IMPORTANT!!! FAIR UPDATE!!!!!
Friday, August 15th, 2008Hello DonkeyPals!
Thanks to all who came to this week’s organization meeting at the fairgrounds! The more we work together, the better this year’s fair experience will be for everyone!
We have great news from Randy Bennett about our location and tent size this year! Better late then never, Randy finally called just this morning and informed us that we will be moving around the corner to near the large windmill by the fire station area into a 30ft by 40ft tent previous used by the firestation but not being used for some reason this year!!!!! HOORAY! This will give us more room for more people to view the donkeys comfortably and more room if anyone else would like to bring their donkeys this year!! Due to the larger size tent we can probably house more animals of any size donkey, mule, or anything else with long ears that you all might like to bring!!! I know this is short notice but as I said…we only got this info this morning and better late than never!! SO…anyone interested in bringing some donkey of any size to the fair this year needs to do several things….first…LET ME KNOW NOW who you’d like to bring. We will have to know by Monday, August 18 (Wed the 20th at the very very latest!!!) if you want to bring your donkey(s) so we can let Randy know if we need extra gate panels for dividing up our area. Also keep in mind the fair rules that all donkeys being displayed must be at the fair by Wed Aug 27 by 10pm and will not be allowed to leave until after the fair on Mon Sept 1. Also, anyone bringing donkeys will be required to spend at least some time at the tent for animal care and assistance EVERY DAY….Thursday-Monday.
Along with the larger tent this year, Carol has gotten the ok for adding the donkeys NEXT YEAR to the show schedule!!!!!!!!!!!! No, they haven’t asked us to show our donkeys yet in the main grandstand in front of a huge crowd and televised on the national news BUT we have been promised several hours of a shared ring in the arena area for maybe 2 or 3 classes of showing and competition that the fair will supply a judge and also ribbons for the winners!! This will be a REAL beginning for all donkeys at the Great Geauga Fair and will allow many more folks to participate since those who want to show can trailer their donks in and out for just the donkey show!!!! Getting this time and space will then be a perfect first step at possibly creating a 4H program for the kids and hopefully expanding show time in the future!!! Further information will be coming on what we will need to do during the coming year to get this set up and we will need a preliminary commitment from anyone who would really be interested in showing next year so we can present this to the fair board as a total package request. We will keep you informed as we get more information!!!!!
Anyone who was not at the meeting Wednesday evening and can volunteer time to work at our tent ANYTIME during the fair, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH with Carol Cooper at coopc@windstream.net or me Lori Wargo at cabinwoodfarm@gmail.com and let us know when you can come. Any help at anytime to work the tent and talk to the crowds about donkeys big and small will be appreciated!!! A new picture and audio DVD is in the making for this year too so any more pictures you have and want included should be send by Monday so I can get them uploaded on the site and Jason Bennet can get them included on the DVD!
Questions, concerns, suggestions or anything else????? Email them now so we can get everything in order!!!!
Lastly….I personally want to THANK Carol Cooper for all her pursuasivness and diligent work in contacting the fair people, Randy Bennet and everyone else so that we could FINALLY get this larger space and also the opportunity to open up the future to donkeys of all sizes and shapes for showing at the Great Geauga County Fair!!! Without her persistence, we would not have this opportunity this year and in the future! THANK YOU, CAROL!!!!!
It’s FAIR TIME DONKEYPALS! Hope to see you there!!!!!
Lori Wargo