Wild West WinterFest Minutes
November 16, 2006 Meeting
(as Approved at the 12/21/06 Meeting)
ATTENDANCE: Sue Shockley, Debbie Holwegner, Karlene Pisarcik, Harry Huntsinger, Todd Kesner, Lorna Simard, Al Lien, Kevin Joyce and Sonja Berg.
1. CALL TO ORDER: Harry called the meeting to order at 7:15 a.m.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Karlene moved to approve the October 19, 2006 minutes as presented. Sue seconded. Motion carried.
3. FINANCIALS: No new report.
4. ADMISSION PRICING – BUTTON: Sue stated the Fair Board needs a recommendation for admission pricing. Sue recommended having a single day admission rate and not use the button for a 3-day admission. Discussion followed. Sue moved to recommend to the Fair Board that we have a single day ticket for $4.00 and sell a punch card for all three days for $9.00. A special event ticket would include admission for the day. Lorna seconded. Discussion followed. Sue amended the motion to include kids 10 years and under would be admitted free, including admission to the special events. Kevin seconded. Motion carried.
5. WINTERFEST TAG LINE: Debbie suggested using the tag line “Experience the West” representing to visitors that they would come to WinterFest for the experience and would leave with a western memory. Lorna moved to use “Experience the West” for the tag line. Sue seconded. Motion carried.
6. MARKETING/SPONSORSHIPS: Harry said they are working on sponsorships and have a good plan.
7. PET TRICKS/DOG CONFORMATION: No report.
8. PACKERS SCRAMBLE: No report.
9. DOG KEG PULL CONTEST: No report.
10. AG IN THE CLASSROOM: Todd reported that Ag in the Classroom would be from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. There are six classes altogether and four of these are already scheduled: 1) blacksmithing 2) horseshoeing 3) sheep shearing 4) stock dogs. It was suggested to have trick roping and cow milking as the other two classes. Sue is going to find some type of horse demonstration for the kids to watch in the indoor arena while they are eating lunch. Al said he would do a log pull during their lunch.
11. 4H LIVESTOCK SHOW: Todd reported there is some interest from the 4H Livestock kids to do this. Sue will prepare a letter, entry form and rules. We will prepare the mailing (stamp & seal) and give to Cyndi with Extension to put on the address labels and send out.
Shows will be on Saturday and Sunday for both heifers and steers. It was decided to make this more educational than competitive. Broadwater and Park Counties will be invited. Entries will be limited to 20. Need to get this mailing out as soon as possible.
12. 4H CARNIVAL: Todd reported that 4H clubs were not going to do the carnival. They decided to help with a concert and doing both would be too much.
13. ALL STAR DOG EXPO: No report
14. RABBIT/POULTRY SHOWS: No report.
15. McLIEN’S FARM BARN: Al reported he is working on the animal placement in the livestock barn #2 and is hoping to fill this barn with animals. Will schedule different types of demonstrations in the Farm Barn.
16. WORKING HORSE & DRIVER CONTEST: Need to get entries out soon.
17. HORSE SALE/STALLION AUCTION: Sue is meeting with Gary France of Headwaters Livestock to discuss details.
18. BATTLE OF THE BREEDS: Sue is getting a group of people together sometime after Thanksgiving.
19. TACK SWAP/AUCTION: Consignments will be taken on Friday evening and Saturday morning. Tack swap items will be put in a trailer on the south end of the indoor arena. Tack swap to be after consignments on Saturday morning, probably 9:30 a.m. continuing through the horse sale. Immediately after the horse sale, the Fairgrounds Foundation will have the tack auction.
20. HAY SHOW: Al said the Association of Irrigators would probably sponsor again. Harry will talk to them. An article regarding the hay show went in the Extension Ag Newsletter. The entry form is done and the mailing will go out shortly.
21. COWBOY CAMP: We will eliminate this from WinterFest. It was suggested to contact Buffalo White Lodges and/or Montana Canvas to see if they would be interested in setting up teepees.
22. CHILI COOK-OFF: No report.
23. SILENT ART AUCTION/DINNER THEATRE: We will definitely book the Vigilante Players to perform the show “Chapeau” – a comedy kickoff from Gunsmoke. We should be able to seat approximately 150 people using round tables. Harry stated he could get a sponsorship from ABC Rental for the tables. Harry said the GranTree could serve a prime rib dinner for $21 a plate. Tickets for the dinner theatre will be around $45 - $50 depending on the price of the meal. Sue is going to check with Betty McCoy about playing honky-tonk piano music during cocktails prior to the show. The art auction will only have a few choice pieces of art.
24. RAIL JAM: Sue, Harry and Travis met with a representative from Red Bull. They definitely want to be involved with the rail jam and are considering a huge financial investment of $15,000 - $20,000. Moonlight Basin and Ressler Chevrolet are also behind this event. There is talk that the show would be called the “Gong Show”. Harry stated this would be a ticketed event with admission tickets costing between $10 and $15. There are hopes that this event will continue to grow. Sue moved to go ahead and have the rail jam. Karlene seconded. All in favor. Motion carried.
25. KID’S BOZEMAN ROUNDUP RODEO: The MSU Rodeo Club is going to assist with this.
26. KIDS ACTIVITIES: Debbie will contact daycares to see if any of them might be interested in taking this over. Lorna is going to contact the Girl Scouts to see if they might be interested in taking over the kid’s activities or organize some type of carnival.
27. MINI BULL RIDING: Harry reported that this event is a go. The cost to do this is around $1,000. The promoters do this event entirely themselves. They have a circuit with kids aged 12 to 14 years. Sue will get a contract to them. Sue needs to find out the logistics for this. Sue will contact Lori Hoppi with FFA to see if they want to have mutton bustin.
28. BAHA HOCKEY TOURNAMENT: Sue stated they are good to go.
29. COWBOY GATHERING: Sue said we would not be able to have a cowboy gathering, however we are looking at having some cowboy poetry as entertainment.
30. CHILDREN’S ART SHOW: A kid’s area to create a picture will be set up by the art show exhibit, so that kid’s can draw a picture and display them.
31. QUILT SHOW: Getting mailing ready to go. Looking for a new type of hanger to hang quilts. A “western” class has been added to the classes.
32. PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW: Getting mailing ready to go out. A “western theme” photo has been added to the classes.
33. COMMERCIAL EXHIBITORS: Getting mailing ready to go out.
34. FOOD VENDORS: Getting mailing ready to go out.
35. ENTERTAINMENT: Sue and Debbie will work on the entertainment schedule for building #1. Need to make some calls to local entertainers to see if they are available to perform during WinterFest.
36. OTHER BUSINESS: There was discussion on having a promotion where we sell a souvenir WinterFest button for $1.00 and do a daily 50/50 drawing. This button would have a number on the back of it. Commercial exhibitors and food vendors would be given a number and they could participate by offering a small gift to the one whose number matched their exhibit space number. This would encourage foot traffic to our commercial areas from our visitors. Lorna moved to give a numbered button with the season pass and do prize drawings. Sonja seconded. Discussion followed. There was some confusion over this motion so a show of hands was done. Five for and three opposed this motion. Motion carried. There was even more
discussion on the souvenir numbered button. Kevin moved to sell the season pass but not include a button and to sell the button as a souvenir button and do a 50/50 drawing. Lorna seconded. All in favor. Motion carried.
Al reviewed his definitions and information for the hay show that would be used for explanations for people viewing the hay samples/analysis tests. Al suggested Connie Garrett read over these.
Sue suggested having a small committee to work on the logistics of WinterFest. Sue, Harry, Lorna, Debbie H. and Karlene volunteered for this committee.
37. NEXT MEETING DATE & TIME: December 21 at 7:00 a.m. at the Ag Center meeting room.
38. ADJOURNMENT: Meeting was adjourned at 9:17 a.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
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