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Fairs Year-round Information
November 2K19
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In this issue of fyi:
- Don't Play with Fire! Incorporate the Office of the State Fire Marshal's Required Checklist into your fairgrounds' year-round safety program.
Monthly Reminders:
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Gratitude
By Becky Bailey-Findley
Executive Director, California Fair Services Authority;
Managing Director, California Construction Authority
At the end of the Thanksgiving weekend - the part where you spend time saying good bye, cleaning up the remnants of a great party, packing away the Thanksgiving gear and basking in personal feelings of gratefulness - it is clear to me that those of us who live, work and play in the fair industry are blessed. We have daily opportunities to embrace the creative energy in each of us, to gather with like-minded people and to advance goodness into a world that often seems as if it is falling apart.
After eight years working with CFSA and 10 years working with CCA, I am extremely grateful for colleagues, customers, and strategic partners who have tramped along with me - often as if we were walking naked into the land of uncertainty - but more often with the joy of solidarity, camaraderie, and shared values. Here are a few things I am grateful for that I'd like to share with you. I'm grateful for:
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Longevity - California fairs have history, long-term presence, constancy and
durability in their communities;
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Creativity - fairs are the apex of creative expression, where talent is honored and celebrated, where creative innovation advances our world;
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Managing passion - we are lucky enough in the fair industry to embrace, include and then to "manage" the passion of our communities;
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Diversity - I came out from behind the Orange Curtain and experienced the wonderfully diverse, culturally rich state of California where beauty abounds and there is much to discover;
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Being witness to resiliency and tremendous stewardship - ordinary people committing great acts of stewardship at their fairgrounds, advancing goodness, kindness and helpfulness;
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Living the 80/20 rule - reveling in tradition while trying new things, witnessing innovation and encouraging change;
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Customers - recipients of the services we provide, who prompt us to be better and whose loyalty feels like deep, rich, hot coffee with a cinnamon roll;
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Fair food - I can't live without it;
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A brick house with fabulous neighbors - solid, warm, inclusive, welcoming;
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Friendships that are exceptional, enduring, endearing, enriching and empowering.
While I am completing my physical presence in Sacramento, I know in my heart that the two entities, CFSA and CCA, will continue to:
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Exist to be sturdy houses, built upon bedrock, able to survive the wild storms of the now and future;
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Exist to serve their members, to respond to the members' needs and to be member focused and driven;
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Serve as
safe and secure havens for their members, and to lift these members to higher standards in support of their potential for success;
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Represent steadfast hope and faith in the future of California fairs.
Every human being is in need of the rescue, forgiveness, justice, mercy, refuge, and protection that they are unable to give to themselves. That is our calling, our purpose. With great optimism and hope, I look to all of us to continue in our mission to be agents of positive change, peacemakers, and servants in our communities.
Thank you from the depths of my soul and "I will see you down the road."
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Reminder for DAA Fairgrounds from CFSA and the State Fire Marshal:
Don't Play with Fire! Incorporate the State Fire Marshal's Required Checklist into your Year-Round Safety Program
If your fairgrounds isn't making use of the Office of the State Fire Marshal's Fire & Life Safety Division's information and checklist brochure, CFSA's Risk Control Specialists highly recommend that you do so beginning with your next event. Reports from the field are that fire marshals are actively checking for the checklist during fair time and interim special event inspections. Not only is compliance with State Fire Marshal (SFM) regulations (of which the checklist is a part) a requirement for all District Agricultural Association (DAA) fairgrounds, it is also an excellent fire prevention resource for
all fairgrounds.
CFSA Risk Control Supervisor Lesly Wade notes that many DAA fairgrounds provide vendors with a copy of the checklist brochure in the vendors' packets. This is a great start! She added that if your fairgrounds needs a copy of the brochure, the Specialists are including it in your fair's pre-fair inspection packet. (If you need the brochure sooner than your pre-fair inspection, please contact your fair's Risk Control Specialist.)
Two areas where the Risk Control Specialists see the most infractions are in the exhibit halls and in the livestock barns where booth and display materials are either not fire resistant or exhibitors simply don't know. According to the State Fire Marshal: "All fabric or pliable canopy covers, side/backdrops and decorative materials must be: a.) Inherently fire resistive and labeled as such; or
b.) Treated by an SFM licensed applicator. If the booth is owner occupied, it may be treated by the owner with an SFM approved fire retardant chemical (empty cans and dated sales receipts can serve as proof.)" In addition, the use of generators, space heaters, toasters, coffee makers, electric skillets and hot plates in livestock barns are explicitly not allowed by the State Fire Marshal.
Lesly also reports that fire marshals are concerned that fairgrounds are not using the new GOVMotus program to notify the Office of the State Fire Marshal of upcoming events. And, when the fire marshals do find out about an event, she added, it can lead to additional inspections. For more information on how to use this new online system, please visit: https://osfm.fire.ca.gov/govmotus-fire/.
For more information on fire prevention, please contact your fairgrounds' Risk Control Specialist. Ask about recommendations for online training programs through TargetSolutions and Safety Talks: A Tailgate/Toolbox Resource, too. These on-demand training resources are available at no cost to all CFSA risk-pool program member fairs through CFSA's partnership with the California State Association of Counties Excess Insurance Authority (CSAC EIA), CFSA's excess insurance carrier.
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Do You Know Where Your Fair's Hand Washing Signs Are?
According to the U.S. Census, an estimated
80% of all Americans live in urban areas. So, while
washing hands after visiting a livestock barn may be second nature to those of us lucky enough to be around livestock on a regular basis, this may not be the case with fair guests.
Help make visiting the animals your exhibitors have worked so hard to bring to your fair an enjoyable adventure and memory for your urban dwelling neighbors. Please post your fair's hand washing signs in easy to see areas and set up a stroller parking spot outside the barns. If you need additional signs, you can print out (and laminate) signs from CDFA's Fairs & Exposition's website:
Play it Safe Hand Washing Signs
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Wash Your Hands buttons are available at no charge
to all upcoming 2020 fairs. If your fair hasn't yet received a supply of buttons, please let your Risk Control Specialist know how many pin on buttons you will need for animal exhibitors and fair staff. You can also contact Melissa Thurber at 916/263-6163 or mthurber@cfsa.org. Show your guests you care about their health and safety!
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(L) John Quiroz, CDFA; Becky Bailey-Findley, CFSA; and Stephen Kenny, CFSA Board President, Butte County Fair CEO
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CFSA Hosts a Retirement Celebration for Executive Director Becky Bailey-Findley at the 2019 CFA Fall Managers' Conference
On Wednesday, November 6, CFSA hosted a retirement celebration for Becky Bailey-Findley, CFSA's Executive Director. Becky retires at the end of the year. Rebecca Desmond, currently CFSA's Deputy Executive Director, was appointed by the CFSA board to be CFSA's new Executive Director as of January 1, 2020.
Close to 70 guests enjoyed hors d'oeuvres, a no-host bar and the opportunity to reminisce with Becky about past shared experiences.
John Quiroz, CFSA board director and Branch Chief of CDFA's Fairs & Expositions, presented Becky with a framed Proclamation honoring her "upon her retirement and for her service to the Network of California Fairs," signed by Karen Ross, Secretary, CDFA.
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CFSA's
2019 Holiday Hours
Winter Holidays/Christmas:
CFSA will be closed the week of December 23 -27.
New Year's: CFSA will be closed Wednesday, January 1, so staff can ring in the New Year - safely, of course!
If you need to get a hold of someone from CFSA
on any of these days, please call 916/921-2213. We are here for you, even
when
we aren't here.
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In 2020, we'll be demonstrating the online training programs available at no cost to CFSA risk-pool program members
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Looking Ahead:
You're Invited to CFSA's Trade Show Booth at the WFA Convention & Trade Show, January 19 - 22 in Reno
When attending the 2020 Western Fairs Association (WFA) Convention & Trade Show, make sure you stop by CFSA's trade show booth #527 to say hello and to learn more about the online, on-demand training available to all risk-pool program members at no cost. We'll be conducting on-the-spot demonstrations in our booth; come take a look.
You'll find that the training programs are easy to use and that they are an economical way to provide training to everyone on your fairgrounds - from permanent staff to temporary fair time workers
and volunteers.
The California Construction Authority will be at the trade show, too
Have a construction project in mind or one currently underway that you would like to discuss with the experts at the California Construction Authority (CCA)? Representatives will be available in trade show booth #531, as well as throughout the convention.
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Have Your 2020 Fair Dates? Are They Posted on Your Fair Website?
 The New Year will be here before you know it and CFSA's Risk Control Specialists are already making plans for their pre-fair and fair time visits. Their first step is knowing your fair's 2020 fair dates and the first place they look is on your website. Help them and your annual fair guests get you on their calendars. Post your 2020 fair dates on your website as soon as you have them. Thank you!
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Save The Date for Maintenance Mania 2020! 
Whether your fairgrounds is in Southern or Northern California, Maintenance Mania 2020 is coming your way. Take a look:
Tuesday - Thursday, February 4 - 6: at the OC Fair & Event Center, Costa Mesa
Tuesday - Thursday, March 3 - 5: at the Yuba-Sutter Fair, Yuba City
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Remember to Send a Copy of
Your Fairgrounds' Monthly
Contract Log to CFSA by the
15th of Every Month
Has your fairgrounds sent its November contract log to CFSA yet? If you have, thank you for helping us help you keep claims costs down! If you haven't, please do so as soon as you can - ideally by the 15th of each month. Doing so gives Mario Castagnola, CFSA's risk analyst,
ample time to review your log and to get back to you if there are any questions.
Please fax your contract logs to: 916/263-6159, Attention: Mario, or email them to Mario at:
mcastagnola@cfsa.or
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Keep Your CFSA Risk Control Specialist in the Loop with Post Facility Inspection Updates
After you have repaired, adjusted or developed a plan of action for any problematic areas identified in your fairgrounds' Pre-fair Inspection Report, remember to send a copy of the updated correction sheet to your Risk Control Specialist.
(The correction sheet is attached to your Pre-fair Inspection Report.)
Have questions about your fairgrounds' report or not sure where to begin? Contact your fair's Risk Control specialist or Tom Amberson, Risk Department manager, at 916/263-6180 or tamberson@cfsa.org.
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