Fair board looks to market more building rentals

By TOM LAVENTURE

tlaventure@yourdailyglobe.com

Ironwood — The Gogebic County Fair Board is looking to improve outreach and marketing for on-site weddings as the number of rentals are increasing.

As of Monday, there are four wedding rentals of the fairground multipurpose building already scheduled from May through September 2021, according to county fair coordinator Terttu Anderson at the fair board meeting on Monday. At her recommendation, the board members agreed to investigate lighting improvements and a cleaning regiment for the multipurpose building without taking action. 

The board approved a newspaper advertising proposal with The Daily Globe regarding weddings. Anderson said that there is great interest in the use of the multipurpose building for weddings by people who don’t want the additional requirements regarding catering at other venues, or are finding that venues won’t commit to future dates due to the risk of COVID-19 cancellations. 

“Ever since we have been renting the building, a lot of people are calling to ask,” Anderson said. 

Board member Tom Fiala abstained from the newspaper proposal vote as he is associated with the Daily Globe.

The board approved creating a committee regarding the renovation of the horse barns. Board members Tom Hampston, Shelly Suckow and Jim Byrns will form a committee to review and recommend what, if anything, the buildings would be refitted for use in addition to their purpose during the fair and off-season storage.

The committee’s work will be used for a board report to the Gogebic County Board. The county will want to see an outline of the project recommendations to include any possible renovations or additional purposes, said Jim Lorenson, board chair.

The fair board approved the contract with Kots360 Marketing LLC of Ironwood. The approval followed a presentation on how the firm would conduct a sponsorship program from Kathy Whitburn of Kots360.

The board approved revising livestock and poultry rules after a review found contradictory sections that were layered after amendments over the years. The rules had stated that all livestock and poultry must be owned by the exhibitor, while another section stated that individuals who do not own an animal but raised it for showing on another property could show they had daily access to the animal at least 30 days prior to the county fair. 

Board members said the rules may have been created in part to prevent the sale of a horse or other animal that was raised and shown in another county fair to be shown again by a new owner in the Gogebic County Fair.

The rules should work to incentivize participation and not to prevent it, Lorenson said. The board directed the fair staff to draft a letter to explain the purpose of non-ownership livestock showing for participants who for all practical purposes have raised and cared for the animal to show a letter documenting the fact and show there was regular access.

In other action, the board continued to discuss alternatives to filling vacancies in the fair schedule on Thursday and Sunday. The discussion resulted in board members agreeing to contact various music acts and potentially leaving the Sunday afternoon time vacant and spacing the existing items to fill the void.

The next fair board meeting will be at 6 p.m., Monday, March 1, in the multipurpose building.