QUINCY – A calm and rainy Wednesday evening was punctuated by surprisingly intense debate at last week’s Fair Board meeting. Despite the slow agenda originally planned for the meeting, a lengthy public comment period quickly extended what looked to be a short update on recent events and fair business into a 90-minute affair centered on the annual junior livestock auction. Five out of eight board members were present – Directors Ceresola, Cogle, Neer, D. Kennedy and acting chair C. Kennedy – granting a narrow quorum for voting on potential actions.

The meeting began with an introduction of members of the public. Attendance by the general public at board meetings is rare, so the turnout of four such individuals – Mari Roth of Plumas News, Megan Neer of the Livestock Sales Committee, and Jane and Dave Roberti from the Plumas-Sierra 4-H’s Bi-County Council – was quite unexpected. During the public comment period, Neer expressed concerns about cooling infrastructure for livestock at the fair, noting a heat-related fatality among the livestock exhibits this year, and pointed out a few hang-ups with fair infrastructure.

The debate on the livestock exhibition issue began during the public comment period when Mrs. Roberti asked the board to approve an “emergency agenda item” concerning a long-standing debate over residency requirements for the Plumas-Sierra Junior Livestock Auction. The board, though confused by the legitimacy of this request, moved unanimously to approve it anyway, moving it down the agenda to “New Business”. Because of this, all debate to take place on the subject between members of the board and the general public would be a matter of public record. Fair Manager John Steffanic gave his Manager’s Report, notifying board members of an upcoming meeting of the State Rules Advisory Committee, which governs fairs all across California, on October 19th. Steffanic also elaborated on a recent inspection by the California Division of Measurement Standards, which informed him the Plumas-Sierra County Fair is one of only 12 across the state bothering to get a Weigh Master certification for its scales, a decision about precision coming with both pros and cons when weigh-in rolls around every year. As for the Plumas Homegrown Americana Festival, which was expected to be something of a bust, turnout was well above expectations over Labor Day weekend, and hype is already building for next year’s event.

Some concerns had been raised by Directors Chris Kennedy and Duncan Kennedy at the August meeting over the new fair dates and what they meant for floriculture exhibitors. Steffanic reported on a recent meeting he’d had with the Choate Family, which has taken over from Fred Surber for managing the Floriculture Building, over future exhibits. Because of the earlier dates, all plant entries will be judged at their point of growth, not by an uncompromising standard, allowing people to feel more secure about entering not quite ready produce.

Shadow boxes will no longer be included as possible entries due to a lack of interest; instead, miniature themed “box gardens” will take their place in 2023. One proposed investment was a display fridge to keep floral entries fresh, as was making repairs to the fountain in front of the building and erecting a new display arch on the streetside. Gardens will now be divided by size, not by family effort or organization affiliation. In non-floriculture news, Home Arts will see new categories next year and better promotion to possible exhibitors via the return of Fair U.

New Business brought back the debate from earlier, placed on the agenda at Mrs. Roberti’s request. Since 2018, local 4-H clubs (mostly in the Sierra Valley area) have seen an influx of members joining from Lassen and Nevada Counties, or even across the state line from Washoe County. This was not seen as an issue when there were only two such members selling at the Plumas-Sierra Junior Livestock Auction in 2018, but concerns have been rising since nine such members exhibited and sold at the last auction. The Livestock Sales Committee and Bi-County Council representatives were thus present at the meeting in an effort to lobby the Fair Board to add an individual residency requirement to the premium book for livestock showmanship.

Mr. Roberti noted these new exhibitors were principally Washoe County residents joining the Sierra Valley (Vinton) or Echo (Loyalton) clubs and he argued there was a financial component since these exhibitors could get up to four times the price per pound for their animal in Quincy as they could at shows in Fallon or Yerington. He also added there had been a push by the Sales Committee at the individual club level in 2021 to exclude members from out of the county, but it had been voted down because “the kids don’t want to be the bad guy for their friends”.

Mrs. Neer approached the issue from an economic angle, arguing the economy of Plumas County is very finite and the only pool of potential bidders that could purchase at the auction, and these out-of-area exhibitors don’t support those businesses and are in effect draining money out of the local economy. This position is rather fascinating when you consider one in every five buyers at this year’s auction was from out of the area – most notably Select Environmental Services of Rocklin, which paid high premiums for several animals from Indian Valley 4-H at this year’s auction. “We (the committee) don’t reach out of the area for new bidders”, Neer said – this, however, has historically been the responsibility of individual exhibitors, not the committee.

All three public commenters expressed concern over the swelling membership of the local 4-H clubs, particularly those bordering Lassen and Washoe Counties. Neer noted that Indian Valley (Taylorsville) 4-H’s membership increased by 25 this year as well, although these are likely former members of Wolf Creek (Greenville) or the defunct Chester-Lake Almanor (Chester) club. When Director C. Kennedy pointed out that these clubs had the authority to do as Treasure Mountain (Calpine) had done and approve a cap on membership, all the 4-H and Sales Committee members expressed surprise, having not known that the State 4-H allowed them to do so.

Steffanic took all these concerns into account when responding to the 4-H and Sales Committee representatives, pointing out the California Dept. of Food and Ag’s rules prohibit the fair from excluding individual club members from the area’s recognized 4-H and FFA chapters, although they can discriminate by residency with independent exhibitors. Mrs. Roberti disputed this point but was unable to cite the section of the state rules upon which her argument was based – although neither was Steffanic, leading the board to unanimously vote to send a letter asking for clarification to the state rules committee before making any decision.

It was also pointed out that the Livestock Sales Committee has sole regulatory authority over the Junior Livestock Auction, while the County Fair only governs the facilities and livestock shows preceding the auction. Mrs. Roberti tried to point to other fairs having individualized residency requirements in place, only for Steffanic to note that these fairs all directly govern their auctions and have Sales Committees that are direct extensions of the fair board. The debate quickly cooled upon the realization that the Sales Committee had effectively been arguing for the Fair Board to completely absorb its duties and assets.

With further action on the residency issue for the Junior Livestock Auction moved on down the road until a positive response was received from CDFA, the next meeting was scheduled for October 12th at 5:00 PM in the Mineral Building on the Fairgrounds. This meeting thus adjourned at 6:38 PM.

The Fair Board is the governing body for events such as the Plumas-Sierra County Fair, County Picnic, High Sierra Music Festival and Plumas Americana Festival. Currently, five open seats are available for members of the public interested in joining – two for Lake Almanor, one for Quincy, one for Graeagle and one for northern Sierra Valley. If you are interested in getting involved, go to Plumas County’s website to find an application for appointment.