Longtime fair manager David F. Grimm has moved to the carnival side, becoming director of business development and marketing for Reithoffer Shows out of Gibsonton, Fla. Grimm, who was most recently manager of the Allen County Fair, Lima, Ohio, will continue to work out of his home in Bluffton, Ohio.
“It feels good,” Grimm told Venues Today. “They are a wonderful family and great operation. Five generations of Reithoffers have run that show. They are very forward-thinking.”
Grimm’s job will be developing new business and client relations. He will work with fairs that currently contract with Reithoffer Shows with ideas on marketing, talent booking and programming, all skills he’s developed in 26 years in the fair business.
Prior to Allen Couny Fair, Grimm was general manager of the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction, Vt. He has also worked in marketing, sponsorship and association management, including the National Tractor Pullers Association.
When reached, Grimm was just back from the Georgia/South Carolina fair associations meeting where he sat down with fair managers and boards and talked about fair programming and how to put on a better quality operation. The carnival and fair are partners, he noted, and the carnival operators see more than one fair and can bring ideas to the table from those experiences.
“We want to raise the bar from a programming standpoint,” Grimm said.
Meanwhile, the Allen County Fair has hired Bob Fricke as manager. He has been on board about two months. He is a local businessman from the University of Northwestern Ohio. That is one of the only universities, perhaps the only one, where courses include learning how to work with NASCAR. They have their own dirt track, Grimm said, and Fricke had been manager of that track.
Interviewed for this story: David Grimm, (567) 371-9065