Florida Fairs helping in preparation and aftermath of Hurricane Irma Sarasota County Fair:
We supported restoration in three counties from here with meals up to 2700 on site. Feel free to use any pictures from our Facebook page to show storm staging. I have been putting up posts daily with pictures. We should add some drone shots by tomorrow with all the trucks. Clay County Fair:
Our grounds are ok. Two of our animal shelters flooded and our grounds became a safe haven for hundreds of dogs and cats until other rescues were available. We also housed some goats and pigs in our Early Florida Village, we even had hurricane baby piglets
born! We will be opening our RV Park to people who need a place to stay while rebuilding. We will also be
opening up our office building for anyone needing some AC, a kitchen, or a shower. We had a lot of fair volunteers lose their homes from flooding, we’ll be assisting them as much as we can. I have attached pictures for you to utilize. Our grounds came through the hurricane untouched, we were without power for 2 days. Once
we reopened our doors we realized that our neighbors were not so lucky, we had catastrophic flooding, tree damage and people without power for over a week. Many of which were our fair volunteers. We couldn't just sit around and do nothing, so we opened our fair home up to our community. We opened our RV park bath houses up for anyone needing to use them, free of charge. We allowed campers to stay for 48hrs free of charge. We also opened our office for people to come in and use AC, electric outlets, our kitchen facilities and we cooked them lunch and dinner for free. Our community donated supplies and answered our pleas through Facebook. Deggeller sent a very generous donation to help restock our sup- plies as well. Collier County Fair is still here!! Yay!!
From what we’ve been told by the deputies that manned the substation on our grounds it’s a miracle because all they could see was flying objects. The IFAS center on our grounds also suffered severe damage and have had to move out of the building at this point. Our office trailer started to separate in the back, windows were sucked out, water damage, roof will need to be repaired and siding, but we are still standing. We did lose our hospitality trailer that our livestock exhibitors use for changing, restroom and housing all our ribbons and trophies. It was lifted off the
frame and thrown down in a pile. Almost all of our fencing is down on the grounds and behind the office. We lost our first aid building and some of our new electrical panels that were put in right before the fair. All of our trees suffered damage and we lost many of the few that we have. Our barn sur- vived and not only that from the looks of it everything we placed inside did also. Our new façade for our competitive exhibits and STEAM suffered some damage, but really held up well considering. It is really hard for us to see what all is gone and get good pictures because we are covered up in FPL and their subsidiaries and they are more important to the livelihood of our community at this point. We will work on us after the community has been restored to some type of normalcy. We will be flying a drone over the property soon to get a good picture of how our grounds are being used as a major staging area and will send that to you. At this point there is not a spot they aren’t using. In the day it goes down as all the trucks go out into the community, but at night it is like its own city. Everyone has been great and we are all work- ing together and know that we will come back stronger than before! Internet and phone service are still spotty and cell phone service can be nonexistent at times Citrus County Fair:
Citrus County Fair was on standby for the Power Companies, the Sheriff's Office, and County for Emergency staging and large animal
housing. The grounds were not used, but we were ready to assist. We did open our showers for those who needed them. North Florida Fair: Hurricane Irma comes to the North Florida Fair As Hurricane Irma was churning in the Caribbean, many thought her path would take her up the east coast of Florida. Many people
evacuated and the North Florida Fair was inundated with phone calls from RVers who were looking for a safe place to hold up and ride the storm out. As landfall became evident, representatives of FEMA also contacted the fairgrounds looking for resources that they could use to assist those affected in South Florida or other damaged areas. The RVers arrived first and about 90 bedded down to await the storm. FEMA representatives arrived next. They originally asked for acreage to park 100-200 ambulances for later distribution. The area I had planned for them to use was unsuitable to them for unknown reasons. Other FEMA representatives talked of using 2 climate con- trolled buildings manpower to rest. Cots were brought in and set up but most were never used. FEMA representatives were also dis- pleased about the RVers on the property using the shower facilities. There were a few confrontations between campers and FEMA repre-
FAIRCRACKER-FALL 2017 29
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