This person has been a fixture at her fair since she was five years old, playing on the grounds while her family volunteered. While still young she would be given small chores to complete. By the time she was 13, the fair opened a “Souvenir Shop” to sell prior year buttons and t-shirts. Her grandmother worked with her for several years until she took over full management. Over the past 20 plus years, the Souvenir Shop endeavor has grown from a way “to get rid of that stuff” to a profitable enterprise. She still manages the shop, ordering the merchandise, pricing it and selling it with the volunteers who now work with her.

Over the past three decades, the nominee’s involvement has grown exponentially. When the fair’s holiday event was instituted, she showed great enthusiasm for offering activities to appeal to children, and over the years has added activities to enhance the event. For the past ten years she has mostly organized “Celebrate the Season”, decorating the grounds and building, organizing activities and contriving ways to entertain our youngest guests.

In the 24 years since she opened the first Souvenir Shop, The nominee’s involvement with the fair has included many jobs, and she has worn many hats, not only during the show but throughout the year. She has cleaned bathrooms, painted buildings, erected and organized special exhibits, worked gates, the registration trailer, organized tours of the grounds for community groups, worked in the office in the off season, answered the phone, email and correspondence, filed, handled mailings and generally learned what paperwork is needed to put on a show. She has proofread copy, written articles for the newspaper and been involved in many aspects of organizing an event. She has offered viable solutions to problems, offered insights on how to improve our programs, and brought new attractions and events to the annual show.

In 2017 the nominee became the fair’s Special Projects Coordinator. As such she developed special exhibits to be included in the yearly show including an exhibit commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I in 2019. She also organized and put together an exhibit on Hurricane Camille’s devastation on the storm’s 50th anniversary that year. She also planned the exhibit commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in 2020.

With a background in both history and education, the nominee has become involved in many civic activities. She has taught special needs students for several years, has worked with autistic children who have helped to teach her to reach the educational needs of children at all learning levels.

The nominee has demonstrated a strong commitment to community service through her active participation in local elections. She played an integral role in assisting with the operation of polling stations, ensuring the smooth execution of voting processes and the provision of support to voters. Her contributions went beyond administrative tasks, as she worked diligently to facilitate an accessible and efficient election experience for all members of the community. This involvement reflects her dedication to civic engagement and her unwavering support for the democratic process, highlighting her reliability, organizational skills, and deep sense of responsibility towards the well-being of the community.

The nominee has also encouraged the participation of youth in the fair and the industry, often bringing in friends to help at the show. When a Junior Advisory was established, she served as co-chair of that committee and continued in the position until the committee was disbanded. Most recently she has served as secretary of the Special Advisory Committee, organized after our move.

The nominee has grown up in a family which has volunteered for the fair since its beginning. Parents, brothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins have all shown up to volunteer in one capacity or another over the years. Her involvement with the fair industry is deep rooted. Because of her hard work, she received the IAFE YPI Scholarship Award for Zone 2 in 2014 and took part in many of the round tables and seminars offered.

Th nominee has attended the VAF Conference for many years. She was a strong advocate for Regional VAF meetings and was instrumental in her fair hosting of one of those meetings. Not only has she attended VAF seminars and workshops, but co-hosted one. She has served as a volunteer judge for the Communications Awards and, for the past few years, has served as a judge for the Scholarship Awards made by VAF including the youth scholarship program.

The 2025 Fair Person of the Year is Denise Gammon with the Field Day of the Past.