It's Fair'ly Important News from the Fair Office

It's Fair'ly Important News from the Fair Office November 9, 2017 701 S. Lincoln Ave. Alma, MI 48801 989.466.5071 www.gcffy.org info@gcffy.org Annual Fair Membership Meeting Office for $5. Join your Gratiot County Fair for Youth Board of Directors for our Annual Membership Meeting at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, December 7 at the Bill & Grace Vanderbeek Fair Office on the Alma Fairgrounds. At the meeting active fair members will elect four positions to the fair s Board of Directors, present its review of the last year, and appoint a new Teen Representative to the Board. Lifetime fair memberships can be purchased from the GCFFY Fair Any fair member interested in running for one of the four 3-year terms on the fair s Board of Directors should complete a petition. Petitions should be turned into the fair office by Friday, November 24 so they can be included on the ballot and have a biography in the fair s meeting packet. Petitions can be downloaded by clicking here. Each year the fair s Board appoints one teen to the fair s Board of Directors. The Teen Representative serves a two year term. Applications and more information are available by clicking here. Fair Seeks Beef Superintendent

After several years of incredible service to GCFFY the dynamic duo of Ashlee Gibson and Derek Hessbrook are passing the baton to a new Beef Superintendent. The fair is seeking someone who is willing to serve in this role. GCFFY Superintendents are expected to set a positive tone for their department especially with their exhibitors while following the rules outlined in the fair book and guidelines established by the fair. Superintendents must set up the barn, be present at the last pre-fair clean-up, check-in animals to ensure they meet the fair s rules, set up the shows, arrange for shipping of sold market animals after the sale, communicate sale and show information to the fair office and arrange for cleaning the barn after the fair. Applications will be due on Thursday, November 30 to the fair office. For additional information click here and for an application click here. Please contact Brian Gardner at the fair office at 989-466-5071 or bgardner@gcffy.org for more information. Parking Generates Resources for Local Non-Profit Agencies Parking at Gratiot County Fair for Youth continues to raise resources for local non-profit agencies. GCFFY parking areas are staffed by volunteers who represent these agencies and the revenues are split equally among them. This past fair, GCFFY provided $3,926.34 which will help to provide resources for food pantries, to purchase tickets for Spanish students to experience a cultural exchange, and to support the Alma VFW Post and the St. Louis High School LINKS program which coordinates an exchange of high school students between here and Germany. Each parking pass purchased helps to support these agencies as well as the fair which is also a 501(c)(3) public charity. Donations Help Sustain a Successful Fair The Gratiot County community steps up to support their fair. Thanks to the incredible support of the many donors the fair has been able to maintain its program s mission and grow and improve its facilities. This allows the fair to continue to provide quality, memorable fair experiences to its 600 fair exhibitors by greatly expanding the fair's funding equation. Gratiot County Fair for Youth thanks each donor for investing in the fair's mission. For a list of all fair donors who provided 250 unique donations in 2017, click here.

4-H Registration Deadline Approaches Quickly Gratiot County Fair for Youth highly recommends exhibitors participate in 4-H and/or FFA to further learn about their project area. In fact, GCFFY has a registration fee which is waived if the fair exhibitor is PROPERLY enrolled in either 4-H or FFA. For those enrolling in 4-H, the registration deadline is quickly approaching and is due on December 1. The 2017-2018 4-H program year enrollment is open and an email was sent to all 4-H families on September 20 th, states 4-H Program Coordinator, Chris Thompson. Please take a minute to read the email as there a couple changes to the enrollment process. Go to mi.4honline.com to complete your re-enrollment. Please contact the Extension Office at 989-875-5295 if you need assistance with passwords and logging in. Enrollment in 4-H is $20 for the year (and is to be given to your 4-H club leader) and the fair board is expected to raise their annual fee (which is waived for 4-H/FFA members) to at least $25 this year. Visit 4honline now to complete your registration even if you have yet paid. Horse Registration Deadline Moved to May 15. To align with other deadlines, the Horse Developmental Committee recommended the Fair Board approve moving the Horse Registration deadline to May 15. The form must be completed for all exhibitors including Cloverbuds (our 5-8 year old exhibitors) who wish to show a horse at the fair. Remember a current (taken after August 5, 2017) coggins test must be included with the fair registration form. Late horse registration forms will incur a fee as do the market animal forms. Cloverbuds Required to Fill Out Preregistration Forms to Show in Large Animals

Cloverbud Exhibitors who want to exhibit in the goat, horse, sheep and swine project areas must complete a corresponding animal preregistration form by the May 15 deadline. This will help superintendendents in these high demand/limited space project areas plan to ensure we have the proper space to house the the animal during the fair. The fair will require all Cloverbud animals wear proper dentification tags as required by the Michigan Deparment of Agriculture and Rural Development and those numbers (if requried by that species) will be required on all paperwork. Skills Tests/Lab Will Have Seperate Awards The GCFFY Board of Directors approved adding an award for the Skills Test/Lab which historically has been one part of the skillathon competition. These tests have always been a part of skillathon and their total points are totaled into the grand score which determines the skillathon champion. We have found these tests have often created confusion from exhibitors and superintendents alike that these tests/labs were the skillathon and not one part of the skillathon, states Brian Gardner, GCFFY Fair Coordinator. We hope by recognizing these exhibitors who excel on their test/lab that people will better see the separation between these tests and the overall skillathon. The skillathon is composed of many different species specific events. In large animal market species for example the skillathon is composed of record book, skills test/lab, livestock judging contest, showmanship and market class. New 4-H Curriculum for Hog & Beef Michigan State University Extension has published two informational new 4-H handbooks for the beef (feeder) and swine project areas. There is a wealth of great information which will answer questions and help exhibitor families learn more about their projects. Looking for what size and age animal to purchase? It is in there. Want to know more about what to feed your animal? It is in there. Curious about how to exhibit your market animal? Look inside. Stop by the MSU Extension Office at 219 N. State St. in Alma to pick up a copy and help make your 2018 fair your best one yet. Fair Dates Set

It will inspire you 263 Days Mark your calendars for the best week of the year. The next Gratiot County Fair for Youth will be held between Saturday, July 28 Saturday, August 4, 2018. Plans are underway already to make this your best fair yet. Through 2021 the fair will start the last Saturday in July and end the first Saturday in August. Fairgrounds Rentals Gratiot County Fair for Youth s facility is not just used one week of the year. This past year the fair has hosted numerous events outside of fair week. From hosting Highland Festival campers to a wedding of a former fair exhibitor, the fair had a busy season. In September GCFFY hosted a Friesian horse inspection event with beautiful animals coming in from the mid-western US and judges from the Netherlands. Also in September GCFFY hosted a club calf sale of top quality show calves which also brought in people from all over Michigan and out-of-state. These events help stimulate tourism within the community. Furthermore the grounds are used for winter storage and countless meetings of 4-H, FFA and even Alma College. For more information about how you can use our venues for your event, contact the fair office. Fair Week Campsites This past summer, GCFFY was able to expand our fairtime campground to 174 campsites. Each site on the campground has water and electrical and every site was filled last year. Every person on the fair's camping waiting list was called and offered a site but many passed as the turnaround was quick. We still have a waiting list. If you want to camp at the fair or check your status on this list, you are enouraged to email Brian Gardner at bgardner@gcffy.org. If you are adding your name, please include your name, address, phone number (where you can be contacted on short notice), email address and the first year you would like to camp at the fair. For campers who camped with us last fair (and did not receive a letter outlining rule violations) you will be mailed a campsite packet in the next couple weeks by the fair office to reserve your spot for the 2018 fair. If you have moved, email Brian and let him know your new address.

Gratiot County Fair for Youth Recognized by 4-H The Gratiot County 4-H Program held its annual awards recognition event in late October at the Hardwoods in Ithaca. At the event several 4-H members, leaders and volunteers were recognized for their leadership and achievement in their project areas. 4-H surprised Gratiot County Fair for Youth s Board of Directors with a plaque recognizing the fair as their Outstanding Supporter of 4-H award for 2017. During the recognition, Shelley Brittian, 4-H Leaders Council President stated the fair provides a venue at no cost to several 4-H events and meetings. 4-H is the leading partner of Gratiot County Fair for Youth, states Becky Hirschman, GCFFY s Board Secretary, who accepted the award on behalf of the fair. A strong 4-H program leads to a strong fair and most of us on the board are involved in both programs. We value our outstanding relationship with 4-H. GCFFY congratulates all of the recipients of awards at the 4-H awards program. Off Season Hours Gratiot County Fair for Youth operated out of the Bill & Grace Vanderbeek Fair Office on the Alma Fairgrounds. The office will be closed on Wednesdays until we gear back up for the busy fair season. There are also other unplanned times throughout the week where Brian will be out running errands or meeting with stakeholders. It is advisable to call ahead if you are planning on coming over to the fair office. You can reach GCFFY at 989-466-5071 or by emailing Brian at bgardner@gcffy.org. Click to view this email in a browser If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply to this message with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line or simply click on the following link: Unsubscribe Click here to forward this email to a friend Gratiot County Fair for Youth

219 N. State St. Alma, MI 48801 US Read the VerticalResponse marketing policy.