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At the Pierce County Fair Committee meeting held Monday, Feb. 7, the committee discussed some updates for 2022 fair planning and also selected a new fair manager.

The committee first discussed and approved staff attendance at the International Association of Fairs and Expositions (IAFE) zone four convention held in La Crosse, Wis. in late March.

The convention had been canceled and postponed due to COVID-19 and this year, staff is planning to attend the rescheduled convention.

“Back in 2020 we had gotten approval to attend IAFE for Zone 4, which covers Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota; it is already paid for but it was canceled in 2020 and 2021 so we are just asking for approval for the fair manager and office specialist to attend,” said fair office specialist April Daniels.

Next the committee discussed and took action on the attendance of another meeting in Dunn County for Fair District II, taking place on April 12.

Daniels said, “This is District II of the Wisconsin Association of Fairs, so that is our immediate counties that surround us. We usually meet in the spring and the fall and this spring it is in Dunn County and we just are asking for approval for fair manager and office specialist to attend the one-day event.”

The committee then gave an update about fair entertainment. Although no action was taken for this item, the committee gave recommendations to Daniels. Currently, staff is getting a basic idea of who is interested in performing at this year’s county fair.

Daniels said, “Usually how it works is we go to a convention in January and talk with potential entertainment groups and they usually want us to sign contracts then and there, which we usually don’t do because we bring it back to the committee first.”

Daniels continued, “I get one to two entertainers calling or emailing almost every day asking about the contracts and the dates and I have just explained the situation to them that we are currently waiting for a new fair manager to come on, but many of them want to set a date and this is a time is of the essence.”

The committee gave her some direction as to what to do at the moment without making any solid decisions. Some of the entertainment groups are able to take other opportunities if they come up without a solid contract with the county, so Daniels was seeking guidance as to what she should tell entertainment groups.

The meeting then went into closed session to make employment decisions about the position of fair manager. Once they returned to open session they announced and took action naming Liz Dietsche the recommended candidate as the new fair manager for Pierce County.

“The Committee took action out of closed session to accept the Fair Manager candidate, Liz Dietsche and forward the recommendation to the County Board for consideration and appointment,” said County Administrative Coordinator Jason Matthys.

The county board will meet on Feb. 22 and vote on the appointment of Dietsche to this position. Longtime Fair Manager Ann Webb Bluhm retired in January after 23 years of service.