2007 Clay County Fair ~ Northwest Region Members

	Andy Bean from Camp Bean is chair of the NW Region of IBBIA. Andy and Phyllis Hammer are the two driving forces behind designing and creating a beautiful and professional looking booth for the the 2007 Clay County Fair. Andy did an excellent job of organizing and coordinating both the booth and the NW Regional members that volunteered to serve in the booth over the 9-day fair. Volunteers working to prepare the booth included: Mary, David, and Ray Nichols, Phyllis and Al Hammer, Amelia & Doug Painter, and Andy Bean.

	Al and Phyllis Hammer gave many hours to the creation of the booth, including all of the following: * Al designed and created a large counter for the front of the booth * The Hammers supplied many of the booth's furniture items * Al truly was the "man with the hammer" for most of the construction work needed to created the booth!

	Mary and David Nichols stuffing the cookbooks with directories and maps. While the Directory was the most popular item given away in the booth, the cookbook was viewed and purchased by many fairgoers. Booth location was excellent and their were times when the booth was "swamped" with fairgoers wanting to complete the survey and hopefully win a free or discounted night at one of our member inns.

	A bedroom theme was selected for the booth this year. The main idea was to inspire fairgoers to ask questions about bed and breakfast inns -- the theme worked. Volunteers and organizers learned a great deal about booth promotion from this experience. After the fair ends and all have shared their insights with Andy Bean, the group will be better prepared for the 2008 Clay County Fair effort. Phyllis Hammer will be sharing the results of the surveys taken at the fair.

	It took 2 walls to showcase all the inns that participated in the fair booth activities! 66% of all NW Region members paid $30 and volunteered at least 6 hours of time in order to participate in the booth. This was an outstanding member benefit for all who elected to participate! Andy Bean framed each 11x14 photo and created signage for each.

	Andy Bean is a talented artist and she used her talents to create wonderful wood signs for the booth! While all the signs she created were wonderful, the most impressive is the sign (see above this text) identifying the NW Region of the IBBIA.

The Association office is available to innkeepers at all times. The number is 1-800-888-4667 (INNS). Or send us a quick . Feel free to contact the office with any questions.

Iowa Bed & Breakfast Innkeepers Association
P.O. Box 171
Spencer IA 51301
712-580-4242
Toll-Free in Iowa: 1-800-888-4667