Officials: Fair attendance was solid
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on February 24, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/ETHAN SMITH
The Wayne County Livestock Development Association handed out $13,200 in scholarships to college-bound high school seniors on Monday night. From left, Justin Kelly, Aubrianna Balderas, Bryan Wooten, Karlyn Wolfe, Rachel McCullen and Jordan DuBose.
Deborah and Todd Ballance of Fremont won the Wayne County Livestock Development Association's producer award at Monday night's meeting. The couple built the first composter in North Carolina in 2002.
Despite rain around opening day, last year's Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair had attendance almost equal to the 2013 fair and saw more than 5,000 exhibitors enter items in the fair, Fair Manager Eddie Pitzer said at Monday night's 67th Annual Wayne County Livestock Development Association meeting.
The fair is sponsored by the association.
Pitzer said several improvements were made to the fairgrounds during the past year.
"Last year we made several improvements to the fairgrounds," he said. "A new restroom was constructed near the food court, a new roof cover was installed on the white coverall building, a new metal roofing was installed on the livestock arena, we continue painting display cases and making changes in the exhibit hall and we painted the inside and outside of the main restroom."
More than 1,000 area students participated in various contests during the fair, with 175 showing pigs, goats, sheep and beef heifers in the junior livestock shows.
For the 2015 fair, Pitzer said hogs will be back after being removed from the show in previous years due to a rampant swine disease.
The Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair also cleaned house at the annual North Carolina Association of Agricultural Fairs Convention in January.
"There are four categories of fairs in the awards program," Pitzer said. "Wayne fair is in the large fair category, (which is) fairs with 40,000 or more in attendance. Our fair won the media award for the best overall advertising and public relations campaigns, the youth award for recognizing the importance of youth participation and involvement, the agriculture award for the best showcase of agriculture and the agricultural heritage of the area and the prestigious image award for striving to be what a good agricultural fair is all about."
Pitzer said the Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair has won those awards more than any other fair in the state since the inception of the awards in 1977.
The 2015 fair will be held from Oct. 1-10, and Pitzer said the association is looking to install new lighting in parking lots, improve parking availability and constructing a livestock show barn to replace the tent the association usually rents for the show.
The WCLDA Scholarship Committee, consisting of Curtis Shivar, Brian Mitchell, Wallace Simmons and Milton Ingram, awarded $13,200 in scholarships to high school seniors at Monday night's meeting.
Requirements for receiving a scholarship from the association are being a resident of Wayne County, a high school senior or graduate, providing grade transcripts to the committee, providing two letters of reference, completing a four-page application and being active in the livestock development association or the fair.
Scholarships were given in three different tiers: $2,400 scholarship for a high school senior attending college, $1,200 for a senior to attend a community college and $1,200 for a senior transferring to a senior college or university.
Scholarship recipients at the $2,400 level were: Aubrianna Balderas of Southern Wayne High School, attending the University of Mount Olive for agricultural education; Jordan DuBose of Rosewood High School, attending the University of North Carolina at Wilmington for criminology; Rachel McCullen of Southern Wayne High School, attending the University of North Carolina at Wilmington for English education; Karlyn Wolfe of Rosewood High School, attending East Carolina University for exercise physiology; and Brayn Wooten of Eastern Wayne High School, attending the University of Mount Olive for agricultural and music education.
Justin Kelly of Eastern Wayne High School received a $1,200 scholarship to attend Wayne Community College for agricultural education.
The Wayne County Livestock Development Association doled out two other awards on Monday night: the WCLDA Producer Award and the Service Award.
Todd and Deborah Ballance of the Fremont community won the producer award, while the Wayne County Extension Master Gardener Volunteers won the service award.
Livestock association President Curtis Shivar announced one legislative change made during the 2014 legislative session that will effect the fair.
"The 2014 legislature changed the tax exempt status for many non-profit organizations, including North Carolina Agricultural Fairs," Shivar said. "As a result the association is required, beginning with the 2015 fair, to pay sales tax on gate admissions. The price for admission will remain the same; the net result is that fewer funds will be available to make improvements, pay for scholarships, or help fund some other activities that the association supports."