Volunteer Chair Position is Open!

It is with great disappointment that I announce I will not be returning as the Cake Decorating and Confectionery Arts Competition Chair for the 2018 Oregon State Fair.  I can no longer justify six or more weeks of volunteering.  I took the position as Chair very seriously.  We do not have a professional show in Oregon and I really wanted to create that with the Oregon State Fair Cake Decorating and Confectionery Arts Competition.  However, taking more than a month off from my business every year has been detrimental to my personal business goals.  Every year I have to work doubly hard to recover from being away.  Without the means to hire another artist to replace me during that time off I have had to make the decision to stop as Chair.

I am very proud of my work these last four years.  I know that I was instrumental to bringing new life into the competition and have given the competition a good start.  I wasn't able to realize all of my goals and objectives for the competition but hope that the new chair will continue improving the level of professionalism, the number of entries, and attraction to the competition.

What have I done these last four years you ask?  

Accomplishments as Chair
2014 (started in late March): 

• Wrote the Decorated Cakes & Confectionery Arts Competition Handbook.
• 28 confirmed entries.
• $670 cash and prizes obtained from fundraising.
• Paid $250 judges fees from personal funds.
• Designed and paid $1500 for acrylic display walls and connectors, rented to OSF.
• Designed layout and implemented set-up and take-down of display area.
• Obtained and organized every volunteer used in the department. 
• Led and supervised all volunteers and activities daily during the fair.
• Engaged public at the fair daily, open to close.
• Took and maintained photo log of every stage.
• 250 volunteer hours worked. (6.25 40-hour weeks)

2015

• Made extensive changes to handbook per lessons learned from 2014
• 32 confirmed entries.
• $500 cash and prizes obtained from fundraising.
• Requested and secured annual $250 judges fees from OSF Creative Living Director.
• Redesigned acrylic display units to include tops, $500 additional cost.
• Created and supervised demonstrations and volunteers for shared demonstration booth during the fair.
• Designed and created successful educational vignettes related to the department.
• Acquired on loan "Show Cakes" from local Master Sugar Artists for display.
• Acquired volunteers to be Co-Chairs of the LEGO Competition.
• Obtained and organized 120 hours of volunteer help used in the department.
• Led and supervised all volunteers and activities daily during the fair.
• Took and maintained photo log of every stage.
• Engaged public at the fair daily, open to close. 
• 350 volunteer hours worked.  (8.75 40 hour weeks)

2016

• Fine tuned handbook details with just a couple changes.
• 48 confirmed entries.
• $600 cash and prizes obtained from fundraising.
• Designed the highly successful full-time demonstration booth securing all equipment needed to run food-based demos.
• Created a demonstration schedule from open to close every day of the fair.
• Acquired on loan "Show Cakes" from local Master Sugar Artists for display.
• Secured volunteer help for the demonstration booth for the entirety of the fair.
• Managed every detail for the booth volunteers.
• Donated $450 of the $600 cost to run the demo booth ($250 budget from OSF)
• Designed and implemented information display cards for every entry.
• Took and maintained photo log of every stage.
• 498 volunteer hours worked.  (12.45 40-hour weeks)

2017

• Small changes to handbook to improve clarity based on feedback from 2016 competitors.
• 52 confirmed entries.
• $650 cash and prizes obtained from fundraising.
• Failed to secure funds to run demonstration booth again.
• Acquired on loan the ICES Convention Oregon/Washington Show Piece for display.
• Took and maintained photo log of every stage.
• Took professional photos of entries, edited them, and made them available on the new State Fair gallery page of my website.
• Designed and created “State Fair” pages to my website. www.lesliescakeroom.com 
• 275 volunteer hours worked.  (6.88 40-hour weeks)

A reason for listing the above  is so that anyone who wants to become the new Chair will see what I did as Chair.  Note:  2016 was the year I ran a full-time sugar arts demonstration booth so there are a lot more hours that year.  

Would you like to be the new Chair?

There isn't a job description available for the Chair position.  To help with your decision I am listing here the basic requirements needed just to run the competition.  The biggest consideration is the hours needed through out the year, though to do the bare minimum, 80% of your hours will be the two weeks leading up to the fair through the week following the fair.

Minimum duties:

• Attend meetings in Salem starting in February.  Meetings average one per month.
• Make any necessary changes to the Handbook.  Note that the Handbook was based off of national shows and tweaked a little annually as needed for our competition.  The handbook should not require much time moving forward.  That being said, the new chair can make any changes they see fit to make.
• Organization skills are a must.  
  • Call entrants the week before intake and verify they will be bringing their entry(s).
  • Determine layout of tables and entries to best fit the acrylic displays.
• Be on hand for two days of intake.  Very important to be organized so that you do not have to move entries once they are set up by entrant.  Also need to consider how the displays fit around the entries.  This takes a full day and several volunteers.
• Set up the acrylic displays around the entries including display of ribbons and signs.
• Organize volunteers to work the area every day of the fair, open to close if possible.  Sugar arts experience is helpful but not required.
• Count Peoples Choice votes
• Be at the Fair most days for a few hours.  They cannot require this but it is helpful to have the chair available and to have a supervisory presence if needed.
• Be on hand for the two days entrants pick up their entries.  Organize and return judging cards, ribbons, and any prizes awarded.

Recommended Additions:

• Fundraising for prizes starts in November and continue through until intake.
• Create demonstration vignettes, for one of the rotating demo booths.
• Create live demonstrations for a full-time demo booth.  Highly successful and I highly recommend.  This will double or triple your volunteer hours.
• Main stage acts.
• Annual Show Piece for Display.
• Take photos of the different stages of work, the fair, and of course the cakes!
• Create articles for this Blog!!!  HINT HINT
• Maintain photos for a website.  Post to Pinterest and other social media.
•  A LOT MORE!

With that I move on to my continuing adventure with my family and my business.  One day when the Oregon State Fair has the funds to pay their Chairs I would love to go back.  Or maybe after I retire, though I am thinking watching sunsets from the top of some mountain is where I will be when I retire.

Best wishes to the new Chair!