Each year on the last day of Fair, staff and other department heads gather for a group photo. Location changes from year to year. This year, we chose the Budweiser Stage. Here are just a handful of folks that helped make the 2011 Fair happen. There are hundreds more people that contribute to the organization and implementation of this great event. We salute each and everyone that helped in any way!
We're just a bunch of kids that never grew up! We love fairs and have fun getting ready for the fairgoer! Meet some of our folks when they were young and carefree!
More photos will be added as we receive them from our staff.
Ruth Anglin
Fair Activities Manager
Ruth handles all aspects of the non-commercial side of the fair, i.e. those that want to show off their animals, pies, quilts, etc. She also is our "wine specialist." Ruth coordinates the Washington State Wine Judging Competition and the Sunshine & Wine event. |
Jill Rodgers
Assistant to
Fair Activities Manager
Jill is Ruth's right-hand gal and helps with all of the non-commercial aspects of the Fair, including helping coordinate the Wine Judging Competition and our Sunshine & Wine event. At Fair time Jill knows the name of EVERY animal that is entered in the Fair. |
Juan Zepeda
Maintenance Specialist
Juan works year-round on SunDome events and helps prepare the buildings and grounds for the annual Fair. He's one of our hard-working muscle-men that handles changeovers on all events in the SunDome. |
Dianne LaBissoniere
Marketing Manager
Dianne coordinates marketing, fairfun.com website, sells sponsorships, organizes the rodeo events. Actually, she talks a lot of bull all year to anybody that will listen. |
Ray Mata
Production Manager
Ray coordinates with show promoters all aspects of pulling off a successful event here at State Fair Park. At Fair time he helps coordinate Main Stage and Grandstand events. Ray pretty much lives here. |
Sheila Weber
Executive Assistant
to Greg Stewart
Sheila is our resident clown when she isn't typing minutes and attending meetings with the boss. She keeps us in stitches! |
Judy Buermann
Commercial Exhibits Mgr.
Judy sells our real estate for fair, which means booking the commercial exhibit space and food concessions. Managing 300+ businesses isn't an easy task. She's a go-getter! |
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Misty Craft
Bean Counter
Misty pays all the bills that the rest of us run up. She won't come up for air until after October or November! |
Gail Ragland
Administrative Assistant to Greg Lybeck
Gail keeps our events & maintenance department running smoothly. She does a great job of keeping people moving in the right direction to meet deadlines for events. |
Angie Larrabee
Ticket Office Manager
Meet our TicketsWest Queen. Angie's been selling tickets to all of our shows year-round for years and years. Actually, she knows everything in the world that there is to know about tickets & parking. She also keeps the State Fair Park and SunDome websites updated with all the upcoming events. |
Greg Stewart
The Boss
Greg's been our President and General Manager for over 38 years. He's watched the Fair grow to ten days and the facilities expand. He's got lots of stories about this Fair, the people that made it what it is, some fun and great stories about entertainers that have appeared. Proud to be a WSU Cougar! |
Brenda Skidmore
Queen of Concessions
Brenda walks her legs off at every event to check each concession stand, check on her people, check on the food. She cooks up a storm & handles all of our catering jobs. You'll see her at every public and private event, probably wearing lime green and the same sunglasses as above! |
Willard Nelson
SunDome Maintenance
This guy leads the charge in the SunDome and is an expert in change-overs. No easy task. This time of year he helps ready the buildings and grounds for the main event. He's another one of our hard-working muscle men. He's sometimes confused as Greg Stewart's body guard. |
Steve Sires
Operations Manager
Steve oversees the crews and maintenance for the grounds and all the buildings. This job is challenging with our aging buildings and the amount of ground that we have to cover. He's worked on change-overs for years and understands what it takes to set up for an event and to make the event go.
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Bo Gottfried
Food & Beverage Manager
Bo leads the charge when it comes to food & beverage for ALL events that take place on our fairgrounds. Whether it's food concession stands in the SunDome or catering interim events in the various buildings, he's your guy. Bo is very involved in each and every event that takes place here at State Fair Park. He walks a lot of miles each and every year. |
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Greg Lybeck
Assistant General Manager
Greg is the person responsible for booking all main SunDome events, like Walking with Dinosaurs, flat shows, and the big concerts. Greg's been around since the early years of SunKings and continues to search out shows that Yakima will enjoy and support. He also oversees the overall maintenance crew for State Fair Park. He's quite the golfer, low handicapper, and is always in demand to be in someone's foursome. |
