Solomon wins regional fairgrounds manager award

Havre Mayor Tim Solomon was honored Wednesday for his 12 years as manager of the Great Northern Fairgrounds.

The Rocky Mountain Fair Association, a trade organization that promotes fairs and festivals throughout the Rocky Mountain region and Canada, presented Solomon with their Fair Manager of the Year Award at the association's annual four-day convention, being held this year in Layton, Utah.

The gathering will also consist of workshops and presentations by different stakeholders in the fair industry.

Solomon, who served as fairgrounds manager from 2003 to 2015, said he was "pretty thrilled" to be presented with the award in the form of a plaque. He said several people he worked with as fairgrounds manager, including recently deceased Great Northern Fair Board Chair Alma Seidel, nominated Solomon for the award.

The award has been given out every year since 1977 by the association to one of the managers of its member fairs.

Nancy Pitz, executive secretary for the association, said Solomon's name was submitted last year and nominees who do not win automatically can be rolled over into the next year.

"There's a lot of work that goes into nomination," said Pitz.

Contenders for the award are required to be managers of fairs that are members of the association for at least five years and be nominated by someone they have worked with while managing their respective fairgrounds.

Nominations, Pitz said, need to be submitted with a short biography, resume, explanation of why the nominee's work merits recognition, information on other community activities they are involved in and letters of reference.

Compounding this challenge is the fact the association doesn't want those whose names are submitted to be involved in the nominating process. Therefore, those who put forth a name must acquire and send in personal data on their respective managers, without their knowledge.

The more pieces of information submitted, said Pitz, the better picture they get of a candidate during the review and nominating process.

Candidates are then evaluated by an association panel using a points-based system ranking them in three categories: current fair work, participation in fair industry activities and other activities and achievements.

The numbers are then tabulated and recipients notified.

Solomon was notified in October he would receive the award by the association, so he could make the necessary arrangements to attend the convention.