By Heather Clower
The Parsons Advocate
Nominations were opened for the officer positions for the 2021 Tucker County Fair Board Association, which resulted in one nominee per position. President Daniele Wilfong, Vice President Lydia Burns, Treasurer Kristen Pennington, and Secretary Marcy Williams were voted in unanimously with FFA Advisor Paul Pennington abstaining from the vote. The barn chairman will be determined at the next meeting. Five spots remain on the board of directors before the 20 member maximum is met for anyone who may be interested.
Wilfong highlighted the October 15 meeting minutes for the November meeting, stating, “We had $76,288.84 in the bank account, we had some outstanding bills for Sunrise Sanitation, Adkins, and porta-potties and all of those have been paid.” Grant money has been applied for reimbursement, though no word has been heard.
In addition to the grant through the Governor’s office Wilfong applied for, she also sent in for consideration of funds from the Tucker Community Foundation. The desire for those funds is to replace the green bleacher boards in the barn that are splintering and need to be upgraded.
The repairs and maintenance of the livestock scales were discussed and the company will be correcting the issues the next time they are in the area for Kingsford or the landfill. The 2020 queen will be allowed to compete in the pageant in 2021 since she was not allowed to compete at the W.Va. Fairs and Festivals Pageant in Charleston due to the viru..
With the absence of the treasurer and secretary, it was unsure how much was currently in the bank account, though when Wilfong worked on the grants there was around $31,000 with the cashing of the fair checks since the last meeting. There were no outstanding bills at this time and insurance isn’t due until February.
The reclamation of the mud bog location has been completed and the Parks and Recreation Board were happy with the job. The third reading of the fair rule changes was performed and voted on before the rules can go into effect. Wilfong recapped the changes which included one re-weigh of entries, hog weight requirements will range from 200 to 300 pounds, goats 50 to 115 pounds, sheep weights will be 90 to 160 pounds, feeder calves must be between 350 to 900 pounds, and market steers must be a minimum of 900 pounds with no maximum weight. The over-under five-pound rule has been eliminated and the verbiage regarding lamb tail docking has been removed.
Within showmanship, if the participant wins in their respected class, they can choose to move up a level or stay in their class. If that participant wins two consecutive years, they will be required to move up a class. “That is just to slow down the move up process a little bit, we don’t want an 11-year old competing against a 20-year-old in a senior division,” explained Wilfong. The final change was altering the verbiage slightly to include a clause about unexpected or emergencies in which the decisions on how to handle will be left to the FFA Advisor, Extension Agent, and Barn Chairman. All were in favor of the third reading of the fair rules and changes will be made. These changes will be sent to Agent Jesica Streets and copies will be sent to all of the exhibitors.
The next meeting for the Tucker County Fair Board Association will be scheduled for February 2021.
