The 89th annual Western Fairs Association (WFA) Convention and Trade Show opened on January 8 at the Anaheim Marriott in Anaheim, California, for the start of a highly successful four-day run. Highlights included:
Attendance: Stronger than usual walk-up registration and on-site memberships helped push total attendance to 1,287 with an estimated 550 attending the Imagination Ball on Sunday at the OC Fair & Event Center. The single largest attendee, provided by WFA Service Member Have Trunk, Will Travel, was Tai the elephant, recent star of the box office hit Water for Elephants, weighing in at 2,382 pounds.* Trade Show: Attendance was strong from start to finish for the two-day, sold-out Trade Show and NICA Food Show-128 exhibitors, with every imaginable industry product and service, along with plenty of the show's most popular ingredient-free food! The 2013 Trade Show, January 20-23 in Reno, Nevada, is already 70 percent sold.
Performances: Starting with the special appearance by Tai at the OC Fair & Event Center, the show officially began with the great renditions of the Canadian and US national anthems by the Rock Bottom Boys at the Monday Opening General Session. A total of 15 acts and attractions performed on the Showcase stage provided by WFA Service Members Speeda Sound and LB Production Center. Prize drawings, dollar beers and great performances kept the delegates entertained.
Programming: Three core sessions, Garrison Wynn's opening presentation on Making the Most of Difficult Situations, Rey O'Day's Industry Best Practices report and returning keynote Kelly McDonald's How to Market to People Not Like You, were all well received. Sunday programming on fundraising, fair board practices and agri-tourism were all well attended. A new feature sponsored by NICA West saw 136 delegates leave the property to tour the Sysco Demonstration Kitchen in Walnut.
Awards: The closing day Industry Awards Celebration saw four fairs, California State Fair, Antelope Valley Fair, Sonoma-Marin Fair and Tulelake-Butte Valley Fair, receive recognition for their work in creative management. Ken McMeans, Ken McMeans Presents, and Nancy Chapman, Chapman Fashion International, took home the prestigious Barham Award, recognizing innovation, quality and leadership of service. Sonoma County Fair CEO Tawny Tesconi and Theater-16 President Ernie Guderjahn were inducted into the WFA Hall of Fame. The Big Fresno Fair won the elusive Merrill Award for their Feed the Need program which set a national single day record for food donations, collecting more than 108,000 pounds of food during a fairtime promotion.
Leadership: The successful Convention closed with the first ever service member president, Don Delahoyde, owner of Five Star Catering, turning the leadership gavel over to Nevada County Fair CEO Sandy Woods. Western Washington Fair CEO Kent Hojem will serve as vice president and PK Consulting Owner Pat Kress assumed the treasurer post for the WFA board.
Plans are already underway for the 90th Western Fairs Association Convention and Trade Show that will move back to Reno, Nevada, January 20-23. In 2014, the association's premier event will return to
Anaheim January 5-8.
