Agenda - 11-12-2013 - 4 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The efforts culminated with an October 30, 2013 Information - Sharing Session held at the Solid Waste Operations Center meeting room on Eubanks Road, where 32 residents and interested parties attended a meeting and discussed the value of a potential fair, possible components and activities, locations, and what organizations or persons should be involved in further event planning. This information, along with a distillation of previous conversations and discussions, was compiled into the Working Group report. Additional outreach has been conducted to ask the organizations and the general public for feedback on the themes and ideas of the Working Group, both via brief written survey questions and an online survey. As shown in the attached report, the following primary findings or themes are proposed for the Board's consideration: • A county fair could offer the opportunity to celebrate the many unique historical, social, cultural, and creative aspects of Orange County, and create a community - building event bringing together residents from all across the county to an event that also offers entertainment, recreation and economic development potential. • As an initial event, the Working Group recommends a two -day Friday- Saturday event. Friday would be targeted to encourage field trips from local schools. • While a fall date in late- September was initially proposed and discussed, the Working Group recognized that a fall 2015 event was too distant in the future. In the interest of launching a fair sooner, the Group identified an alternative window of late -April for a Spring 2015 fair. This spring fair could be seen as a test run, and a decision on whether future fairs should be fall or spring could be made after gleaning the experience of a first -run in Spring 2015. • A number of possible sites for a potential fair were examined, with two sites visited and explored in more detail. After deliberation, the Working Group found consensus around the idea of using the future Blackwood Farm Park site on NC 86 and New Hope Church Road between Chapel Hill and Hillsborough. This 152 -acre site is located near the population center of the county, is owned by the County, has easy access to Interstate 40, and has been used for similar festivals and events. Infrastructure and logistical issues will need to be addressed, but many of these are consistent with planned future improvements in the adopted Capital Investment Plan. • The fair as conceptually - proposed would be structured around five primary themes, with an overarching sustainability theme and a number of sub - themes and activities possible within this framework. These five main themes are: o Agriculture, local food and restaurants o Arts and local artists • Orange County's diverse history • Schools, education and youth, and o Live music The fair as envisioned would also include some attractions for children, including traditional and non - traditional rides and games.