In April of 2001, Chad Hymas disregarded the hydraulic fluid warning light on his tractor. That decision lead to a 2,000lb hay bale crashing down on him, breaking his neck and leaving him a quadriplegic. His story will inspire you.

Greg Chiecko is the president of OABA. The group represents over 2,500 service members including 200 carnival companies.. We talk about OABA’s advocacy for their membership and how the industry is responding to Covid.

Dale Belair is a Canadian event producer. In 2020 he started an event called FoodTruckWars.ca. The event brings food truck vendors together in communities across Canada. In 2021, Belair is hoping to take that event to the international border of the USA & Canada. Will Covid let that happen? Only time will tell.

Our industry is made up of many people. From fair management to entertainers and concessionaires to carnival operators. One group we haven’t spoken to yet is our fair guests themselves. There are people across our nation who are loyal to our events, attending every year and in some cases, every single day of the fair. Today we speak to one of those people. Judy Wilder was named Ultimate Fair Goer at the Erie County Fair in 2018.

David Feimster is the owner/operator of Hot Dog Pig Racing out of New Jersey. His show features those little racing piggies as well as hot dog racing dachshunds. Yes, racing Weiner dogs!

Kathleen O’Leary has been with Wisconsin State Fair Park for over two decades. She became the CEO in 2016 and was excited for the future of the Wisconsins State Fair. She never could’ve imagined what 2020 would have in store for her and the State Fair Park. We talk about pandemic response, the future of our industry and her role as a strong female leader in the Milwaukee area.

Debbie Powers and her husband, Corky are the owners of Powers Great American Midways, a carnival company based out of New York that runs the east coast of the United States. While they managed to sneak in a few events in 2020 like most ride operators faced what seemed to be endless cancellations. As we move further into 2021 Debbie is continually optimistic that fairs will be able to reopen later this year. We talked carnival life, H2B Visas, the pandemic and living a positive life.

Super excited to have Dan West on the show today. Dan was formerly the manager of the Manatee County Fair in Florida before leaving that position to take the job as executive director of the Florida Federation of Fairs. Florida is the first state in the country to begin having fairs in 2021. It’s no exaggeration to say almost every other fair in the nation is watching Florida closely. Dan and I talk about what he’s seeing at fairs in Florida as far as mitigation and guest safety. Plus, we talk trade show and convention planning.

Miranda Muir is one of the most creative and innovative young fair managers in our industry. She’s currently the manager of the Elkhart County 4H Fair in Indiana. Miranda and I have been friends for many years and I was excited for her and her husband, Steve when they recently welcomed their newest addition to their family. We talk fair life, pandemic life and parenthood.

Todd Robison is the fair manager for the Clark County Fair in Logandale, NV. The fair has been hit hard by the Covid19 pandemic having been forced to cancel their 2020 and 2021 fair. Can the fair survive? Find out on today’s episode.