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She’s the person behind the pig awaiting sale at the livestock auction, the vase of dahlias on display in the horticulture building, the watercolor painting hanging on the wall in the Pavilion and the goat being shown by the 4Her at judging.
Pat Kress is one of those behind-the-scenes people who handles the details of exhibiting at the Merced County Fair. You won’t see her when you check out a student’s ag mechanics or home economics project in the Junior Exhibits Building, admire a quilt displayed in the Home Arts Building or size up a homegrown tomato in the Ag Building, but she’s one of the people who helps make the fair happen each year.
Pat Kress serves as the Exhibit Supervisor for the Merced County Fair. That means she looks at the fair from a computer monitor, spending most of her time at the keyboard entering data and crunching numbers. Kress, who calls the Central Coast town of Santa Maria home when she isn’t working the fair circuit, has been working as an independent contractor for the fair since 2001. This will be her eighth Merced County Fair.
Each year she spends a few days in February overseeing preliminary preparations and returns around Memorial Day, coming and going as the exhibit entry deadlines get closer. By mid-June she’s back in Merced full-time through the end of the fair. This year’s fair is July 15-20.
Her job is to process entries submitted to the fair, inputting them in the fair’s computer system and tracking them through the run of the fair. She’s responsible for thousands of non-competitive still exhibits such as arts, crafts, floriculture, fine arts and home arts. Once the exhibits are judged, she inputs those results and issues the premium checks that are awarded to some exhibitors. Kress also handles the livestock auction. Last year almost 500 swine, sheep, goats, beef and rabbit meatpens were sold at the auction and it’s her job to keep track of the stats on each exhibitor’s animal -- weight, price per pound, buyers and total sale.
When she isn’t crunching numbers or working on spreadsheets, Kress said, “In my free time I do whatever Robin wants me to do,” she added with a hearty chuckle.
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Over the years she held a variety of jobs in banking, embarking on a career with fairs in 1984. Kress worked as a master food purveyor providing the food and beverages served at all events held at Santa Barbara’s Earl Warren Showgrounds for 5 years.
She served as the satellite supervisor for Earl Warren Showgrounds’ satellite horse racing wagering for 3 years. In 1992 she became the exhibit supervisor there and was in charge of booking facilities rentals and commercial and food concessions. She was promoted to CEO of Earl Warren Showgrounds in 1993 and retired in 2000.
But retirement didn’t last long. “I decided I wasn’t through with the fair industry,” she said. Kress started working as an independent contractor for fairs and events around the state. She specializes in program entry, asset /property management and accounting.
Her resume includes serving as the interim CEO in Watsonville for the Santa Cruz County Fair from 2000-01 and she recently was the interim CEO for the Sonoma/Marin Fair in Petaluma from October 2007 to January.
Since 2000 she has worked for the Calaveras County Fair with competitive entries and auditing. For the past four years she has handled program entries at the Great Western Livestock Show in Tulare. Kress also takes care of box office sales and competitive entries for the Nevada County Fair in Grass Valley.
Since she began working the fair circuit she is usually away from home from April through October.
Kress has made her home on the Central Coast for 25 years. After 25 years of marriage, her husband, Jack, passed away in 2006. When she’s home she spends time with her two daughters and their families, including six grandchildren -- five granddaughters and one grandson. She enjoys working around the house, making improvements and catching up on the maintenance that’s put on hold when she’s gone. Kress’ hobbies include refinishing antiques, crosstitch needlework and travel, particularly cruises.
But this year she wasn’t home much at all because of the Petaluma CEO job. “Last year I slept in my own bed 15 days and those weren’t in a row,” she said. “My home away from home is a 32-foot fifth wheel.” When she’s on the road she takes along her Border Collie, Georgee.
She continues working for fairs because, “It gives me the opportunity to renew old friendships. I get to see the people I wouldn’t see otherwise. Once you’re hooked on the fair industry you’re hooked for life,” Kress said, adding, “The people in the fair industry are fun to be around.”
At this point, Kress is choosy about which fairs she works. What keeps her coming back to the Merced County Fair is “the cohesiveness of the entire staff. Everybody works together. It’s truly a family affair. If something needs to get done, we get it done and everybody pitches in from maintenance to livestock.” And she points out that the crew doesn’t change much, unlike some fairs that experience more turnover among employees.
“If it’s not fun I’m just not going to do it,” she said, showing off her trademark grin. “I’m getting older, I need to slow down,” she said, adding, “But my fairs won’t let me.”
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