Thursday was a long and busy night for members of the Senior Fair Board.
It was the last meeting before this year’s county fair, so there was much to talk about.
The meeting was preceded by a joint meeting with the Junior Fair Board, which allowed the members to
finalize plans for the junior board’s activities in setting up and operations at the fair.
When the regular meeting began, the topics were addressed fast and furious.
There was lengthy discussion about voting memberships.
The board eventually approved allowing people to personally exchange non-voting memberships for voting
memberships if done by the established cut-off date for sales.
This year’s date has been announced as Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
For many years, the Wood County Agricultural Society has had a rule prohibiting the transfer of voting
memberships. Last year the board approved primarily selling only voting memberships to those eligible to
vote for directors. Those not eligible are youth under age 18 and non-county residents.
The difficulty arises when someone else wishes to purchase a membership for a family or friend.
Regulations require voting memberships to be signed by the individual in person, nobody else can sign
for them.
The question arose this week as some wanted to exchange their membership for a voting membership. They
were denied based on the non-transfer rule.
Various members of the board debated the point at length, with some arguing to enforce the rules as
written; while others argued people should have been sold voting memberships originally.
Still others noted that a transfer, as in the memberships are non-transferable, would apply if one person
was trying to transfer his or her membership to someone else.
After a voice vote, president Rod Lucas indicated passage of allowing the exchange prior to the cut-off
date. A show of hands approved the motion by an 11-10 margin.
There also was much discussion regarding the need for an additional tent near the dairy barn to show
dairy and the goats. It was then announced that the beef cattle could be housed in their two barns, thus
allowing the dairy cattle to be returned to the dairy barn instead of the need for an extra tent for
those animals.
Eventually the board approved a smaller tent to show goats and dairy; as well as an additional tent
between the Fine Arts and Beef barns for the purpose of grooming the animals in the beef barn.
Other topics discussed Thursday included:
¥ Correspondence and favorable comments on staff and handling of visitors including last week’s Motor
Coach Association
¥ Water shed improvements made and functioning well
¥ Repairs and work needed on various pieces of equipment
¥ New radio stations seeking to operate from fair
¥ Sponsorships by area businesses of various days and events in works
¥ Need to keep at least 10-foot between all campers for safety and health regulations
¥ Dignitaries planning to attend fair’s parade
¥ People’s choice award for photography
¥ Addition of square dancing, racing pigs and a motorcross show to midway events
¥ Motorcycle association affiliated with Dayspring to handle ticket taking at demolition derbys.
