The 67th Annual North Florida Fair will be held from November 6th - November 16th, 2008. The search for volunteers is on! If you are interested in entertainment, livestock, agriculture, marketing, home or fine arts you may want to checkout this opportunity. The Fair has a small full-time staff and depends heavily on volunteers from the community. The experience is like no other and the fun never stops. If you are looking for an avenue to fill your service hours for school or just want to see what it takes to pull off an event this big, we would love to see your smiling face.

School Tours

The school tour program runs for four days this year, Monday, November 10 and Wednesday, November 12 through Friday, November 14. Children from Pre-K through 3rd grade, as well as special needs children, spend the morning at the North Florida Fair touring the barns and the petting zoo. They are also entertained for about twenty minutes by one of our children's acts. Three tours are run per day at 9:00 AM, 10:45 AM, and 12:30 PM. The North Florida Fair is closed at this time. Depending on the children's needs, a tour may be as large as 300 students or as small as 40. Schools are required to have one chaperone for every five children. Volunteers are needed from 8:30 AM until 2:00 PM each of the four days. This position requires an excellent rapport with children and their chaperones. It also requires some standing during the tours.

Public Address System Announcer

Each evening during the eleven-day run of the fair, announcements are made on the fair's public address system. We need adults with pleasant "radio announcer" voices and clear diction to make announcements for our vendors, sponsors, and coming attractions each evening. The public address system announcer is seated in the information booth at the fairgrounds and, between announcements, can assist our Guest Services Manager with other miscellaneous tasks, such as answering guests' questions about fair exhibits or the location of first aid, pay phones, or restrooms. Volunteers are needed from opening until the time buildings close each evening. The fair opens at 5:00 PM on weekdays, Buildings close on weekdays at 10:30 PM, except Fridays when they close at 11:00 PM. Saturdays, the fair opens at noon, and buildings close at 11:00 PM. Sundays, the fair opens at noon, and buildings close at 8:00 PM.

Youth Ag-tivities

The Youth Ag-tivities Project is open to the general public during the run of the fair and is located in our agricultural building where many of the exhibits are interactive. Children and adults alike can learn to milk a life-sized fiberglass dairy cow (who moos when you milk her!). Guests can run their hands through baskets filled with colorful grains and seeds, make butter, and construct a seed necklace that will sprout within 24 - 48 hours of visiting the fair. Volunteers are needed to teach fair guests how to milk the cow, how to make butter from cream, and how to construct a seed necklace. They will also be responsible for helping fair guests with the Farmer For a Day program where young children can search for eggs under cloth hens sitting on their nests in front of our "barn", dig for potatoes in the "ground" or pluck apples from our "trees". For more information on this program, you can visit our website at www.northfloridafair.com and click on "Youth Ag-Tivities Project". Volunteers are needed from opening until the time buildings close each evening. The fair opens at 5:00 PM on weekdays. Buildings close on weekdays at 10:30 PM, except Fridays when they close at 11:00 PM. Saturdays, the fair opens at noon, and buildings close at 11:00 PM. Sundays, the fair opens at noon, and buildings close at 8:00 PM.

Office Duties

Phone calls requesting information about the fair start coming into our office on a regular basis in mid-October and last through the end of the fair in mid-November. Having volunteers answer the telephones, make copies, greet visitors, file papers, and perform other general clerical tasks is very helpful and genuinely appreciated. The office opens at 8:00 AM and is open until 5:00 PM on weekdays through Friday, October 31st. On Monday, November 3rd, the office starts keeping late hours - open until 8:00 PM through November 5th, then open until the fair closes each evening through November 16th. Previous office/administrative experience is most helpful. Volunteers will need to be patient and pleasant when speaking over the phone or when dealing with fair guests.

Trash Pickup

Blessed are those who help us pick up the litter and trash. Obviously, this is an ongoing need starting about two hours after the fair opens each day and ending about the time the buildings close each night. The fair opens at 5:00 PM on weekdays. Buildings close on weekdays at 10:30 PM, except Fridays when they close at 11:00 PM. Saturdays, the fair opens at noon, and buildings close at 11:00 PM. Sundays, the fair opens at noon, and buildings close at 8:00 PM.

Fine Arts Department

Registration for all of the fine arts entries at the North Florida Fair takes place on Friday, October 31 from 11:00 AM until 7:00 PM and on Saturday, November 1 from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM. Each entry must be checked in and tagged; a receipt is then given to the owner. Pieces must be separated by type, e.g. oil paintings, photography, pencil drawings, pottery, etc. On Sunday, all of the entries are hung or placed on display. We receive hundreds and hundreds of works each year, so the task is very time consuming. Our chairperson for the Fine Arts Department, sincerely welcomes any assistance that can be given during registration and display.

Hospitality

Located in the information booth, this person would serve as liaison beween vendors and the concessions manager, the soda representative and servicemen, the ice company, maintenance department and other staff. Maintain suggestion box and in general provide a positive reception of issues that arise wih both vendors and patrons.

Special Events Assistance

This involvement covers a wide-range of areas that need a little extra hands-on attention before and during the fair. From decorating to making confirmation calls. This person or group would be making smiles happen in all that they do! Have you wanted to see a cheerleading competition in Tallahassee? Well, here is your chance. Come to the office if you have ideas on something you would like to see and we will work with you to make it happen. Looking now for Cheer, Dance and Step competition organizers!