November 13, 2015
CapitalPress.com
19
Volunteers help Expo
become a reality each year
For the Capital Press
If the exhibitors, sponsors
and staff of the Willamette
Valley Ag Expo are the life-
blood of the annual event,
then the volunteers are most
certainly its heart.
WVAE producer Scott
Ingalls says a core group
of volunteers and a reliable
stable of newer participants
make the transition from
planning to implementation
of the big event a smooth one
each year.
“Our building supers and
fork operators have all been
working on this event for
years, some from the very
start,” Ingalls said. “They all
know the expectations and
needs of the vendors from
first-hand experience. All
of them have full-time jobs,
from which they take time
off to come work on this
event.
“And our vendors like
seeing the same faces when
they come to set up and know
things will go well because of
it,” he said.
Randy Smith of RGS Auto
& Marine in Albany has for
all 14 years of the Expo been
one of the scores of volunteers
that help make the show hap-
pen each year. Smith, 59, is
a superintendent at the Expo
Hall for the three days, but
takes an active hand in “set-
ting everything up, moving
everything in and out” and be-
ing in charge of the security of
the building.
“The Ag Expo is a great
thing,” Smith said. “Most
of the work is done with lift
trucks because of all the heavy
equipment. The Expo Hall is
basically an empty building
when we start and every booth
gets carpeted and taped down
to the floor, then the pipes and
drapes get put up and every-
thing gets moved in.
“Afterwards, it’s all moved
back out and cleaned up.”
Lonny Wunder, 58, of Al-
bany, who works full-time as
the manager of the Benton
County Fair, is one of those
lift-truck operators. He is also
a certified lift-truck instructor,
and is in his fifth year of vol-
unteering for the Expo.
He puts in more than 30
hours over the Expo’s three
days, “doing anything they
tell me to do” with the forklift.
That includes hauling materi-
als in and out of the buildings
and placing them correctly
and securely.
“I’m not the boss at what I
do; I just do what they want,”
Wunder said. “I like doing
this.”
He added that he began
building farm equipment
when he was 18 and said he
“just loves the passion that ag
folks have for the industry.”
Both he and Smith are ea-
ger and ready for the phone
call each year asking them to
come out and put in three days
of hard work at the Expo.
“Every year, they call me
up and say, ‘Are you coming
back, please?’” Smith said.
Geoff Parks/For the Capital Press
Randy Smith of RGS Auto & Marine in Albany, Ore., has volunteered for 14 years and is one of the
scores of volunteers who help make the Willamette Valley Ag Expo a success.
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