| All Beef, Feeders, Sheep, and Swine exhibitors who plan on showing and selling a market animal at our fair must have a current fair ear tag. These tags are now available at the fair office. Beef tags are yellow, feeders are red, swine are white and sheep are orange. The cost to exhibitors is $1.00 per tag while the fair covers the remiaining cost. |
On Thursday, November 5, the Fair held its annual meeting of its membership. At this meeting Board President Darcy Martyn presented some statistics from our last fiscal year. Martyn reported there were:
- 557 Youth Exhibitors
- 4532 Projects entered
- 360 trophies presented
- $6,285 distributed in premium dollars (with all but $1,000 coming from the fair’s general funds)
- $320,511.76 paid for large animals, $21,490 for small animals, and $31,478 for still exhibits.
- 318 total buyers (174 large animal, 152 still exhibit, and 78 small animal)
- 154 unique donors gave $77,911 in donations and sponsorships.
Martyn also reported on the large scope of projects completed during the last fiscal year. They include significant upgrades to the cafeteria, repainting the feeder, crops, and still exhibit barns, the insides of the beef barns, and the horse announcer’s booth, putting steel on the bottom of the swine barn, improving the sound system, completing the Laurie Smith Memorial Announcer’s Booth, and installing new doors on the exhibit and feeder barns.
At the meeting the association elected four directors to the board which are Matt Cary, Darcy Martyn (for a second term), Mark Story, and Argil Willman. Each of these new directors will serve a three year term. Jacob Sherwood was appointed the new teen representative and will serve a 2 year term on the board.
The new directors replace four outstanding individuals who have given tirelessly to our board. They are Morgan Brennan, Kris Duflo, Becky Hirschman, and Marshall Jenkins. |
The new official GCFFY large market animal ear tags have arrived in the fair office. Beef (fat steers) are yellow, feeder steers are red, Swine are white, and sheep are orange. The cost to exhibitors will remain $1.00 per tag while the fair will cover the remaining actual cost. |
Camping remains one of the top priorities for the fair. The board is responsible to ensure our campsites meet the state’s campgrounds rules and requirements as required by our annual license. We also have a huge demand for our campsites. Currently we have 47 families on our waiting list for sites. Please call or e-mail the fair office (989-875-5292 or bgardner@gcffy.org) if you would like to have your name added to this list.
The fair’s camping committee met to go over the camping process for the fair. They made a few recommendations to the fair’s board of directors who approved the following changes at the November Board of Directors meeting.
The fair will begin to investigate the feasibility of adding additional campsites along the south end of the fairgrounds. At this point we are working with the DEQ to ensure our additional bathroom facilities brought on by our new building project will increase our camping capacity.
The fair will renumber the campsites before our camping season. The current numbering system jumps around from every expansion of the project. Campers will keep their existing site but their number will probably change.
The camping fee will be $100 for the entire week for campers housing fair exhibitors, animal superintendents, and fair board members. Others will be charged $250 for the same time period.
The fair will enforce a midnight curfew for campers and have set up a procedure to make this happen. Finally, the fair will not allow dogs in the fairgrounds including in the camping areas. |
