised beds. I have a strong lead of a small hobby farmer who will help to maintain the area.
Grants. We received the $7,800 grant from the Freeport Community Foundation Grant for the ramp. The ramp is currently on order and should be installed late May or early June. Once installation is complete, RAMP and the FCF plan to have a large media day with a ribbon cutting. We are looking at doing this early to mid-July so that we can utilize as much publicity as we can towards the fair. As soon as I have a date, I will notify the board so that you can attend. We also received the Compeer Grant for the barn electrical, that check should be mailed to us soon and Building & Grounds is working towards getting those repairs going.
Summer office help. I hired Harley Miller, she will start May 31st. She is going to NIU for Hospitality & Tourism and is from Rock City.
Fairgrounds Clean up. This was a huge success and should be a message to the board that the community is here to support the fair! We had 7 adults from Rotary and 4 middle schoolers come and clean up. We had a goal of repainting a dozen benches and that was completed by 9:30am! We were able to purchase more supplies and paint the bleachers and were still out of work by noon. Two volunteers also completely swept out C2 building, it was a huge job that took them over an hour, but it looks great now! The school kids gathered all the sticks and downed branches from the property to make it ready to mow. Ideas for the May 14th clean up?
Press Releases. I am going to start sending out bi-weekly press releases with things happening at the fair. The first one should come out next week.
Gates. I approached several banks about helping to run the gates this year and was met with a very positive response! Hopefully, this will work out and we can have at least some reliable gate help!
Lots of great things happening!