Fair board addresses concerns in detail

Due to a lack of a quorum, the Big Horn County Fair board was unable to vote on matters at its October 1 meeting but did discuss a letter of concerns, the financial report and old and new business. 

At last month’s meeting, Katrina Zeller brought a letter to the board regarding concerns, observations and suggestions. Some were discussed at the September meeting; some were pushed back to the October meeting to give the board more time to review them. Zeller attended this meeting for the follow-up.  

Board member Tracey Haley informed Zeller that some of the rules she expressed concern about fall under the Junior Livestock Sale Committee and the Junior Show. The fair board cannot change those rules. She suggested Zeller talk to Gretchen Gasvoda, who is the chair of that committee. Gasvoda could then bring the suggestions to the committee. 

The first item from the letter Rebecca Bates addressed was preserving youth ownerships in projects. Zeller had written “The heart of 4-H and FFA is youth responsibility and learning. When parents take over care, fitting and feeding, the child loses the opportunity to grow through their project.” 

She mentioned setting up a “See something, say something” in Google Docs for people to report violations.  She also suggested that something be added about a premium accountability rule like other states use to dock premiums for violations. 

Like in previous meetings, Bates said the board plans on meeting with superintendents to manage expectations. 

She added that as a parent with kids at fair, she didn’t know all the rules at first. She relied on other people to guide her. There could be parents that don’t know all the rules and/or saw things at fairs in different states that were allowed. Bates said there may be some people who don’t even know they are breaking the rules.  

Keller’s letter also stated, “Pen assignments made without notice.” Bates explained, “Chapters were assigned. So, it wasn’t specifically to a kid. That was due to making sure we had enough pens.” She believes that one of the superintendents had requested it. 

Fair manager Catherine Foss added that this was done in multi barns. She noted that both the sheep and goat barns had a lot of breakage. The stalls were repaired as best as they could be. In the case of the goat barn, hog panels were used to create some of the pens for the goats. There were less pigs entered in fair this year than previously. This meant the extra panels could be used in the goat barn.   

Keller wondered what would happen if pig numbers are up next year, meaning extra panels may not be available.  Both Bates and Foss said they know it is something that needs to be addressed. Foss said during the clean-up of the barns, the materials were saved and could be refurbished as pens next year.  Haley added that the board was aware that nearly every pig/hog had its own pen this year. If the panels are needed again next year, exhibitors could double up their pigs/hogs in one pen. 

Another topic Keller listed was “Show management take over.” She expounded: “We were told we would be running our own show but were later informed by a FFA advisor she would be handling it instead. This change was made without discussion or explanation.” Bates said the board had no knowledge of or any part in this situation. 

Keller was also concerned about youth in the pig barns receiving meal tickets from superintendents as a reward for “keeping pens clean.” She wondered why this wasn’t offered to the goat barn superintendents. Haley said there were no meal tickets given out from the fair. There were  $5 ‘caught being good’ certificates given out by the Junior Show awards committee. She believes a few were given to the FFA advisors to hand out when they saw kids doing what they should be doing. She doesn’t believe there were many of them. 

Two additional items of concern for Keller were animal check in and camping fee discrepancies. Both were discussed. Bates asked Keller if she felt like all her concerns were addressed. Keller said yes. 

OTHER BUSINESS

• Because there was no quorum the board was unable to vote on the second reading for officially changing the board meeting date to the first Wednesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. However, the board did decide that the November meeting would be on Nov. 5 at 6:30 p.m.

• Ads for fair board members have run in the papers and on social media. 

• Lost and found items were posted on social media. 

• Dates for horse fun day, dog show, cat show and fair were confirmed. 

• The board discussed whether tablescaping should continue as an event at fair.