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From the Houghton County Fair Board:
The Houghton County Fair Association held their Annual Meeting in December.
The following board members were re-elected for three year terms: Taana Blom, Jack Dunstan, Rick Freeman, and Kyle Maki. The officers will be Kathleen Caspary as the President, Rick Freeman as the Vice President, Steven Palosaari as the Treasurer (Ethan Johnson, Assistant Treasurer), and Debbie Winquist as the Secretary. Other board members are Sandy Ahola, Bethany Hillstrom, Sarah Mars, Chris Miller, Don Schwenk, Kris Tapani, and Glenn Anderson is the Houghton County Commissioner on the Board.
The part time staff will remain the same with Carol Saari and Margaret Dunstan in the office and Bob Rinne as the Maintenance Supervisor.
The fair board is optimistic that the 70th Annual Houghton County Fair will be held as usual on August 26th to the 29th, 2021. For the most part, the professional entertainment booked for 2020 has rolled over into 2021, which includes the Paul Family Bluegrass Band on Thursday night, and Monster Trucks on Saturday. All days of the fair the Sea Lion Splash and Whispering Pines Mobile Zoo will be appearing. Livestock shows, indoor exhibit competitions, local music, and derbies are in the plans. Skerbeck
Entertainment Group will provide the carnival and midway.
Several of the sponsors for fair events also rolled over their sponsorships to 2021, which is very much appreciated. Financially the fair had to dip into the rainy-day fund, but the community support of the Skerbeck “Fair Food Drive Thru” fundraiser helped a great deal with routine fixed expenses.
There will not be a January meeting as several board members will be participating in the Michigan Association of Fairs and Exhibitions Virtual Convention. There will be a special meeting of the Association on February 11th at 7 p.m. in the SISU Room of the Houghton County Arena to approve bylaw changes, followed by the regular monthly meeting of the board. Call 482-6200 or email houghtoncountyfair@hotmail.com for more information.
