Delta County Fair Board Minutes 06.04.2024

Delta County Fair Board Meeting Tuesday - June 4, 2024

Maloney House Hotchkiss, CO 81416

Members in attendance: Ryan Bates – Vice President, Cristen Chermak - Secretary, Kelsi Ward – Treasurer, Phillip Hulet – Member (via Zoom), Kim Kelley – Parade and Vendors, Wendell Koontz – County Commissioner, Robbie LeValley – Delta County Administrator. Jennifer Craig – President and Gary Peebles were not in attendance.

Ryan called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m.

Guests: Jackie Shea - Tri-County 4-H Extension Agent

Minutes

Ryan asked for any additions or corrections to the minutes. No changes or corrections were presented by board members. Ryan asked for a motion to approve the minutes. Kelsi made the motion to approve the minutes, Kelsi seconded the motion. Minutes were approved by a unanimous vote.

Treasurer’s Report

Current account balances are:

Checking: $84,977.81
Money market: $20,605.85
Total: $105,583.66

Phil made a motion for the board to approve the Treasurer’s report. Cristen seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The only large expense paid since the last meeting was printing of the fair books. There were no new bills to discuss.

Extension Office Report

Jackie reported that the Invitational shoot is June 28. 4-H members are promoting the fair and the livestock sale.

Commissioners Report

Robbie LeValley expressed continued support for the Delta County Fair.

Royalty Report

Royalty members reported events they have participated in since the last meeting and listed upcoming event participation.

Introduction of Guests

Many guests were at the meeting. Among those guests were: Paul Smith, Callie Hale, Dustin Stroud, Cayla Stroud, Shelly Roberts, Todd Roberts, Jody Humble, Amy Perkins, Kit Canon, Vinton Canon, and Teresa Burns.

Public Comment

Most guests present were attending to discuss the change to the Royalty Program and the introduction of the Ambassador program. Ryan first addressed recent social media posts. Numerous posts were not based on facts.

The first topic Ryan addressed was the Team Roping event. Ryan told the guests that it was never the intent of the Fair Board to not schedule the event this year. Situations and details kept changing and the fair book needed to get printed, so the book was printed without the Team Roping event on the schedule. The team roping organizer – Bryce – was in attendance and confirmed that the event will be run during the fair.
The Team Roping Rodeo Slack will be run from 9:00-11:00 am on August 3. (Rodeo Slack is the additional time for competitions that cannot be completed within the main event schedule. This extra time allows all participants to have a fair chance to compete.) The Barrel Race will be on August 3 at 5:00 pm.
Additionally, Tractor Pull contestants would like to be included in the fair this year. That event will be scheduled for Sunday or Monday night.
There will be a youth division for goat roping included in the Ranch Rodeo 3 schedule. There will be attention given to scheduling Monday night events to get more people involved. The Junior Rodeo schedule was discussed. Alternate days were put forth. As days, times, and additional events are set for the fair, the Delta County Fair Facebook page will be updated.

Ryan apologized to those at the meeting for the confusion regarding the fair schedule and events.

Ambassador Program/Queen Contest

Proponents for keeping the Queen Contest part of the Delta County Fair offered the following comments:
- The Miss Rodeo Colorado Organization has suggested how to keep the Royalty Program as well as including an Ambassador Program. Girls can continue to participate in the Royalty Program and others interested in representing Delta County can participate.
- The Royalty Program has been important to participants. Girls learn many skills. Learning to present themselves well – in speaking, appearance – learning Rodeo and Western Heritage are a few.
- Careers can be created.
- Teresa Burns shared that she had calls all winter long from girls expressing interest in the Royalty Program.
- Applications were not created, nor was a contest set up for this year because the Fair Board moved toward creating the Ambassador Program.
Ryan shared the following:
- The Ambassador Program was created due to a lack of interest in the Royalty Program.
- The Ambassador Program allows for a wider range of young people with varied skills to participate.
- Both boys and girls can participate.
- Expenses would not be as high with the Ambassador Program even with added participation.

Guests continued to express concerns and support for the Royalty Program – including offers of help to pull together the Royalty contest for this year’s fair. Ryan asked those interested in helping get together with Teresa, produce a plan, and return to the Fair Board with a proposal.

Junior Rodeo

Paige was at the meeting to provide information and discuss details. Pee Wee events will begin at 10:00. She anticipates they will be finished around Noon.
There will be a stock fee included this year for entrants - $5 for goats and $10 for steers. These fees will be used to pay the stock provider.
Junior Rodeo - $3000 was brought in last year. A stock fee was not collected last year. Paige plans to purchase all-around buckles for each age group – 4 additional buckle. There are buckles left over that can be sent back for have dates changed.
The Fair Board has committed $1000 to help with Junior Rodeo expenses plus $1000 for payout monies.
Funds donated earmarked for the Junior Rodeo will also be available.
Ryan will meet with Paige to discuss additional details.
Kim Shea-Kelly offered that she has a cup vendor who has volunteered to make cups for every single event. Kim is going to give her a space for free for her services for event Ryan pointed out that with all the changes being made, that the fair books will not be completely accurate regarding days and times of some events.

Several guests offered to go out into the community to solicit donations for Royalty and Junior Rodeo expenses. Robbie LeValley shared that business owners in the county have made complaints about the number of people asking for donations to the fair. The County Commissioners have made themselves clear regarding this matter. numerous entities are not to solicit the same businesses requesting donations. Ryan stated that is the reason donations need to be run through the Fair Board. Donations can be made online. There is a section where those donating can state where they want their donation to be allocated. Kelsi added that through our QuickBooks program, donations are listed in each of our reports. The reports break out how much has been donated in total and to which categories the donations have been allocated.

There was discussion regarding timing of events in the arena and barn area regarding the PA system – difficulty hearing details when multiple events are taking place, and the challenge of walking between venues to keep up with events. Also, sponsorship forms were requested. Ryan will get forms to those who want them. 5 OLD BUSINESS • Fair books will be here this week.

OLD BUSINESS

Fair books will be here this week. Anyone willing to distribute them throughout the county will be greatly appreciated.
Livestock judges – Ryan is getting close to wrapping up. Contracts are out. As soon as he gets those contracts in, the information will be put on Facebook. Ryan will start getting travel arrangements made for judges.
Heritage Hall judges – Ryan and Cristen are working to wrap up getting all judges needed to Heritage Hall.

New Business

We need to order plaques for the Grand Marshalls.
Cristen is working with Birdie to ensure special award ribbons for the Flower Department are finalized.
Cristen will count ribbons stored at Heritage Hall.

Prior to adjournment, Robbie spoke commending Ryan for his handling of the Facebook rants regarding the Royalty and Ranch Rodeo programs for this year’s fair. It is unfortunate that people put out misinformation and many jumped on with comments without fact checking first. Robbie also wanted to say thank you to Ryan and I want to apologize for his having to go through that situation. She stated that Ryan did a wonderful job of finding a solution in a timely manner and conducting the meeting with the guests who showed up to further discuss the issues professionally and efficiently.

Ryan stated that he appreciates the support of the commissioners and is thankful we have the Board members we have. We move in the right direction as a team.

Ryan asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Kelsi moved to adjourn the meeting and Cristen seconded the motion. After a unanimous vote, the motion passed. The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 p.m.