Fair manager gets hall of fame nod

Posted: Tuesday, Dec 25, 2007 - 10:15:09 pm PST
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By LYNN BERK
Staff writer 

Barbara Renner was inducted into the International Association of Fairs and Expositions Hall of Fame last month for her more than three decades of work with the Kootenai County Fair and Rodeo. JEROME A. POLLOS/Press

Dalton Gardens' Barbara Renner received honor in November in Las Vegas

DALTON GARDENS -- She grew up with dirt running through her veins, with the scents of flowers and vegetables and cow-stink tickling her nostrils, with the feel of soft blue ribbons in her hands and blueberry stains on her lips.

"In 1960, Harlan and I moved to the house we are in now, and we always had a garden," said Barbara Renner.

"I took the best of the best to the fair ... the fair's always been in my blood."

So it's kind of inevitable that all these days later, 71-year-old Renner would be inducted into the International Association of Fairs and Exposition Hall of Fame.

The highest honor bestowed by the ASTA, Renner, raised in Harrison and living in Dalton Gardens since 1954, was officially inducted in late November at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas.

Growing up, all Renner wanted to do was find a wonderful husband, raise a family, and be a homemaker. Mission accomplished, she said. Harlan Renner worked in the sawmills at Springston. If she timed it just right, she'd step off the school bus just in time to see the handsome sawmill worker clock out.

"When Harlan and I were first married, the fair was where McEuen Field is now," she said.

Harlan had horses, and in 1960 he got her started riding horses with a friend of hers. In 1963, she put together a ladies equestrian drill team that appeared for the next 20 years at every major event.

"It was a family affair," she said. "In 1967, the kids were getting old enough that I would enter the restaurant business -- at Pross coffee shop where Hastings is now."

As she traveled, she saw other fairgrounds -- rich and vibrant fairgrounds, very much alive and reflective of the town around them.

"Ours was standing there, only being used five to 10 days a year," Renner said. "I thought it could be greatly improved and beautified. At a convention, I asked one of the board members of the local fair how to serve on the fair board, because I thought I would like that."

His answer surprised her. "Honey, I don't know how to get on the fair board," he said. "I'd like to know how to get off."

A year and a half later, she got a letter welcoming her to the fair board.

"I had lots of great ideas but it would take a little humility on my part," she said. The fair management would go through some tumultuous times in the ensuring years until, in 1985 Renner figured out she could probably manage the fairgrounds part time.

"By 1988, I had built the fairgrounds into a much bigger enterprise and realized I was going to have to give up the fairgrounds or give up my other businesses," said Renner, who was a owner-operator of the Iron House and owner-operator of the Arrow Point resort.

Something had to give.

The businesses went.

"We did a lot of events, we remodeled a lot, we went from four days to give and our income shot up over 200 percent," Renner said. "It was becoming a very vibrant business.

"It was wonderful. It's a very, very rewarding vocation. After all, you're responsible for putting on the biggest party of the year while making the fair fiscally responsible.

"You dabble in construction, you dabble in advertising, you dabble in promotion, you dabble in rentals," she said. "You do all the jobs. There are no department heads to hold you up. It was never a boring job at all."

In 1990, she became part of the International Association of Fairs and Expositions and by 1993, she was working with them in England and Germany and Scotland and Australia and Canada and Mexico and New Zealand.

"I realized that the absolute core of the fair is the agricultural interest and the domestic side, and that was taking a back seat to commercialism," she said.

The association asked her to travel and present workshops and seminars, encouraging smaller communities to get involved who felt they were "too small to count."

"But they do count," Renner said.

In 1998 she was asked to serve as president of the IAFE, the first time any woman held the position and the first president from a small fair.

"That was kind of the pinnacle of my vision," she said.

Everyone who goes to a fair will tell you their favorite part was the animals.

"It's a family event," she said. "It's somewhere to come to and feel safe, and it's one of the most inexpensive ways of entertaining your family ... a very economical way to have a lot of fun."

"I think the fairgrounds have become a center for the community because they have the ability to bring in entertainment, trade shows, cars shows -- that's what I saw back in the 1960s. It's a great way to add to your economic base."

Back in her day, Renner said, "We had no grass, we had a fairgrounds that was literally gravel and everything needed new roofs. Now we have about 300 events a year.

"I'm happy with what I left behind, happy they've tried to perpetuate that."

Her favorite part of the fair was working with all the volunteers, as well as her small staff.

"We work so far for 365 days," and said.

"And then it's gone."

Lynn Berk can be reached at (208) 691-4006.