STOW, Ohio — The Ohio Fair Managers Association inducted Bev Fisher, CFE, Mahoning County Fair; Candace Tripp, Marion County Fair; Cindy Woodman, Lake County Fair; Robert Buxton, Coshocton County Fair, and Dan Kimmett, Allen County Fair, into the Ohio Fairs Hall of Fame Class of 2024 on Jan. 7 in Columbus during the 99th annual Ohio Fairs Convention and Marketplace Tradeshow.
Bev Fisher CFE, Mahoning County Fair
Bev Fisher began her career at the Canfield Fair in 1991 as a secretary and became the fair manager four years later. She built her career in a variety of roles for the Canfield Fair and its Board of Directors. Fisher obtained her CFE designation from the International Association of Fairs & Expositions in 2008. She has attended the Ohio Fair Managers Convention for over 25 years, the IAFE convention for 20 years and IAFE zone meetings for 10 years. She has been a presenter for OFMA and IAFE many times and served for 16 years as a director at large on the OFMA Board. Fisher also managed and grew the Ohio Fairs’ Queen Program for 13 years. She served as chair of guest relations for 13 years; served on the audit, budget and legislative committee, and was vice chair of the program committee.
She worked to overhaul the program from the annual convention in 2014 and served on the Ohio Department of Agriculture fiscal report committee, working with the auditor of state to streamline the annual reporting document. She was also instrumental in the 2018 revision of the law and rules that govern Ohio Fairs in the Red Book. Fisher served on the political action committee for the OFMA and traveled to the statehouse to testify on Ohio fairs legislation many times.
She has been a great asset to many fairs that have called upon her knowledge and is truly a blessing to this state association. Fisher and husband Randy, whom she married in 1987, enjoy working on their family farm together.
Candace Tripp, Marion County Fair
Candace “Candy” Sawyer Tripp, whose career at the Marion County Fairgrounds reaches back to 1990, has become a pillar of knowledge, serving as secretary/manager and treasurer for over 30 years. She has been married for 16 years and resides in Punta Gorda, Florida, with husband Dan and pup Cooper. She has three daughters and five grandchildren, all of whom have worked with her in the office at one time or another. Tripp has worked diligently on bringing a diverse crowd to Marion over the years, expanding off-season events from just four in 1990 to a combined total of 45 weeks of off-season events and fundraisers.
She was awarded the Marion Area Convention and Visitors Bureau’s 2017 Tourism Ambassador Award. She was also an officer on the Marion Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, a member/treasurer and on the financial committee of Epworth United Methodist Church and a charter member of the Marion County Special Wish Foundation from 1983 to 1995. She attended 28 OFMA conventions and presented at a few round table discussions at the IAFE Convention.
In 2000, Tripp helped the Marion County Agricultural Society pass a .3-million-dollar levy for capital improvements to the Coliseum and grounds, and she has helped organize and promote grants for restroom renovations, new sheep pens and electrical upgrades with grant funds over $300,000. Tripp retired in 2017 but returned in 2022 after her replacement left, again, proving her dedication to the Marion County Fairgrounds.
Cindy Woodman, Lake County Fair
Cindy Woodman has provided outstanding service to the Lake County Fair for over 29 years. Since the time of her election as a director in 1994, she has been an innovator on the Lake County Fair Board and her hard work, out-of-the-box thinking and countless contributions have helped the fair keep going and growing. Woodman had a very active 4-H career as a youth and was heavily involved in saddle horse. Following that, she raised daughters Stephanie and Samantha while successfully operating her concession business, The Pony Express, and serving the Lake County Fair.
She served as fair board vice president for six years and as concession manager for the past 20 years. She has actively participated on the audit, concessions, finance, fine arts, gates, historical, horse, marketing and rent committees over the years. Woodman is a broad thinker and visionary whose creativity has led to the addition of popular exhibits. Through her hard work, management and guidance as rent committee chair, non-fair rentals have grown, and she was also an integral part of changes in the concession and ticket areas which have led to continual growth of fair-time revenues. While serving as saddle horse chair, she brought in such popular events as cutting and roping which included a celebrity class of local public and elected officials, a huge and highly competitive open show and a locally designed and operated Wonderful World of Horses event which educated the public on different breeds of horses and their characteristics. Woodman was also instrumental in bringing a nondenominational Sunday church service to the show ring.
Woodman is a regular participant in the OFMA District Nine Round Tables, OFMA Spring Meetings, OFMA Convention and IAFE Zone Meetings and is an active member of the Greater Ohio Showmen’s Association. She has participated in OFMA conventions for more than 25 years. A past recipient of ODA’s Outstanding Fair Supporter award, she was also recognized by GOSA as Concession Manager of the Year and is a member of the Lake County Fair Hall of Fame.
Robert Buxton, Coshocton County Fair
Robert “Bob” Buxton served for 45 years as a director of the Coshocton County Fair, during which time he has seen and been involved in all aspects of the fair. He has served on all the committees and has been in every seat as a director and officer. From the Art Hall to the livestock displays, Buxton has been involved in raising funds for all departments of the fair, including paving, roofs, grandstand rehabilitation, animal pens, building additions and anything that has to do with improving the fair experience. He travels to other fairs around the state and across the country to bring back ideas to improve the fairs in Ohio and is the first one to show up for workdays and to help recruit and train new directors.
As a district director, Buxton served with honor and represented District 8 to the best of his ability. Buxton is a past president (2016-2017) of the OFMA and still helps anyone or any fair. His selfless service to the fair industry is unmatched. He was married for 37 years to his late wife Beverly Buxton and has two children, Emily and Jesse, and five grandchildren, Nathan, Julia, Beverly, Eliza and Jay. He enjoys spending time with his fiancé Christina Slaughter.
Dan Kimmett, Allen County Fair
Dan Kimmett has been instrumental to the growth of the Allen County Fair, serving as board vice president for eight years and president for 13 years and being the catalyst in acquiring land from Walmart to increase the acreage of the fairgrounds property. He has served on every committee that was established and has shown a deep commitment to educating youth. His footprint on the state level includes being a director of OFMA since 2004, director of the year in 2006 and president from 2012-2013.
Outside of the fairgrounds, Kimmett has left his mark on the community and was recently honored as an inductee to the Delphos St. Johns Hall of Fame. He has been married to his wife Cindy for 41 years and has two sons, Erik and Nathan, and two grandchildren. Kimmett was key to introducing the National Trappers, Motorcycle Races and 4-Wheel Jamboree as staple events year-round. He also left his mark by starting the super stakesraces, the Dunlap-Renner Memorial and Doc-Steiner Classic. The Allen County Fair considers Kimmett the backbone to many of the fair’s successes over the years.
