Top honors for Inyo’s State Fair exhibit
August 16, 2013
Designed
and built by Rich and Kathy White of Independence using promotional
materials furnished by local visitors centers, museums and chambers of
commerce, Inyo County’s exhibit at the California State Fair in
Sacramento was informative, eye-catching and always staffed –
ingredients for an award-winning display. Photo courtesy Rich and Kathy
White
The Whites, aided by a hearty contingent of fellow volunteers, secured for Inyo County the 2013 People’s Choice Award – a sought-after honor that’s viewed as an endorsement of the tens of thousands of fairgoers who visit the California’s Counties Exhibit portion of the State Fair.
Twenty-five counties had exhibits on display this year, taking advantage of the opportunity to promote themselves to tourists and potential transplants by highlighting aspects of their counties that range from agriculture and art, to history and industry.
With a budget of $13,000 – half of which went to pay for volunteers’ gas money, motel rooms and one-corndog-a-day meal allotment (“You can’t stand more than one corndog a day,” Kathy joked) – the Whites designed and engineered a three-dimensional, interactive, multi-media exhibit that highlighted the Owens Valley and Death Valley and included slideshows and opportunities for photo-ops.
