Fair wins coveted award at convention
By Steve Herring
Published in News on February 11, 2015 1:46 PM
DUDLEY -- The Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair won four awards, including the coveted Image Award, during the recent N.C. Association of Agricultural Fairs Convention.
The 2014 edition of the fair also brought home the Agriculture, Media and Youth awards.
The state's 42 agriculture fairs compete in different divisions based on size of attendance. The Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair competes in the division for fairs with an attendance of more than 40,001 -- the largest of the three divisions.
A fourth division is for governmental fairs, such as the N.C. State Fair.
Attendance at the 2014 Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair was around 97,500. The average is between 95,000 and 100,000.
But while fair officials say they are excited about the awards, they are already planning for the 2015 as well as the 2016 fairs.
The 2015 fair will be held Oct. 1 to Oct. 10.
The entertainment is booked and officials are even looking to 2016 because of stiff competition for quality acts that are family fun, Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair Eddie Pitzer said.
The Demolition Derby will be held on the last Saturday of the fair. Also making a return are the Wicked Bulls bull riding and Mike Bishop, comedy hypnotist.
Improvements are continuing as well to the fairgrounds. Last year improvements included new restrooms and upgrades to older restrooms.
"This year we are going to be looking more at some changes that we might be making to make parking a little easier, and so the traffic flows a little better," Pitzer said. "We are also going to be looking at improvements inside some of our buildings -- how we display some of our exhibits differently.
"We are also going to be looking possibly at some lighting in the parking lots."
The idea is to continue to make the fair a convenient experience so that people will want to attend, he said.
"We are proud of the awards, but it takes a lot of people who participate in one way or another," Pitzer said. "We do appreciate all of the support that we get from the community."
It is the 17th time since the awards program started in 1977 that the Wayne Fair has won the Image Award -- more than any other fair in the state.
The award is given annually to a fair that demonstrates the best balance of outstanding agricultural and youth exhibits, livestock shows, contests, entertainment, commercial displays, a variety of foods, and a good carnival.
Last year's awards program was canceled because of some restructuring as to how fairs are evaluated, Pitzer said.
"Of course we have that good balance between agriculture and youth that are a part of what makes up the criteria for how they score the Image Award," he said. "When they look at the Image Award they look at the carnival.
"They look at the friendly atmosphere, the cleanliness of the grounds. Is it a pleasant experience?"
The same evaluator who judged the Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair, also judged all of the other large fairs it competes against.
The Agriculture Award is given to the fair that best showcases agriculture and the agricultural heritage of the area served.
The Media Award is awarded to the fair that has the best overall advertising and public relations campaigns. Entries are judged on creativity, attractiveness, originality and overall effectiveness.
It is similar to scrapbooking, Pitzer said. A scrapbook is kept of all advertising and media publicity about the fair.
The Youth Award is given to the fair that best showcases youth and youth activities of the area served.
The awards program was originally set up as a way to help the fairs improve, Pitzer said.
Fair officials are able to see the evaluation to see how they could improve or areas where they might be able to do things differently, he said.
"We get a lot of support from the community, from Extension (Service), from the public school systems," Pitzer said. "Youth and agriculture is what keeps our fair in the forefront and being able to win some of those awards.
"If you look at those awards and the category of it -- the amount of agriculture exhibits, the amount of youths that participated in livestock events, the number of entries."
It all comes together to make the fair what it is meant to be -- the place where people go to learn about agriculture, Pitzer said.
The Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair is owned and operated by the Wayne County Livestock Development Association Inc., a non-profit organization.