Fair time is right around the corner for most of us, so this is the time to spring forth with new and refreshing ideas to enhance your fair appeal to the public.  That's why at this year's North Carolina Association of Agricultural Fairs (NCAOAF) Spring meeting we focused on new ideas and looks for your fair, the new awards system, and security.  All important topics for our member fairs and what they are doing with the public.  We were thrilled to have about 50 people present from about a third of our member fairs.
  Our first topic of discussion centered around fair paperwork.  Where to find it on our website, how to fill it out and when it is due.  Kevin Hardison with NCDA&CS went through the fair managers paperwork and when before paperwork is due and what paperwork is due after the fair.  He guided us through the requirements to be an agricultural fair and showed us how transparent all of our paperwork is and how necessary collecting this information is not only for our fair but to have for the state association when folks represent us in Raleigh.
  Becky Wilder stepped up to talk about how the awards work.  This year there is a new application and it is included in the Fair Managers book as welll as online.  She guided us through the award judging process and how important it is to submit for awards.  There are a variety of awards every fair can enter for including: the Innovative Award, which highlights something new at your fair; Image Award which highlights the overall community Image of your fair; Youth Award which is given for opportunities and events encompassing youth at your fair; and the Media Award which is about the quality of your advertising campaign from newspaper articles to billboards, social media to television this is the place to show off everything you have done to market your fair to the world.
  After hashing out the paperwork and awards it was time to take a break, eat lunch, and netowrk with our member fairs.  Thanks to Cathy Horton who not only took care of all the meeting details she handled the cateer with our delicious lunch buffet that was amazing.
  While lunch was going on the security team for the state fair took time to set up a little demonstration of security.  The NC State Fair has purchased opengate metal detectors that allow them to scan folks prior to reaching the ticket windows.  They have found this system has increased the speed in which they can get folks into the fairgrounds and to the ticket windows to buy tickets or scanned through if they bought advanced tickets.  The demonstartion and talk were very helpful with fairs looking to increase their security during without having to increase a footprint for space at ticket booths or storage of cumbersome machinary.
  Our last workshop of the day was the opportunity to hear from a variety of fairs about how they keep things looking fresh and new at their fairs.  Everything from repainting buildings and rooms to tips on how to make displays eye candy there were a variety of new and different ideas to make your fair something that folks will want to see.
  A big thank you to all the members who came out for this important meeting.  Also to Cathy Horton for corrdinating the event, the NC State Fair for hosting our meeting, and the programs committee for their time and energy making this happen.
  Our next NCAOAF member meeting will take place at our anual convention in January.  Please stay tuned for more information.