Wild West WinterFest Minutes
March 20, 2008
Continued … WinterFest Follow-Up Meeting
(as Approved at the May 15, 2008 Meeting)
ATTENDANCE: Sue Shockley, Debbie Holwegner, Karlene Pisarcik, Al Lien, Rod Sullivan and Sonja Berg.
CALL TO ORDER: Al called the meeting to order at 7:15 a.m. Al stated were would continue with the agenda where we left off at the last meeting. We will begin with agenda item #12.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes from the previous meeting were not available to approve.
12. DOG AGILITY: No report. No one heard anything bad.
13. ALL STAR DOG EXPO: Sue reported their time for this event was decreased from two hours to just one hour and this was just not enough time. Having a longer show would be better for the public. Sonja stated that observers appeared to be enjoying it.
14. RABBIT/POULTRY SHOWS: Sandra Fiegi’s email stated their show went well. She has a new idea for next year but that will depend on where the poultry is exhibiting next year.
15. BAHA HOCKEY TOURNAMENT: Rob previously reported on this at the February 21, 2008 meeting. Sue stated there were alcohol problems reported by Jim Oberhofer who is the Undersheriff and also a Fair Board member. Sue said they were breaking the law by not having a liquor license posted and not having proof of liquor liability insurance. They did not have the security needed to keep the alcohol contained in the Haynes building. There was also concern that alcohol was being allowed to leave the Haynes Pavilion and there’s also a good possibility that alcohol was being served to minors.
16. WORKING HORSE & DRIVER CONTEST: Al reported they went over their scheduled time by one hour. This year there were 20 teams with a total of 23 entries. May have to consider limiting the number of teams entering to stay within the time frame. It is possible that contestants next year would have to join the Montana Draft Horse & Mule Association or the use of the clubs equipment might be an issue. May need to change the time when this contest is held.
17. HORSE SALE/STALLION AUCTION: No report. Sue thought we should receive about $1,700 from the horse sale. No one had any information regarding the horse preview.
18. BATTLE OF THE BREEDS: Sue said this went well. There were many breeds represented at the finals. Sue suggested having the Battle of the Breeds on Sunday morning if they can limit it to two hours and then the Working Horse & Driver contest would follow.
19. CHILI COOK-OFF: Sue reported they had the most entries ever. Beer was an issue. Needed to have security at the doors and entry into building #2. Phil Schneider had the bar area setup in this building and he could’ve been held responsible for the people who were drinking alcohol. Sue will meet with Mary at KMMS to discuss the alcohol issues.
20. KIDS ACTIVITIES/RODEO: Sue said having the Bridger Mountain High School Rodeo Team worked really well. They did an excellent job. There were quite a few positive comments. They are willing to do this again next year.
21. CHILDREN’S ART SHOW: No report. This seemed to go very well.
22. QUILT SHOW: Karlene stated the show went very well. There were 58 quilts entered.
23. PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW: Debbie H. stated entries increased from 50 to 113 with ½ of these being from new entries. Some people heard about the photography show through the tab and other from friends. It was suggested that the tab be inserted in the Chronicle earlier, specifically the Friday prior to WinterFest. Need to work on youth as there were only 21 entries. The new display racks worked great.
24. COMMERCIAL EXHIBITORS & OUTDOOR EXHIBITORS: Karlene said we had five outdoor exhibitors. Building #2 was completely filled with commercial exhibitors. There were a few crabby exhibitors that wanted to leave early because their sales were down.
25. FOOD VENDORS: Karlene reported the food vendors had horrendous lines most of the time. It was suggested to serve more food in building #1.
26. ENTERTAINMENT: Sue said Tate Chamberlin’s concert on Thursday evening prior to the opening of WinterFest was not well attended. The stage in building #1 worked well for entertainment. The Belgrade Blarneys did a good job. Huge crowds during the Chili Cook-Off. The Hip-Hop Dance was successful. The demonstrations provided by Breaking Pointe Dance Academy went well. Sue said the barn dance on Saturday evening had good music and a good crowd. There were a few problems in the parking lot afterwards.
27. GATES: Debbie H. said the gates were good. Debbie Ehlert found most of the people to fill the shifts. We might have an opportunity to have a bank do the gates next year. Sue said there were issues at Oak gate and in the future, we need to only have very assertive people working that gate. Traffic was backed up on Oak Street so may need to consider having two ticket booths on Oak gate. Al suggested talking to the City to give them heads-up on the traffic backup problem on Oak.
28. OTHER BUSINESS:
§ Rod said the miniature bull riding was better than last year. Spectators filled the bleachers. Great event to have for WinterFest.
§ Al suggested Sue write a letter to go to designated drivers of the wagon rides so only those with letters could drive the wagons around. Would be beneficial to change the route of the wagon rides.
§ Vendors were breaking apart panels to enable them to park closer to the buildings. Need to enforce vehicle entrance and parking restrictions. Sue suggested changing exhibitor setup times to be completed earlier than in the past.
§ Need to have better communications with event organizers so they will know ahead of time what they need to do to enter the Fairgrounds and get to their setup area.
29. NEXT MEETING DATE & TIME: The regular monthly meeting for April was cancelled. Our next schedule WinterFest meeting is May 15 at 7:00 a.m. at the Fairgrounds meeting room.
30. ADJOURNMENT: Meeting adjourned at 9:00 a.m.
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