After two long years, everything is aligning for a great in-person Fair. It will be wonderful to see everyone!
The volunteer planning team and MOFGA staff have been working over the past two years to prepare, and we are thrilled to debut a more spacious layout on the fairgrounds. Please be sure to consult the map for the location of your favorite areas and speakers tents as we have moved some of the busiest areas to larger spaces. We have also taken steps to decrease crowds and lines at the Fair by reorganizing the food areas and adopting electronic tickets. This will help people spend more time enjoying the Fair and less time standing in lines and navigating crowds.
All of these improvements combined with more personal precautionary measures, such as vaccinations and masks, allow us to move forward in supporting a healthy in-person Fair as we continue to live in a pandemic. We are not planning to have any fair-wide mandates or limits on attendance. We do ask everyone to be respectful of each other’s decisions regarding preventative measures. We know attending the Fair is a personal decision and hope you will join us. For those who are unable to attend the Fair, we are simulcasting the keynotes each day on WERU Community Radio 89.9 FM and online at weru.org. You can also enjoy quality educational content, find exhibitors and support MOFGA’s work at mofga.org.
MOFGA continues to support and grow what fairgoers, volunteers and exhibitors love about the Fair. We are thankful to have the 21 exhibitor areas, 62 educational speaker and demonstration areas, and 4 performing artist stages that have been enjoyed for many years ready for this year’s Fair. To balance our diverse and engaging offerings with the inflation that has affected key infrastructure, we need to increase ticket prices. This inflation ranges from 20-70%. We have done our best to not pass these costs on to fairgoers and the ticket increase will help us break even. Since we are working to cover the costs of the Fair, we won’t be able to fundraise additional support for MOFGA’s year-round work through Fair admission. If you are able to, please consider donating to MOFGA and supporting our PFAS work, educational resources and community support initiatives.
We need you to help make the Fair happen! We hope you will volunteer at the Fair. It’s a great way to meet new people, catch up with friends and be a part of a team — all the aspects of life many of us have missed so much during the pandemic. MOFGA greatly values everything that volunteers do and to show our appreciation we ensure that volunteers get into the Fair for free, receive an iconic Fair T-shirt and enjoy a delicious meal in the Common Kitchen. We couldn’t have the Fair without volunteers. Please join us by signing up for a volunteer shift at mofga.vomo.org before the Fair or by visiting the Volunteer Tent during the Fair. Only together can we lift ourselves up as a community and move forward. All we need is gratitude, meaningful work and you!
See you at the Fair.
In gratitude,
April Boucher, Common Ground Country Fair Director
