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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • DECEMBER 2016
BC fairs encouraged by youth participation Organizers recognize need for youth to replace aging volunteers
by TOM WALKER
KAMLOOPS – The recent BC Fairs conference shows that fairs have a good future in the province, with a growth in interest from younger volunteers.
“It was an excellent conference,” says long time director Keith Currie from Comox. “We’ve had larger attendance numbers, but not this level of positive interest.
“I’ve run a couple of roundtable discussions for the last several years and I usually get a couple of dozen participants,” says Currie. “This year, I had standing room only and an excellent sharing of ideas.”
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“What was good about those workshops and the whole conference was that there were a lot of younger and new people there,” says Currie. “Like most non-profits, many of our members are aging and some can’t come to the conferences any more.”
Currie says there was a group from northern BC who were excellent contributors. “They jumped right in; they were just like sponges absorbing the information, plus contributing, too.”
Making fairs relevant
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Making fairs relevant to younger audiences requires younger people to help run them. “Two fairs that I know of have started junior boards. Port Alberni had three or four kids who were always volunteering at the fair and now the junior board is 12 or 14 kids. Two of them go to the regular board meetings and a director goes to their meetings, and it’s working out extremely well,” says Currie. “It’s always been a challenge for fairs to attract teenage kids,” he adds. “At our own Comox fair about five years ago, we thought, “Let’s bring in a midway that will attract the kids.” Well, it only brought in the troublemakers. This year, we didn’t have the midway and our numbers climbed.“
Volunteerism and board governance were discussed, Currie said.
“Helping the young people to know about running meetings and keeping people on straight and narrow. Another one we had was about judging. There is a standards manual on how to judge but the biggest problem is, how do you get judges? Is there a pool of judges? How much do you pay them?
“At my fair, we have a young person who has come up through 4-H who did some judging last year.”
Sponsorships
Roxy Mayberry, corporate sponsorship director with the Alaska State Fair, presented two workshops on sponsorship. “Next year, we are going to be in Victoria and we want to connect with the minister of ag and the minister of tourism and show them what we can do.”
The board is working on a project called the ‘Nuts and Bolts of Fairs.’
“We are putting together a manual that you could also use for a strawberry festival or a music event,” says Currie.
Director Tom Harder has moved into the president’s position. Karen Streeter is first vice- president, while out-going president Ann Siddall is second vice-president. Finance chair and longest serving board member Pamela Brenner has agreed to stay on to help transition new members onto the board. They include Allison Bowers (Arrowsmith Agricultural Association/Coombs Fair), Shari Paterson (Cowichan Exhibition) and Tarah Hauser (West Coast Amusements), representing commercial/associate members. “With an average attendance of some 1.3 million across the province, quite a few fairs are the biggest event in their community,” Currie points out. Several fairs in the province are over 100 years old and the Sannich Fair, along with Canada, turns 150 next year.
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to offer the group as well. As a result, the workshop
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progresses in a conversational manner with the instructors presenting material and offering insights, as well as the participants themselves offering advice and examples of what has worked for them, or other challenges they are facing.
“It is like a fireside chat,” explains Rita Kim. “Having good conversation, collaboration, sharing thoughts and best practices. People that are starting up may get insight from people who have been around a little longer. Some of the younger generation that comes in has a lovely take on technology
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that mature businesses may not have. It is (also) an opportunity for (participants) to get clear and focused on the purpose of the business which drives how they handle any opportunities, how they build and grow, and collaborate with different folks. The industry itself is about collaboration and is one of the best I have had the opportunity to work in.” This is the second workshop that has been offered in Prince George in 2016. The workshop has been presented all over the province, including the communities of Kamloops, Williams Lake, Quesnel, Ashcroft, Lillooett, Abbotsford, Comox Valley and the Gulf Islands. The program has reached over 300 participants since 2015 and will continue into 2017.
For a schedule for
upcoming workshops, visit [
www.partnersforgrowth.ca].
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