Letter to the Editor: Submitted by Keith and Lana Grady

To the Editor:

We have been auxiliary fair board members for years. We were working side by side with the board members under the presidents of Chad Oldenburger, Sig Ness, Erik Helgerson and Tyler Plein, a good bunch of appreciative people.

The “Stock girls,” McKayla and Bethany, are the current secretary and vice president, and those girls have been wonderful to work with also. We thank you for the positive and pleasant experience.

We handled the storage, garage sales, suspicious activity, open doors and water leaks in off-times. I helped out the girls in the office many years during the fair, and Keith helped with maintenance and improvements. He tore down the old rabbit building, hog building and 4-H stand and got rid of the debris at no cost to the fair.

Through the years we were using the green building for some of our storage needs, so in appreciation the members granted us free storage while we needed some. Never in our wildest dreams would we have thought we would run across members who wouldn’t honor that.

In March we received a little message in the mail stating, “The fair board has experienced positive growth and change over the last several years. With that, we are able to handle the storage and ground management more effectively ourselves. Please refer all inquiries to (included phone number). We ask that your items be removed from the grounds by April 30, 2024.”

Over the last few years of “positive growth,” the members are one-half in number of years back. They have lost some very knowledgeable and hard workers. The passing of Teresa Myers was a loss of a whole book of 4-H and fair knowledge. When she was on the board, her daughters were great help.
Helping out in the office, I have seen Bethany Stock, the vice president, and McKayla, the secretary, run ragged on fair days and go with very little sleep. Auxiliary members are essential to help these girls, and Jenny at the grandstand. When there are these needs and we, as auxiliary members for 30-plus years, are told they can handle things “more effectively” themselves, what a slap in the face. The past four months have been real eye-opening. It makes us question good deeds. It’s sad to see greed take over the thinking.

Last but not least, there should be a huge thank you to Kent and Rhonda Stock, and Clinton, McKayla’s husband, for the many hours and short nights they put in as auxiliary members.

Help out here and there, if you can. Some really appreciate it. Pass the word!

Keith and Lana Grady
Waukon