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2 CapitalPress.com March 10, 2017 People & Places For the love of county fairs Ryann Newman develops new events for fairgrounds Western Innovator By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press ORLAND, Calif. — Ry- ann Newman grew up at fairs, and her passion for them is helping one county fair turn the corner after a rough patch. She spent her springs and summers as a child going from fair to fair as her family operated the pony ride con- cession they started in 1961. At 18, she started taking po- nies to fairs on her own, and at 21 she bought her own pony ride business. Now Newman, 41, breeds and raises ponies with her husband, Mike, on 50 acres near Glenn, Calif., and she takes her concession — Ry- ann’s Happy Day Pony Ride — to the Washington State Fair, the Alameda County Fair and nine other festivals. She often thought of man- aging a fair when she retired, but two years ago supporters of the struggling Glenn Coun- ty Fair asked her to take over. “I’ve always loved fairs. I’ve supported fairs all my life,” Newman said. New events As fair manager, New- man has come up with new ways of getting people to the fairgrounds and generating revenue. In November, the fairgrounds hosted its inau- gural North State Precision Ag Expo and Farm Business Forum, a two-day event fea- turing workshops and panel discussions on the newest of precision agriculture equip- ment as well as best business practices. Ryann Newman Occupation: Glenn County Fair manager Hometown: Glenn, Calif. Age: 41 Family: Husband, Mike Tim Hearden/Capital Press Ryann Newman feeds ponies at her ranch near Glenn, Calif. A pony ride concessionaire for fairs, New- man was hired two years ago to manage the struggling Glenn County Fair and has sought new ways to get people to the fairgrounds, including by hosting the inaugural Precision Ag Expo in November. She started the event to provide more educational op- portunities for Northern Cal- ifornia farmers and ranchers, she said, and this year’s expo and forum will consist of a single “track” rather than two so every attendee can be at ev- ery session. On Saturday, the fair- grounds will host a “Barn Beautification,” bringing in community volunteers and using donated paint and other materials to prepare the barns for the upcoming fair in May. “We wanted to have the whole community come out and spruce up our auction fa- cilities,” Newman said. “We just don’t have the means to keep up with our maintenance. … My goal is to get the com- munity to have some owner- ship of their fair again.” Fairs in California have been hard-hit by state budget cuts. The 2015-16 state bud- get included $10 million for fairs, most of which went for overdue repairs and upgrades to facilities. Local fairs have sought innovative ways to bring in money, including the Shasta District Fair in Ander- son, Calif., where a boosters’ club was formed to sell raffle tickets, operate a beer booth at the fair and do other fundrais- ers. At the Glenn County Fair, the community was “disen- gaged” when the fairgrounds had an opening for a manager in 2015, and Newman’s goal has been to get the fairgrounds to be self-supporting “as a via- ble business,” she said. “It’s such a bad business model to run a 55-acre facility based on a four-day event and some side events,” Newman said. “Back in the day, fair- grounds would get between $175,000 and $250,000 (a year) for maintenance. In the last year, we got $45,000. “We’re running this close all the time,” she said, holding her thumb and forefinger close together. Emergency shelter One of Newman’s efforts has been to get local residents to recognize the importance of the fairgrounds. The site is available for private fundrais- ers and other events, and when the Oroville Dam’s spillway problems forced evacuations in February, the fairgrounds provided shelter and meals for 150 people. “Our community just su- per-stepped up,” Newman said. Local Boy Scouts volunteered and businesses donated wa- ter and other goods. “We can take livestock, RVs and a large number of people. On our fair- grounds we have five kitchens and 28 showers. That’s every fair in every county.” Another way she’s trying to re-engage local residents is to host “Glenn County’s largest all-class reunion” during the fair May 18-21, featuring com- petitions between schools and classes, she said. She’s also bringing back a series of mini-stock car rac- es this summer, and has been working on putting in a soccer field to boost rentals. Newman has also become involved with Western Fairs Association and is working on animal welfare issues. She says animal activists are targeting fairs. “If this industry dies, we’ve got thousands of people who are out of work,” Newman said. “It’s amazing the com- merce that exists off the fair industry.” Newman says her career as a concessionaire has given her the unique perspective of seeing fair management “from both sides.” “It’s a very challenging job,” she said. “It’s not like they’re just throwing a big party with unlimited funds.” Newman appreciates the community support she gets. “I want people to be proud of the fair,” she said. Former capitol pillar lives on as flagpole monument Capital Press SUBLIMITY, Ore. — More than eight decades after the Oregon state capitol burned down, a recovered piece of one of its pillars serves as a monu- ment to U.S. veterans at a Sub- limity, Ore., farm. G&M Scott Farm owners Guy and Mary Ann Scott built a tribute to honor past and present U.S. veterans from a pillar a relative took from the Capitol site after it burned down in 1935. The pillar, which now serves as a base for their flagpole, sits outside their home. They plan to dedicate the monument this spring “as soon as the weather gets better,” Mary Ann said. After a fire that started in the basement of the capitol left it decimated in 1935, all of the pillars that stood at the Calendar front of the building were bro- ken. Crews threw out most of them, but the uncle of Guy’s cousin picked up one of the pieces before it could be dis- posed of. The piece of pillar went to their cousin. Mary Ann Scott purchased it for $10 at the cousin’s auction five years ago. Sponsored by: To submit an event go to the Community Events calendar on the home page of our website at www.capitalpress.com and click on “Submit an Event.” Calendar items can also be mailed to Capital Press, 1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem, OR 97301 or emailed to newsroom@ capitalpress.com. Through Sunday March 12 Natural Products Expo West, Anaheim Convention Center, Marri- ott and Hilton hotels, 800 W. Katella Ave., Anaheim, Calif. www.expow- est.com Saturday, March 11 Northwest Bison Association annual meeting. 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Forest Grove Senior Center, 2037 Douglas St., Forest Grove, Ore. The NWBA annual meeting will focus on small-scale bison ranching and facility setup and lots of stories from ranchers that have seen everything from tires as a fence to our setups and ev- erything between. Richard Vee- man with Veterinary Services of Oregon will speak on his experi- ence with bison along with Pat Fitzgerald with Fitzgerald Corrals. A ranch tour of the L Bar T Bison Ranch is included. Pre-registra- tion is preferred but not required. www.nwbisonassociation.com Wednesday, March 15 Pudding River Meeting. 6:30-8 p.m. Seven Brides Brewing Co., 990 N. First St., Silverton, Ore. Meet the Pudding River Water- shed Council Board and hear a presentation by Susan Barnes, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife region wildlife biologist. Sponsored by the watershed council, ODFW, and the Clacka- mas Soil and Water Conservation District. Agricultural Biodiversity on Farms: Conservation Practices Working for Western Farmers. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. McMenamins Edge- field, 2126 SW Halsey St. Trout- dale, Ore. A first-of-its-kind confer- ence on the benefits of agricultural biodiversity in Western farming systems and the practices that support it. Sponsored by the Oregon State University Inte- grated Plant Protection Center, the Xerces Society and Oregon Tilth. http://bit.ly/2kpWRsK Thursday, March 16 Small Farms and Community Food Systems Workshop Se- ries. 6-8:30 p.m. University of Idaho Extension, 2200 Michi- gan Ave., Orofino, Idaho. This Capital Press Guy and Mary Ann Scott converted a column a family member recovered from the 1935 State Capitol fire into a flag pole outside their home in Sublimity, Ore. “It’s just such a unique piece of history and no one else I know has one, so I had to get it,” she said. “I kind of thought from the be- ginning I wanted to make a flag pole out of it.” Originally, she said she wanted to restore the pillar, but her daughters talked her into keeping it in its original state. The task of turning a bro- ken piece of an old capitol pil- lar into the base of a flag pole became a family project when Mary Ann recruited the help of her grandson, daughters and a friend to help. “It’s really quite beautiful with the angled brick inside,” she said. Guy and Mary Ann are the sixth generation of Scotts to live on the family’s 400-acre farm. They rent out some of the land for grass seed and Christ- mas trees and tend the forested portions, Mary Ann said. Guy’s great grandmother’s husband originally home- steaded the land in 1849 and the Scotts bought it in 1852. The couple has lived there since they married in 1951. They said they decided to dedicate the flagpole monu- ment to U.S. veterans because of Guy’s experience in the Army in 1953 and 1954. GASES / WELDING / SAFETY / FIRE www.oxarc.com is the second of three Thursday evening workshops. Topic is beekeeping, honey production, pollination and bee biology fea- turing Pat Ball of Ball Honey Co. Please mail registrations with payment to UI Extension Workshop Fund, 2200 Michigan Ave., Orofino, ID 83544 prior to the workshop. Sign-in will begin at 5:30 each evening. Seating is limited to 25 people. Cost: $5 per workshop or $10 for all three. Building Family Business Value from the Inside Out. 7:30 to 9 a.m. BridgePort BrewPub, 1313 NW Marshall St., Port- land. Much can be done to build the value of the business from inside the enterprise, and the earlier the process begins, the more sustainable the results will be. In addition to building value, most businesses become more efficient and profitable along the way. Presented by Francis Brown, Key Private Bank and the Austin Family Business Program, Oregon State Univer- sity. 800-859-7609, http://bit. ly/2gR3KC0 Sunday, March 19 Home Orchard Society 42nd 20 Northwest Locations Fruit Propagation Fair. 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Clackamas County Fair- grounds Main Pavilion, 694 NE Fourth Ave., Canby, Ore. Hun- dreds of varieties of free scions and cuttings. If you graft this is paradise, or you can choose custom grafting by experts for $5. Free with your admission are hundreds of varieties of apple, pear, cherry, plum and persim- mon scions; cuttings of grapes, kiwis, and figs to root; and ex- perts to answer fruit growing questions. Cost: $7 per person (family $12) www.homeorchard- society.org/events Tuesday-Thursday March 21-23 LEAP Logger Education. Uni- versity of Idaho Extension Koo- tenai County Office, 1808 North Third St., Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. LEAP, or Logger Education to Advance Professionalism, is a national extension program started at the request of loggers who wanted to improve their skills and market their services more effectively to forest owners and managers. The course fea- tures two days indoors and one day with field exercises on forest biology, forest ecology, silvicul- ture and forest water quality. It is taught by University of Idaho faculty and Idaho Department 1-800-765-9055 of Lands personnel. Cost: $75, or $79 online registration. www. uidaho.edu/extension/forestry/ calendar Thursday, March 23 Small Farms and Community Food Systems Workshop Series. 6-8:30 p.m. University of Idaho Extension, 2200 Michigan Ave., Orofino, Idaho. This is the last of three Thursday evening work- shops. Topic is marketing ag prod- ucts in Northern Idaho featuring Iris Mayes, UI Extension. Please mail registrations with payment to UI Extension Workshop Fund, 2200 Michigan Ave., Orofino, ID 83544 prior to the workshop. Sign-in will begin at 5:30 each evening. Seating is limited to 25 people. Cost: $5 per workshop or $10 for all three. Friday-Sunday March 24-26 18th Annual Northwest Horse Fair and Expo. 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Linn County Fair and Expo Center, 3700 Knox Butte Road, Albany, Ore. Three days of clinics, semi- nars and performances for horse enthusiasts. Cost: Adults $12 a day, children ages 6-12 $6 a day. Parking $4. www.equinepromo- tions.net Capital Press Established 1928 Board of directors Mike Forrester Steve Forrester Kathryn Brown Susan Rana Mike Omeg Capital Press Managers John Perry ................................Publisher Joe Beach ..................................... Editor Elizabeth Yutzie Sell .... Advertising Director Carl Sampson ................Managing Editor Barbara Nipp ......... Production Manager Samantha McLaren .... Circulation Manager Entire contents copyright © 2017 EO Media Group dba Capital Press An independent newspaper published every Friday. Capital Press (ISSN 0740-3704) is published weekly by EO Media Group, 1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem OR 97301. Periodicals postage paid at Portland, OR, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Capital Press, P.O. Box 2048 Salem, OR 97308-2048. To Reach Us Circulation ......................... 800-882-6789 Email ........ Circulation@capitalpress.com Main line ........................... 503-364-4431 Fax ................................... 503-370-4383 Advertising Fax ................ 503-364-2692 News Staff N. 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Capital Press ag media www.capitalpress.com www.FarmSeller.com marketplace.capitalpress.com www.facebook.com/capitalpress www.facebook.com/farmseller twitter.com/capitalpress www.youtube.com/capitalpressvideo Index California ...............................11 Idaho ...................................... 9 Markets ............................... 13 Opinion .................................. 6 Oregon .................................. 8 Washington ......................... 10 Water ..................................... 7 Correction In the March 3 edition, the location the Washington State Department of Agriculture would secure hemp seeds was incor- rectly listed as Yakima. They will be stored in Spokane if the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administra- tion issues the state a permit to import the federally controlled substance. The Capital Press regrets the error. Correction policy Accuracy is important to Capital Press staff and to our readers. If you see a misstatement, omission or factual error in a headline, story or photo caption, please call the Capital Press news department at 503-364-4431, or send email to newsroom@capitalpress.com. We want to publish corrections to set the record straight.
