It looks like the Yolo County Fair Board
has named a new CEO to replace Lonny Wunder.
The Yolo County Fair Board of Directors on Monday chose fairgrounds deputy manager Rita Moore to replace retired CEO Lonny Wunder, according to two people with close ties to the process. The decision - made in closed session at the board's monthly meeting Monday night - was the culmination of a process that began last August, when Wunder announced his resignation after eight years on the job.
This job is not one I would wish to have. Kind of like being Saddam's food taster. Not a lot of upside, besides the paycheck, and downside a plenty.
In an interview with the four-person CEO selection committee on Feb. 15, Moore, of Woodland, said she hoped to improve the fair's relationship with the community.
"We need to mend fences and reaffirm our integrity," she said. "We're a good place, and we need people to know that."
Her plans for the fairgrounds include establishing a foundation to raise money for basic fair operations and future developments, and building a "high-end, multi-use facility" to compete with Woodland's Community and Senior Center and the Heidrick Ag History Center, she said.
Moore, who has been with the fairgrounds for 21 years, said in her interview that she was not looking to make "a 20-year commitment or even a 10-year commitment" to the CEO position, but instead would draw upon her extensive experience and serve "until the ideal person comes down the road.
Sounds like Rita Moore knows what she is in for.
The facilities are in bad shape, the prospect of finding money to fix them will be huge uphill battle. The environmental pot stirrers will be out to get the animal events 'scaled back' and then eliminated because of the threat of ecoli or some other such nonsense. The City would like to buy the property because of its location. Every community group wants to use it free of charge, no one wants to charge admission to the County Fair, we are one the last 'free' fairs in the State.
A giant mess is in store for whoever is going to run the fairgrounds. Good luck to you Rita, you will need plenty of it. I mean it, best of luck, the fairgrounds could be a gem for the County, or it could wither away and become a blight to its residents.
1 comment:
Out of 30-plus years living in Sacramento, I think I made it to the Yolo County Fair once. I enjoyed it -- but this was during the 1980s.
Went to county fairs in Placerville (El Dorado County) and Plymouth (Amador) too during those years too. I enjoyed Placerville the most, but Yolo was far and away better than Plymouth.
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