The Wisconsin Association of Fairs Convention took place January 8-11 with about 1,000 people in attendance. The theme this year was Keeping it Rural. Jayme Buttke, Executive Secretary and Treasurer of the Wisconsin Association of Fairs says that the theme is inline with their missions.
“The theme idea started when our committee said we need to bridge the gap between the rural and the urban communities,” says Buttke. “One of the best things to do is, well, keep it rural. So we just thought it would be a fun take on bridging different groups of people together while celebrating where our fairs got its start from.”
Throughout the year the Wisconsin Association of Fairs hosts district meetings and this past year there were discussions regarding exhibit numbers post pandemic. Buttke says there is a slower recovery of kids coming back and exhibiting because they had that time off from COVID and are now slowly getting back into all of their activities. However while the number of exhibitors may be down, the number of exhibits themselves are higher.
One key business item that took place at the convention was the consumer protection program which allowed attendees to learn about key safety items including E.coli, where to have washing stations, how close animals can be to food, and much more. This training process is vital to the fair and agriculture industry throughout the United States.
There were multiple educational sessions throughout the convention on animal health, networking, recruiting volunteers, insurance, and crisis management. Additionally many award winners were recognized and the Wisconsin Fairest of the Fairs competition took place.
This year there were 73 out of the 75 county fair members registered for the convention. In past years that number was around 68 and Buttke is very proud of the association members being dedicated and engaged.
“Throughout 2023, we as a board are going to be taking on strategic planning, something we haven’t done in quite some time,” adds Buttke. “This allows us to reevaluate how we are going to retain our membership and if we are doing enough for our members.”
2023 is the 100th year of the Wisconsin Association of Fairs. Buttke says that throughout the year they will be celebrating that milestone and preparing for the 2024 convention in order to make sure they are celebrating the last century but also cultivating the next century coming forward.
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