I have been pushing the ball forward on several new things for the fair this year and have met with great excitement from just about everyone! Not every idea or event will come to fruition this year, but there WILL be some new events that will be fun for the visitors.
Projects:
Fair Book. ROUGH draft is printed. I am doing it in color online because we will also have an interactive digital version as well.
Building Project. We have quotes coming and gathering all the details.
Ramp Project. I was able to get two quotes and talked with RAMP from Freeport about co-writing the grant.
Bathroom Project. We have two more quotes in the works.
Jr Fair Board. I spoke with IAFE about it and also with Fisher Fair about how they run their board. I downloaded an application and changed it to be more custom for our board. I have been asking around to gauge interest and I think we can easily get 4-5 kids to start it up this year. My daughter is in FFA and is volunteering to help get it going. It would be great to have some core volunteer teens because they tend to bring their friends as well.
Taste of Stephenson County is getting going, details to come from commercial committee.
Demonstration Garden is a go from building and grounds and location chosen.
Community Involvement for the fair:
Fire Department. I met with Hillary from the Freeport Fire Department and Mike from Freeport Rural Fire Department. She is very excited to jump in with both feet and has some ambitious plans. Here is what she is working on: Large Mavis tent set up with an obstacle course for kids, Puppet shows 2-3 times per day (a program they do at the schools), touch a trucks, extraction demonstration, and a smoke house.
YMCA. I met with Aaron Green and they want to be involved somehow. This might be setting up activities or games to do, or even just have their staff out here volunteering.
Farm & Fleet. I met with the manager of Farm & Fleet and she really wants to be more of a help for the fairgrounds. They can give us donations, sponsor events, let us borrow gates or troughs if we need them. Last year, they had a large County Fair display on their wall, I think we can probably increase that size! As we are working on events, keep them in mind!
Freeport Library: I met with Ashley and we hashed out and confirmed the details of what they will be doing at the fair. They will be doing the Read for Rides, crafts & story time as well as a booth in the commercial building to sign up people with library cards.
Talked with Atwater Acres: They will be doing some demonstrations at the community tent and had a lot of ideas of different activities they can bring.
There are lots of new things going on and it’s exciting to see it all taking form!