Tom Barnes Quotations

Corporate gifting is a crowded and competitive field. Promotional-product salespeople will tell their customers they can get them anything -- and they can.

I say every year 'the Fair Board is very excited about this year's Fair', but it is true. We really are excited about every Fair. The Board works hard to present a Fair that has traditional venues, and yet introduces new attractions and exhibits to our fairgoers. Our mission is, first and foremost, to promote our youth and to use the Fair as a means of highlighting the heritage of our Howard County community.

It's given us a lot of great opportunities to form a long-term relationship with clients, but it's not always a good thing. I know there are a lot of people out there selling with scare tactics, the ones who don't want to see viruses go away. I disagree with that sales philosophy, but I see a lot of it.

This is a tremendous group of professionals. Their training is outstanding, and you'll get a sense of the market and what you are up against.

This is the first year we have teams that are definitely planning to come up. We have been trying for a couple of years to make this meet happen. This year, it will.

Fairgoers will be treated to one of country music's favorite party-rock bands. The Board is very excited to have booked the Kentucky Headhunters. This will be a show that fairgoers will not want to miss.

Our Fair has used this type of grandstand admission since 1985. It works very well for our area, as it offers our fairgoers a lot of quality entertainment for the price of one button. If we look at this year's grandstand lineup and price each show separately, like many other Fairs do, the total cost of going to all grandstand shows would be $62. At the Howard County Fair, one $15 button is all that is need to see all of these shows. Your Fair offers the best entertainment deal anywhere.

Amanda Leonard of Marquette just joined the team this week. She's a high jumper. I saw her jumping in track class and told her she should be on the team.

It's tough to go direct to end-users when you are likely competing with a person who has almost everything else -- including a sales relationship with your potential customers.

In order to get into the tournament you have to enter 42 days in advance and Andy didn't do that. The only other way to get in is to get a wild card or to play qualifiers and win, or be a lucky loser if there's a spot. Or if one of the wild cards withdrew before we made the draw.