Western Fairs Association fair and service members came together for the first combined meeting at Dixon May Fair, May 9.
Western Fairs Association is focusing on bringing fair members and service members together to discuss the many issues that affect both sides. The first of six combined meetings took place at Dixon (Calif.) May Fair, May 9. Fair members include directors, management, supervisors, staff and volunteers, while service members consist of carnivals, commercial exhibits, entertainment, food and beverage, service and supplier companies and their employees.
About 20 WFA members showed up, representing seven different fairs and about the same number of fair businesses. WFA Executive Director Stephen Chambers said he had anticipated having to increase the agenda or length of the meeting to include service members, but he found that almost all of the items fair members and service members want to talk about are the same.
“For California fairs, fair funding and legislation is a huge priority, but the service members are extremely interested in that, too,” said Chambers. “I hadn’t thought of it that way until I saw everyone talking together, but no one has a bigger interest in fair infrastructure than fair businesses.”
He said that fair trends and specific updates and previews as to what each fair has in store are also popular topics.
Greater collaboration between fair members and service members is a theme for current WFA President Pat Kress of PK Consulting, the second president of WFA to be a service member. Bringing fair members and service members together in meetings is an important step to increase understanding.
“For me, because I am a service member and I was a fair CEO for five years, what I’ve found is that the dialogue is needed so that fair CEOs and staff can hear what service members have to deal with when they’re on the road, and for service members to understand what constraints fair management and staff have to deal with,” said Kress.
The biggest challenge so far has been finding a time that works well for everyone. Meetings traditionally occur at in-progress fairs. WFAs fair members enjoy seeing a fair in action, with many meetings scheduled during fair hours and incorporating a tour. Service members tend to host their own meetings in the early morning over coffee and pastries, leaving them plenty of time to get ready for a day of work.
The meeting at Dixon May Fair took place at 10a.m., two hours before the gates opened. The next combined meeting will take place at San Diego County Fair in Del Mar, Calif., June 26 at 2 p.m.
The meetings also serve as a forum to introduce best practices, which are undergoing a major update that takes into consideration the January 1991 Industry Standards and Guidelines and the July 1998 WFA Best Practices Study Group Summary. These new best practices will apply to both fair members and service members and will be completed by the 2015 WFA convention, Jan. 11-14 in Reno, Nev.
Interaction between WFAs fair members and service members isn’t necessarily new.
“All associations seek to build cooperation and unity among membership, and I think Western Fairs has taken kind of a whole-room approach for a while now,” said Chambers. There are three designated seats for service members on WFA's 19-member board, and service members are also eligible to be officers and to receive the organization’s highest awards.
Before service members were allowed in leadership roles at WFA, the organization faced concern that the inclusion could allow some businesses to see unfair advantages.
“That was the myth 25 years ago at Western Fairs — not just propagated by the fairs but by the service members as well, who felt that if so-and-so becomes a leader in WFA then her hot dog stand will be booked more and create a disadvantage, but experientially that’s just not true,” said Chambers. He said he hasn’t seen a business advantage as far as more bookings or free advertising for WFA's service members in leadership positions. Instead, he said that service members who are appointed to the WFA board become averse to speaking about and promoting their business because of the appearance of conflict and really respect their leadership roles.
Chambers said that it’s no surprise that integrating service members into leadership positions at WFA, and now hosting combined meetings, has worked so well for the organization due to the unique nature of the fair industry.
“First of all, I think the level of partnership is pretty intense compared with other sectors because, during those 4-21 days of fair time, the public can’t really tell the difference between the fair, the carnival, and food and beverage subcontractors, and see it as a single entity,” he added.
Also, service members have a level of experience and expertise that fair managers respect. Long before combined meetings, Chambers would look in at some of the service member meetings. He recalled often seeing Roger Vitaich, who became general manager of Del Mar Fairgrounds in the early 80s.
“At some point I asked him why he was coming to service member meetings and he had a great response. ‘If I’m really successful I’ll run 20 San Diego County Fairs, but most of the people in this room will be at 20 fairs just this year, so their opinion matters a lot to me,’” said Chambers.
Interviewed for this story: Stephen Chambers, (916) 927-3100; Pat Kress, (805) 938-5108