RP Booths at Iowa County Fairs

[IDefendThePlatform]

I was planning on coming down Aug 6-14 with the liberty house but I'm not sure how much stuff they'll have for me to do there. How far is Scott County from Ames?

Outstanding. It's about 3 hours. If you can help withthe Scott county fair that would be awesome cuz that's a HUGE fair. Maybe we could do a chip in for a motel there. Or you might hit up some YAL members in Iowa city for a place to stay cuz that's just 45 min away.

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

I guess we could setup a free wifi hotspot and name it "Ron Paul 2012"

http://www.walkinghotspot.com/

Connectivity Anywhere - Connectivity to the internet anywhere you can make a phone call
Low Cost - No additional hardware needed! Just you, your smartphone, one data plan from your carrier / operator, and a low one-time fee for WalkingHotSpot ($25)
Easy Setup - No additional software needed on your laptop, just start WalkingHotSpot and connect to it from your laptop like you would any other WLAN hotspot
Multiple Connections - Flexible with up to five(5) simultaneous connections … a true hotspot!

Others:
http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Mobile-Broadband-Router-Black/dp/B001LYSVE6/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_0
http://www.amazon.com/CradlePoint-P...Wireless/dp/B001212ELY/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_1
etc.

Most of these only handle a few connections - like 5 and have a limited range - like 150'

I'm sure something a bit more expensive could handle more users, but the limit seems to be the 3G network so multiples of these might be the best bet.

Good idea!

 

[IDefendThePlatform]

Thanks tangent. 150' range sounds pretty good. Anyone checking their phone will see it and appreciate it.

 

[malkusm]

Bump for Friday nighters

 

[malkusm]

Bump for Saturdayers, too.

 

[Badger Paul]

Allamakee and Winneshek counties are the one's closest to where I live. If anyone needs help with these counties, let me know.

 

[speciallyblend]

idefend , please consider making a chipin for your fair plans so supporters can help you pay the fees andc extra expenses!! When you make a chipin please make it a NEW THREAD and i will help spread it around and get rpf members to either donate or get me banned

 

[Roxi]

Totally silly idea, and I don't know if it is even feasible or legal.... offering free watermelon would be yummy and help cool people off too, particularly if you can find any RP supporters that grow watermelon in Iowa to donate a bunch.

I don't know... just sounded good.

 

[Maximus]

Totally silly idea, and I don't know if it is even feasible or legal.... offering free watermelon would be yummy and help cool people off too, particularly if you can find any RP supporters that grow watermelon in Iowa to donate a bunch.

I don't know... just sounded good.

Otter pops are also easy to handout, I've done it handing out and otter pop with a small flyer wrapped around it... big hit

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

[UPDATED TO INCLUDE ALL COUNTIES]

Our coordination, assumptions and priorities are messed up. It looks like the 3 uf us that have been looking up info have been cherry picking, or more likely we are all clicking on all of the links, with no clear distribution of labor. What we should have been doing is saying, I'll take all fairs starting between this date and this one, etc. I looked at the list and said to hell with it. Just focusing on those not in red created more work than just starting from scratch. The list below is the first 4 rows of counties, from the top, of the county map. 42 of them. I sorted by attendance.

Lets look at assumptions and priorities:

Size: Obviously, we want a presence at all the big ones. Where do we cut off what is “big” and a high priority? More to the point, a small fair that a local supporter is willing to staff is more valuable than a mid sized one we can't staff. Small/Medium sized fairs have a couple of other advantages: politicians and political campaigns NEVER visit these places. The impression left is like that of a tourist visiting a foreign country that has bothered to learn the language. (Very good!) Secondly, large fairs are most likely to be near large cities – ie: more liberal, while the smaller and more rural ones are more likely to have more conservative attitudes. Third: a large fair is going to have so much to look at, it's overwhelming and people are more likely to briefly pass by, (hence more need for crowd bait) while smaller ones will have less to offer and people are more likely to linger. One other thing, a 3 day fair with 100,000 attendance is roughly equivalent to a 9 day fair with 300,000 attendance.

Goal: I see too much focus on wining the straw poll and not enough on winning the caucus. Both are important, yet priorities seem to be based, both by distance and date solely on the straw poll. This is a mistake.

Distance: I see distance focused on distance to Ames. This is a consideration for the straw poll, especially if they are going to drive themselves. Within 50-75 miles might be reasonable for putting an emphasis on this, but the PCC stated they will have buses coming from every county, so besides transportation time issues, this is largely irrelevant. What is relative is proximity of supporters willing to staff fair booths. We can divide this into 3 categories of supporters and 3 proximities:

1 – individual or small clusters of identified supporters, probably in the boonies – Prox A
2 – Meetups and YAL chapters Prox A-C
3 – Statewide Fair team probably based in Ames or Des Moines and willing to travel anywhere in the state. Locals and out of state volunteers. Main target is large fairs.

A – Their county (primary)
B – Counties adjoining theirs (secondary)
C – 2 counties away – larger fairs only (or anywhere in the state for the out of state team)

Again, we need to get the Meetups back up!

Staffing density: I see a number of people volunteering to take this fair or that one, this will probably work for a smaller fair that is shorter and has more limited hours. 10Am – 10pm for a week and a half will not. That some of the fairs offer to provide 7-9 staff tickets per booth should tell you something....

Dates: if a fair runs from July 21-26, for venders that sometimes means set up July 20th and tear down July 27th. This is important if you are planning to do another fair 5 counties away that opens on the 27th, or if you are not arriving in IA till the 21st. If you are not set up at the opening, they may not let you set up at all.

Insurance: For small ones, probably not necessary. Larger ones sometimes demand it. There are companies that will offer 1 million of event insurance for a short duration event, and it's cheap.

Literature/handouts: We may be able to get this from the PCC, but shouldn't count on it. We may be on our own here. This could drive up costs substantially, and severely limit the number of fairs we can do.


A leading (A) means we have/had a Meetup in that county.

VAN BUREN COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 1,500
(A) BLACK HAWK COUNTY 4-H & FFA FAIR Est. Attendance: 2,000
KEOKUK COUNTY EXPO Est. Attendance: 2,100
OSCEOLA COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 3,000
DICKINSON COUNTY 4-H/FFA FAIR Est. Attendance: 3,500
RINGGOLD COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 3,700
LUCAS COUNTY 4-H ACHIEVEMENT SHOW Est. Attendance: 4,000
GRUNDY COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 4,200
CALHOUN COUNTY EXPO Est. Attendance: 4,300
FREMONT COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 4,500
EMMET COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SHOW Est. Attendance: 4,800
LOUISA COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 5,000
CLARKE COUNTY 4-H FAIR Est. Attendance: 5,000
DECATUR COUNTY 4-H & FFA FAIR Est. Attendance: 5,000
O'BRIEN COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 5,100
TAMA COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 5,200
(A) CARROLL COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 5,500
(A) ADAMS COUNTY 4-H/FFA YOUTH FAIR Est. Attendance: 5,500
WAYNE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 6,600
WINNEBAGO COUNTY JUNIOR SHOW & FAIR Est. Attendance: 5,700
BUENA VISTA COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 6000
POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 6,000
IDA COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 6,500
IOWA COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 6,500
MILLS COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 6,500
POCAHONTAS COUNTY 4-H & FFA FAIR Est. Attendance: 6,850
MONTGOMERY COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 7,000
MONROE COUNTY 4-H & FFA FAIR Est. Attendance: 7,000
SIOUX COUNTY YOUTH FAIR Est. Attendance: 7,500
GREENE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 7,500
(A) POLK COUNTY 4-H & FFA FAIR Est. Attendance: 7,500
PAGE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 7,500
PALO ALTO COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 7,600
CHICKASAW - BIG FOUR FAIR Est. Attendance: 8,000
UNION COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 8,000
(A) GREATER JEFFERSON COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 8,000
APPANOOSE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 8,000
TAYLOR COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 8,500
(A) STORY COUNTY YOUTH FAIR Est. Attendance: 9,000
(A) JASPER COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 9,000
AUDUBON COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 9,500
BENTON COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 9,900
MONONA COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 10,000
HARRISON COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 10,000
(A) DALLAS COUNTY 4-H FAIR Est. Attendance: 10,000
MADISON COUNTY LIVESTOCK SHOW & FAIR Est. Attendance: 10,000
HENRY COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 10,000
DAVIS COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 10,000
CLINTON COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 11,000
CLAYTON COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 11,500
(A) HUMBOLDT COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 12,000
WRIGHT COUNTY DISTRICT JUNIOR FAIR Est. Attendance: 12,000
GUTHRIE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 12,000
FAYETTE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 12,750
LYON COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 13,000
BOONE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 13,000
CRAWFORD COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 13,400
MARSHALL - CENTRAL IOWA FAIR Est. Attendance: 13,500
POWESHIEK COUNTY 4-H & FFA FAIR Est. Attendance: 13,500
CASS COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 13,500
HARDIN COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 13,700
SAC COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 14,000
MITCHELL COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 14,500
CERRO GORDO - NORTH IOWA FAIR Est. Attendance: 15,000
LEE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 15,000
WORTH COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 15,500
ALLAMAKEE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 16,000
FLOYD COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 16,500
HAMILTON COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 17,000
ADAIR COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 18,000
WASHINGTON COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 18,000
(A) DES MOINES COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 18,000
BUCHANAN COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 20,000
MAHASKA - SOUTHERN IOWA FAIR Est. Attendance: 20,000
CEDAR COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 20,500
KOSSUTH COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 21000
CHEROKEE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 21,000
WEBSTER COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 21,600
BUTLER COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 22,000
JACKSON COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 23,000
(A) LINN COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 24,000
(A) HANCOCK COUNTY JUNIOR FAIR Est. Attendance: 24630
SHELBY COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 25,000
MUSCATINE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 27,000
WAPELLO COUNTY REGIONAL FAIR Est. Attendance: 30,000
(A) WARREN COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 31,000
WINNESHIEK COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 32,500
MIGHTY HOWARD COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 34,000
BREMER COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 40,000 July 31-Aug 6 http://www.bremercountyfair.com/
DELAWARE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 42,000 July 11-17 http://www.delawarecofair.com/
(A) FRANKLIN COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 50,000 July 13-17 http://www.franklincountyfair.com/ (Charlie Daniels is scheduled)
(A) JOHNSON COUNTY 4-H & FFA FAIR Est. Attendance: 50,000
(A) WOODBURY COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 55,000 Aug 3-7 http://www.woodburycountyfair.com/
(A) DUBUQUE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 64,000 July 26-31 http://www.dbqfair.com/
MARION COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 75,000 July 15-21 http://www.knoxvilleraceway.com/
(A) PLYMOUTH COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 93500 July 27-31 $115-160 (indoors), $125-150 outoors, tables and tents available for rent. http://www.plymouthcountyfair.org/
GREAT JONES COUNTY FAIR & FOOD FEST Est. Attendance: 100,000 http://www.greatjonescountyfair.com/
(A) SCOTT - MISSISSIPPI VALLEY FAIR Est. Attendance: 265,000 (Fair site says over 300,000) Aug 2-7 http://www.mvfair.com/
CLAY COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 326,500 Sep 10 - 19 $255-$675 indoor, $5.70 - $25.60 per foot of frontage outdoor (price is for whole fair), must carry insurance. http://www.claycountyfair.com/

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

Being able to staff the fairs is key, so here is a list of where we have / used to have Meetups in Iowa. Format is:

City Name (# of supporters in Meetup), contact info y/n, County(s), Fairs in those county(s).

Des Moines (164) Y
Des Moines (83) Y
Des Moines (14) N
Des Moines total (261) (A)Polk, (A)Warren, (A)Dallas (See Urbandale) POLK COUNTY 4-H & FFA FAIR Est. Attendance: 7,500, WARREN COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 31,000, DALLAS COUNTY 4-H FAIR Est. Attendance: 10,000 , STATE FAIR! - attendance is over 1 million.

Davenport (136) N
Davenport (19) Y
Davenport total (155) (A)Scott SCOTT - MISSISSIPPI VALLEY FAIR Est. Attendance: 265,000 (Fair site says over 300,000) Aug 2-7 http://www.mvfair.com/

Iowa City (128) N
Iowa City (26) Y
Iowa City total (154) (A)Johnson County JOHNSON COUNTY 4-H & FFA FAIR Est. Attendance: 50,000

Ames (108) Y (A)Story STORY COUNTY YOUTH FAIR Est. Attendance: 9,000
Cedar Rapids (101) Y (A)Linn LINN COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 24,000
Fairfield (66) Y (A)Jefferson GREATER JEFFERSON COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 8,000
Dubuque (54) Y (A)Dubuque DUBUQUE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 64,000 July 26-31 http://www.dbqfair.com/
Waterloo (45) N (A)Black Hawk (see Cedar Falls) BLACK HAWK COUNTY 4-H & FFA FAIR Est. Attendance: 2,000
Souix City (44) N (A)Woodbury, (A)Plymouth WOODBURY COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 55,000 Aug 3-7 http://www.woodburycountyfair.com/, PLYMOUTH COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 93500 July 27-31 $115-160 (indoors), $125-150 outoors, tables and tents available for rent. http://www.plymouthcountyfair.org/
Cedar Falls (35) Y (A)Black Hawk (see Waterloo)
Hampton (22) N (A)Franklin FRANKLIN COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 50,000 July 13-17 http://www.franklincountyfair.com/ (Charlie Daniels is scheduled)
Humbolt (19) N (A)Humboldt HUMBOLDT COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 12,000
Urbandale (14) Y (A)Polk, Dallas (see Des Moines - city)
Corning (10) N (A)Adams ADAMS COUNTY 4-H/FFA YOUTH FAIR Est. Attendance: 5,500
Britt (8) N (A)Hancock HANCOCK COUNTY JUNIOR FAIR Est. Attendance: 24630
Carroll (4) Y (A)Carroll CARROLL COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 5,500
Newton (ukn) Y (A)Jasper JASPER COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 9,000
Burlington (ukn) N (A)Des Moines DES MOINES COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 18,000

This list misses some really big ones:

CLAY COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 326,500 Sep 10 - 19 $255-$675 indoor, $5.70 - $25.60 per foot of frontage outdoor (price is for whole fair), must carry insurance. http://www.claycountyfair.com/
We have no (B) counties and it looks like Souix City, which is 2 counties away is the closest.

GREAT JONES COUNTY FAIR & FOOD FEST Est. Attendance: 100,000 http://www.greatjonescountyfair.com/
Jones County borders Linn (Cedar Rapids) and Debuque as (B) counties.

MARION COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 75,000 July 15-21 http://www.knoxvilleraceway.com/
Marion's corner touches Polk and it borders Warren, so the Des Moines and Urbandale groups would be the (B)'s.

After that, it's 42,000 attendance and less, but lets start with this list.

OK, I have not included YAL chapters and I'm assuming that all active Meetup groups in the state tag to Ron Paul, including C4L and the new Ron-Paul-2012 hierarchy. This may be a bad assumption.

The next logical steps are:

(1) Contacting and getting more detailed info for each fair.
(2) Phoning / e-mailing all the Meetup organizers. In many cases, this will require looking up people (organizers / assistant organizers by name and location to get contact info).
(3) Getting them to create or recreating the lost Meetups.

Volunteers?

-t

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

In the above, I did not consider people coming from out of state and saying I'll do this fair, YAL chapters and Meetups in adjoining states that might be close to a border county.

Thoughts?
Discussion?

I think it's entirely feasible to contact most of the old Meetup groups and do most of these fairs.

-t

 

[KingRobbStark]

I guess I have no choice.....BUMP!

 

[KingRobbStark]

Im to far away to volunteer, but I can still donate. Contact me for donations.

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

For the 19 (A) county fairs, that's reaching 778,130 people.
The 3 (B) large fairs add 501,500 people.
The state fair is over 1 Million...

23 events to reach ~5/6ths of the state's population. What's that worth?

I'm guessing it would take 125-150 volunteers and $10,000 - $20,000 to pull off, as well as a TON of organizing!

Actually, that cost is low if we need to produce all our own literature. At 2 cents a flyer, that's $20,000 by itself. (for 1 million flyers) Then yard signs, bumper stickers, wrist thingies, fans, etc.

We also might take a close look at the 42,000 - 15,000 attendance part of the list.

-t

 

[IDefendThePlatform]

Allamakee and Winneshek counties are the one's closest to where I live. If anyone needs help with these counties, let me know.

Awesome. I'll tentatively put you down to help in those counties. Hopefully we can get three or four volunteers for each fair, at least.

 

[IDefendThePlatform]

Great work tangent. I brought up this project at our Ron Paul Meetup yesterday and I think several people were interested. I'm also trying to get those Meetups in Sioux city and Ames going again.

Definitely agree that yal groups could help out a ton. I'll email some more tonight.

I think we are making progress.

 

[speciallyblend]

don't forget we need balloons and mini blimps at fairs, some to give away and sell http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showth...Paul-s-Air-Defense!!!!!&highlight=mini+blimps

 

[Alan Brown Jr.]

The Rand Fans were a huge hit. At the 2010 KY State Fair, we went through like 4 boxes of them, and it seemed like every 6th person had one.

But getting literature and supplies from the campaign was like pulling teeth. In 2009 it was flat available (the campaign hadn't settled on designs, and didn't want to spend the money.) The grassroots had to provide almost everything, and couldn't keep it in stock... finally one of the campaign people broke ranks and funded a bunch of tshirts without permission.

By 2010, Rand had become a phenomenon, and even though the campaign supported the state fair effort, it cleaned out all the supplies in the entire state!!!

County fairs won't be as active or demanding, for sure, but they are effective and this project is a VERY worthwhile! It would be awesome if most fairs got covered. Folks in NH, NV, SC, FL etc. should consider emulating it.

I unfortunately I'm not in a position to donate much money, but I will be writing to friends in Iowa to ask them to get involved. I also have a 12' x 12' tent and some tables I could lend to the effort, but I'm in KY... not sure if it will be any use, but contact me if it would be!

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

County fairs won't be as active or demanding, for sure, but they are effective and this project is a VERY worthwhile! It would be awesome if most fairs got covered. Folks in NH, NV, SC, FL etc. should consider emulating it.

I unfortunately I'm not in a position to donate much money,

I completely agree - but like I said before - if a person steps forward that will "organize" 3 meetups, in IA I'll send them the $36 to their PayPal account for that.

We do need to cookie cutter this in other early states.

New Meetups:
use coupon code "newyear2011" which will give you 50% off the monthly dues

-t