Board pleased with reviews of recent Big Horn County Fair

Big Horn County Fair Board members Tim Allen, Kelli Mercer, Tracey Haley, Becky Bates discussed the recent fair at their Aug. 8 meeting, where they were joined by fair manager Cash Duncan.
Neither Luke Foss nor Austin Layne was in attendance.
Board members said they’ve received positive reviews of the fair, with most saying it went smoothly. Some examples included cleaner bathrooms, easy animal weigh in and fair employees who were helpful and present.  Security State submitted a letter, praising Duncan.
Duncan, in turn, had high praise for Security State Bank, the county maintenance staff and the county treasurer’s office.  
One topic discussed in the fair manager’s report was family-friendly pricing for the bouncy houses. The price for a full pass was the same for the first and second day — even though on the first day the full pass was for three days while a pass purchased on day two was for just two days. There was some discussion on working with the bouncy house contractor for next year. He also said he was working on family friendly pricing for grandstand events.
 
GROUNDS IMPROVEMENTS FOR NEXT YEAR
Duncan said would like to purchase more portable panels.  “When we had talked about using the rough stock pens for the horses it worked great until Friday. We have the round robin on Friday, but we had the rough stock come in Thursday night. Finding a horse barn replacement doesn’t seem like a great idea since they were never used. And you can’t find anything for a decent price.” He is working on getting a quote to bring to the board. Board member Tucker McKim noted that some of people who brought horses for fair had to house them at his home. Duncan hopes to add water and maybe power to the area where the horses would be housed with the new panels.
Duncan also noted he would be asking for money from the county for chairs, tables, iPads, tag readers and speakers for the sound system.  He will ask each of the welding classes at the schools in the county to make panel organizers.
There are also plans to add ADA ramps at the building that houses the office.

FREE STAGE/PIG BARN
The free stage will need to be replaced for next year. Duncan said the wood is rotten. He is planning to talk to some fabrication companies about building a new one.
He said some of the pig barn wood is also rotten. They tried to screw a sponsor sign in for fair, but couldn’t because of the wood.
Duncan said he is getting bids. Once he has those bids, he will take them to the commissioners. “They have money allocated for it. Then with the new budget cycle they allocated more.”
He continued that, per his discussion with Jeremy Pouska, county maintenance supervisor, the county would tear down the old barn and do the dirt work. Another consideration is that the scale and wash pens would have to be moved.
In other fair board business:
• Duncan said the fair currently does not have its own pickup. He has been told by the county that the fair will be getting a “new to them” pickup. He hopes to have it in time for next year’s fair. He understands Admiral Beverage/Pepsi are upgrading their trucks, so he hopes to work a deal with them.
• There was some confusion over the hours for the beer garden at the fair.  The board discussed ways to make sure there is no confusion next year.
• Mercer brought up that once an animal has been checked in to the fair, it cannot go home unless special permission is granted. This issue came up during this fair.