County fairs require many hours, lots of workers and, yes, money

As Heidi Steffen sees it, putting on a county fair in Iowa “is like planning 100 small events under one umbrella, with all the same mission and purpose.”

Steffan is marketing manager for the Linn County Fair, which set this year for June 27 to July 2 in Central City. And she knows it involves keeping a lot of plates spinning at the same time.

Visitors to the fair have come to expect not only the standard fair food and plentiful 4-H activities, but also varied entertainment acts. Behind the scenes, volunteers and fair professionals are working to make it all go off as seamlessly as possible.

John Harms, who has been working as General Manager for the Great Jones County Fair since 1986, agreed with the notion it takes many hours and many people.

“It's an 18-month planning process for us,” he said.

The Great Jones County Fair and Food-Fest, held each summer in Monticello, celebrates its 160th year this July 18 to 22. It is the state's second oldest fair and the third largest.

“If the weather is good this year, we'll be at about a $200 million budget,” said Harms, who works half-time, year-round.

“People just don't realize all of the overhead associated with it, the amount of raw planning and communication to make it happen.”

Along with hiring Harms and a few seasonal office staff members - who work for about a four-month period - the Great Jones County Fair takes on about 150 temporary employees for the week of the fair to handle security, concert staging and logistics and work the gate entrances.

But volunteer efforts are also a huge part of the equation.

“I don't know how many hundreds of volunteers we have,” he admitted. “Plus we also have service groups that we make a donation to based on the number of volunteers from that group we get helping in concessions, running scanners and parking cars.”

12,000 VOLUNTEERS

The Linn County Fair, by contrast, is a 100 percent volunteer-led effort. According to Jennifer Dunn, president of the Linn County Fair, it has a 15-member board of directors and a core of 20 associate-member volunteers to plan the fair each year.

They in turn rely on some 250 to 300 volunteers during the week of the fair.

“We had 12,000 volunteer hours for 2011,” Dunn recalled.

Perhaps especially with volunteer efforts, planning is important.

“We plan a year in advance, if not further,” Dunn said. “We are already talking about some events for the 2013 fair, which will be our 125th year.

“Normally as soon as the current fair is over, the next day we start planning for next year's fair.”

Steffen and Dunn started volunteering with the Linn County Fair in 2005 and 2006 respectively, with the goal of helping the fair grow.

And grow it has. In 2006 they saw about 6,000 people through the gate - this year they expect some 40,000.

“Our fair has grown 400 percent in six years, with an average of about 20 percent increase each year,” Steffen said.

To foster that growth, they've turned to sponsorship and partnership opportunities as a way to fund the various elements of the fair.

“When I came on to the fair in 2005 that was the year we implemented a sponsorship program,” she recalled. “We have grown the program and now refer to it as our partnership program as they partner with us to make it successful.”

The Linn County Board of Supervisors also has committed funding to support the fair.

“We have a lot of great sponsors from the private sector and more sponsors means more entertainment,” said Dunn.

It also enables the Linn County Fair to remain free.

In Jones County, Harms said this year he expected anywhere from 80,000 to 100,000 visitors to the fair in five days.

“Sponsorships are critical, and we have impressions to sell,” he said. “It's a good-time advertising concept. and we put names on everything we can.”

A fair's entertainment lineup can be the biggest draw, and deciding on and booking that talent is no easy task.

“As we look at the lineup, we make a wish list,” Harms said. “We think about who we want to have, who is coming up the ranks hot and fast.”

The Great Jones County Fair has worked with a booking agency out of Ohio for the past 40 years, a partnership that Harms said has been key for them.

“They have a good feel on the pulse of our community. And they are well thought of in the industry, so when they take our offer to (singer) Toby Keith's management, they pay attention,” he noted.

FOCUS ON FARMS

Organizers said they work hard to strike a balance between appealing to the traditional agricultural crowd and drawing in new fair visitors.

“Our goal is to not only bring in the long-standing events but also bring in at least one new event every year to keep the fair new and fresh,” Steffen explained.

“If we didn't grow or change that fair won't be there,” Dunn said. “But people expect the traditions of the fair.

“We don't want to lose sight of 4-H programs and we stay true to the core values of 4-H. We want to make sure we continue to instill that in kids and bring the community out to see these projects.

“But we also need other reasons to come out as well.”

“We have agricultural roots and we don't ever want to leave that behind. But today we sell music,” Harms added.

“People expect to see quality entertainment.”

In the end, that social impact keeps the fair going year after year.

“Without county fairs, we lose our history,” Steffen said. “It is a place where grandparents can take their grandchildren to teach them about our culture and learn about Iowa's agricultural past.

“It is also a place where the new generations can teach their parents about the up-and-coming technology and culture. With out county fairs our past will die and our future will suffer.”