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July 17, 2014 – Meeting Roundup – Berkeley County Youth Fair Association

This week at the Purple Iris Dawn Pingley, President of the Berkeley County Youth Fair Association, will talk to us about the Youth Fair, which will be held August 1st through August 9th. The Youth Fair differs from a regular county fair in that all the exhibitors are young people. Berkeley County’s Youth Fair is one of the oldest and few remaining youth fairs in the country.

Some of you who are long-time residents of Berkeley County might remember when the Youth Fair was located on Raleigh Street behind the football stadium. They eventually outgrew this facility and had the opportunity to move to its present location on Golf Course Road. Our Rotary club helped with the purchase of the land that is now used for parking. Just as a side note, when I was program chair we actually had a meeting at the Youth Fair grounds that was to feature Rae McKee, the National Teacher of the year from Slanesville. Half the educators in Berkeley County, as well as our club, were on hand to hear her when she got sick at the last minute. Desperate to have a program, I saw Rodney Woods, who had been WV Principal of the Year, in the audience. Rodney agreed to present a program and it turned out to be fantastic.

Dawn Pingley grew up on a dairy farm outside of Shepherdstown, WV and has been involved in some way with the Berkeley County 4-H Program and the Berkeley County Youth Fair from a very young age. At age 9, she became a member of the Mt. Airy Winners 4-H club and was able to start participating as an exhibitor. For the next 11 years, she was an active exhibitor showing dairy animals, participating in the sewing style show as well as exhibiting cooking projects and other indoor exhibits.

Once her days as an exhibitor came to an end, she continued to volunteer at the fair by coordinating the eating contests. She then started helping with entering fair results into the computer which led to her being elected as Recording Secretary. She held this position for about 12 years where she revamped the fair registration process and updated the computer software that was being used to enter fair results. Four years ago she was elected as First Vice-President where she was in charge of the entertainment. She is now currently serving as President of the Berkeley County Youth Fair Association.

Luau Money Giveaway

The Hawaiian Luau was a huge success raising almost $26,000 and netting $10,000 after expenses and prize money were deducted. Last week we distributed that money to the various charities that were designated by the participants. Included were Panhandle Health, Martinsburg Sunrise Rotary’s Foundation, Junior Mentoring Program (formerly Big Brothers Big Sisters), Children’s Home Society, CASA, CCAP, Be-Hive, Girl Scouts, and Boy Scouts.

Mike Hornby conducted a huge event as his swan song and it was highly successful. Congratulations to Mike and his entire committee.

In other news, Secretary Doug Arndt announced that former President-for-life Hornby was not allowed to sit anywhere but the back of the room.

Cogwheels

Answer to last week’s question:
The public relations objectives of a Rotary club are to make the aims and accomplishments of Rotary better known to the end that a favorable atmosphere may be created in the community in which the club and individual Rotarians may effectively fulfill the Object of Rotary.
This week’s question:
What is Membership & Extension Month?