MISSOURI ASSOCIATION

OF FAIRS AND FESTIVALS

”CREATING CONNECTIONS”

How many times can you say "THANK YOU" ?  Never enough. So THANK YOU to the many MAFF members, associates, entertainers, volunteers, hotel staff, Board Members and any one else that had any thing to do with the success of the 2009 annual convention. As we gathered for the 64th annual conference the weather all across the Southern part of Missouri turned bad with ice, snow, rain, wind, and who knows what else. That did not stop fair folks from coming together to "Create Connections" once again. Even folks without power at home showed up because we at least had lights and hot water. We provided an even greater service than just meetings and entertainment.

There were to many highlights of the weekend to cover all of them however the Friday evening fireworks by A.M. Pyro was an excellent show. We all need to thank Shawn Gaddy for a job well done. We need to thank Guy Raynor from Sound Check Productions for his work on the three showcase events and Howard Prost from Fair Based Productions for his work on the Variety Showcsases. We must thank the volunteers from NEMO Fair, SEMO Fair, St. Charles Co. Fair, and Washington County Fair for their work at various venues during the weekend. These folks all work sort of behinmd the scenes and don't get enough recognition for all they do. The many fair, festival, and associate members that did presentations at our Saturday morning educational sessions deserve a thank you as well. George Denniston for his photography and Brad Detring for stepping up with the Saturday evening auction. The list just goes on of the many people that work together to make our convention what it is.

One big collective THANK YOU to our board of directors for their help berginning to end of this event. From the simple things of stuffing name tags, hauling auction items around, working at the registration desk, emceeing events at the last minute, and  who knows what else they worked together as a team to make it happen. THANKS board.

As most of you know by now we are moving to Columbia Missouri in 2010. This was not an easy decision to make and was based on costs to our attendees. We owe a THANK YOU to the fine management and staff of the Lodge of Four Seasons for 6 great years at their facility. Kay Samuelson, Darlene Vance, Norma Zachar, Justin Taylor, Colleen Wells, Kerry Grey, and all the rest of the fine folks at The lodge that did so much for us over the years. We do apprecite them

Now we move into our busy season and most of you have your plans all completed for you 2009 event. The entire MAFF Board stands ready to help in any way we can. All you need to do is contact your District Director or Pete Poe and help will be on the way.

Mark your calendar for January 28 to 31, 2010 for

our next BIG EVENT.

Don Reynolds

NEMO Fair

Kirksville Mo

ASSOCIATION OFFICERS ELECTED

Durring the business session on Friday January 30 district

representatives for both district # 2 and # 6 were elected

for a three year term. Don Reynolds (NEMO Fair)

and Mark Young (Webster Co. Fair) were re-elected to

serve their respective districts for that term.

Officers elected at the board meeting January 31 to serve

the 2009 year were Don Reynolds (NEMO Fair) President,

Mark Young (Webster Co. Fair) Vice-President, Darcy Jones

(Jones & Co Carnival) Secretary, and Nacy Bridght (Ozark

Empire Fair) Treasurer.

HALL OF FAME AWARDS

The Association was proud to present two awards during the 2009

convention to members that have gone above and beyound for us over the years.

Marion Lucas , recently retired from the Misssouri State Fair, was awarded

the honor from the Fairs and Festivals. Marion begain his fair career in Montgomery

Co. and served in both Iowa and Missouri as State Fair Director.

The associates choose Mr. Bob Brickley of Traingle Talent to honor with their

2009 award. Bob has served on the MAFF Board of Directors and been

involved  in the entertainment showcase events for many years.

CONVENTION SPONSORS

Many of the activities at the convention would have a

different flavor and format if it were not for the many

sponsors that help financially in addition to all the

other efforts they bring to our gathering. The list does

read like a who's who in our state association. Special

thanks go out to each of them. As the opportunity

presents please give them a word of appreciation. The

list includes Jones & Co. Carnival, Outlaw Truck & Tractor

Pullers, Washington Co Fair, Variety Attractions,

Davidson Amusement Devices, Carnivals Inc., Missouri State

Fair, Ozark Empire Fair, Allied Specialty Insurance,

Fair Publishing House, K&K Insurance, Evans Midland Empire Shows

Southeast Missouri District Fair, Auto Race Promotions,

Washington County Fair, and Lowery

Carnival Co.

A special “thanks” must also go to Sound Check Enterprises,

Marcos Productions/Game World Events, Aching Backline

Equipment, and Fair Based Productions for their work with our

various showcases.

BENEFIT AUCTIONS SUCCESFUL ONCE AGAIN

The annual benefit auctions, both oral and silent, provide a

source of income to support our association works. A certain

amount of entertainment can be expected as well with ring

men like Gregg Woody, Vince Shelby, Brain McPherson and

all the others that step up and help. Hall of Fame Auctioneer

Leroy Van Dyke and Brad Detring (St. Francois Co. Fair) called

the action on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Any number of free websites are available to promote

your event continues to grow. In some cases

we are able to handle the information gathering

for you and in some others it would need to be

done from the local level. Some free sites for

you use include tripinfo.com.,festivalnet.com

missouriartscouncil.org, festivals.com, county

fairgrounds.com and others I'm sure. The site

maintained by the Missouri Division of Tourism

at www.visitmo.com is a well maintained and much

used site. It is another one that requires more

information than I am able to provide so it needs

to be done locally. We do continue to provide your

information to several other site such as the weather

channel, missourilfe.com, mostatefair.com,carnival

warehouse.com, missouritravel.com , and our own

site at missourifairsandfestivals.org among others.

This FREE publicity area does take some work but

is well worth the effort.