My guest today is a super busy person from the management side of the fair industry---for her entire career! Judy Carrico knows the importance of developing business relationships and developing trust. She is the fair operations manager at the Alameda County Fair in California. Judy is also the author of How to Plan, Pay For and Put on a Wildly Successful Fair Without Losing Your Mind, Your Family or Your Friends. From her 30+ years of fair management, Judy has lots of wisdom and LOTS of great stories. Join us!

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How Judy stepped out of college and into the full-time fair life
• Why Judy followed a friend into the fair industry, leaving her dream of becoming a veterinarian behind
• The best ways to learn the fair industry
• Judy’s job and duties: “I plan a party for 450,000 people and spend other people’s money to put it on!”
• The biggest problem facing fairs? Funding for infrastructure for small and medium-sized fairs
• Why fairs are so important as a gathering place for communities and a way to preserve local history
• Competitive exhibits: they are what sets fairs apart from other entertainment industries
• Judy shares about the commitment to education and youth competitions at most fairs today
• In addition to the normal agricultural exhibits at fairs, engineering and robotics exhibits are skyrocketing in popularity.
• The NEW target audience for fairs
• “Alameda County’s largest classroom”
• Commitment to funding
• The importance of collaborative projects
• Why fair managers need expertise in figuring out WHAT WORKS and what doesn’t
• Why networking is the KEY!
• Judy shares some stories and experiences from her unusual career and with a unique perspective on fair life.
• Find Judy on Facebook!