Fair board members elected at annual meeting

Eight Plymouth County Fair Board members were re-elected to their positions on the board with one new member joining them during the annual meeting of the Plymouth County 4-H and Agricultural Society Thursday evening.

New member Matt Reuter will join returning members Loren Schnepf, Jeff Klemme, Brad Harvey, Gail Schoenrock, Bob Kabisch, Tom Galles, Candace Nash-Farrar and Greg Roepke on the board. They were elected by members of the society membership at the Plymouth County Extension Office meeting room.

Two other board members, Russ Vos and Dennis Baldwin, were thanked for their years of service on the board.

The 2008 Plymouth County Fair took in $103,124.04 in outside gate receipts at the fair, the largest single source of income for the fair.

Members discussed potential acts for the Pioneer Village Stage and other areas of the fairgrounds. Board members will learn more about entertainment possibilites at their annual state convention in December in Des Moines. The fair spent $61,927.75 on entertainment for the 2008 fair.

The board held their regular monthly meeting following the adjournment of the annual meeting.

By a unanimous vote, current officers were re-elected for 2009. They are: Terry Reuter, president; Tony Schroeder, vice president; Gail Schoenrock, secretary and Don Konopasek, treasurer.

Reuter was selected as the board's delegate at the state convention.

Sarah Kehm of the Lucky Clovers 4-H club presented information on behalf of her brother, Brian, for a recycling project at the 2009 Plymouth County Fair, encouraging the board and fairgoers to "think green."

Board members gave their approval and support to the project which will include recycle bins on the grounds and a display trailer from the Department of Natural Resources.

Reuter reported he expects a contract for the National Old-Time Country and Bluegrass Music Festival will be finalized in the next week or two. The festival was held for the first time in Le Mars in late August through the Labor Day weekend. The contract is for five years.