The 2008 Merced County Fair’s “Come Rock With The Flock” event was a rocking good time and now it has won a bunch of awards.

The Merced County Fair has received 10 awards from the Western Fairs Association (WFA) annual Achievement Awards. Robin Hauck, the fair’s CEO, accepted the awards at the 86th annual Convention & Trade Show (Jan. 25-28) in Reno, NV. The WFA is a non-profit trade association serving the fair industry throughout the Western United States and Canada.

The 2008 Merced County Fair entries were judged among medium-sized fairs with an annual attendance of 50,000 to 150,000. Other fairs competing in the same category included: Contra Costa County Fair, El Dorado County Fair, Madera District Fair, Marin County Fair, Monterey County Fair, Nevada County Fair, San Mateo County Fair, Santa Barbara County Fair and Sonoma-Marin County Fair.

The goal of the association’s awards program is to recognize excellence and to share innovative ideas and successful programs. “It’s a big challenge to put on a top quality fair that offers something for everyone in our diverse community,” said Hauck. “It’s a real tribute to our fair to receive these prestigious awards.”

The fair was honored with four first place awards. The Display Newspaper Advertising award was for the full-color, custom-printed ad designed to wrap around the front section of the Merced Sun-Star’s July 13 edition. The “spadea” ad was created by Shellee Randol, the Sun-Star’s Senior Graphic Designer.

The Milk Producer’s Contest 50th Anniversary entry took first place in the “Any Other” category. The fair celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Haydn J. “Mickey” Sartori Grade A Milk Producers’ Contest in May. The annual event sponsored by the fair is held for educational purposes and as an incentive for milk producers who don’t distribute their own products, but sell them in bulk to companies for processing and distribution. The goal is to give producers a chance to demonstrate their skills in producing high-grade milk and to recognize their abilities. Creamery Awards are presented to the highest scoring milk producers. The contest is reportedly the largest of its kind west of the Mississippi River and is limited to dairies in Merced, Madera, Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Sacramento Counties. There were 642 entries in this year’s competition.

In the Display Advertising “Any Other” category, the fair got a first place award for the color ad that appeared in La Mejor, a Spanish-language magazine. The ad was designed by Jo Sullivan of ProDesign of Merced, the graphic designer who designs and produces the fair’s annual newspaper advertising campaign.

In the “Give It Your Best Shot” photo category, a photo of a fair vendor wearing rabbit ears and firing a toy gun that shoots bubbles took first place honors. The photo was taken by Greg Hubbard of Merced, a Fresno City College photography instructor, who also is the fair photographer.

The fair won four second place awards for its Television Advertising, the Exhibitor’s Handbook, the Theme Program and a photo in the “Give It Your Best Shot” Agriculture category.

The fair’s television advertising, based on the fair’s theme, “Come Rock With the Flock,” a celebration of sheep, was created and produced by George Bertaina of Go Media in Merced.

The free 80-page Exhibitor’s Handbook contains everything exhibitors need to know about submitting entries in all the fair’s divisions and categories from tree fruit, pies and pickles to woodworking, ceramics and collections.

The prize-winning photo featured a 4-H student grooming her cow. The Theme Program entry detailed how the fair’s annual commodity theme program works and how sheep and the “Come Rock With The Flock” theme were incorporated into the fair.

The fair received a third place award for its Overall Children’s Program entry highlighting all activities and attractions for children at the fair. The fair was given an honorable mention for the fair logo, “Come Rock With The Flock,” designed by Paul Wilson of Atwater.

The 118th Merced County Fair is July 21-26 and the theme is “Catch The Buzz,” a celebration of bees. For more information, call 722-1507 or go to the 2009 Merced County Fair’s website, www.MercedCountyFair.com