Latest / Rick Outzen: (we don’t) color on the dog / Trading a Navy Uniform for a Midway
Transcript
- Rick Outzen: I'm Rick Allison and welcome back to Rick's Blog Live. Pensacola Interstate Fair is coming up. can get that little bit of nip in the air as you know it right before the fair. It gets we'll have that real cold snap. ⁓ crossed. We a new CEO of the fair. ⁓ It Gil Clark Jr. Gil, thank you so much for joining us. Guy, you know, you think you've had some serious Navy jobs. Commandant. Gil Clark: Thank you, sir. Glad to be here today. Rick Outzen: of midshipment at the Naval Academy, a command in San Diego. the fair? Well ⁓ Gil Clark: Well not expecting that in my transition ⁓ of all the options we thought we were going down, but this just presented itself and really drew me to the organization. This is the 91st ⁓ annual fair. this has been a staple of this community for a very long time. And it's a perform not nonprofit organization. And so what really drew ⁓ is I hung up my uniform, ⁓ I was looking ⁓ For some sense of service. And what I've haven't had in my 28 years, I moved 22 times. I never really had that opportunity to build a sense of ⁓ community ⁓ service to my local community. And this opportunity presented itself, and I that it was so rewarding with what ⁓ the organization to do for the community. And it's exciting. grew up going to fairs and I I love everything about the entertainment and the food and the animals. And it's just it so special. And it was the perfect time in my life to transition to something totally different and and that's where we landed. Rick Outzen: Well, your wife grew up in Kantoma. She did part of the Tate Mafia with the Tate High School. Gil Clark: Last of ninety eight, very proud. Rick Outzen: How how much did that connection play into this? Gil Clark: A ton. as as this as started talking with board members and they were thinking about me in, and she just up stories of her friends and and what 4 H and F FA were able to do out there. She had her own stories about the fair when she was growing up. And it the reason we're here is this was her hometown. I'd moved her all over the world. And when it was time to settle I asked her where do you want to go? And she said, I want to go home. Her parents are still here. ⁓ and our family is is all in the area and so it just made sense for us to come back. then her to this town is based off all those great memories and and now I have a six year old that's at ⁓ Episcopal Day School and he's first grade and I can't wait, he's already been out to the farm, the barn out there at the fairgrounds and and he's excited, I'm and I can't wait. And so this is just gonna be a next generation. Yeah. Rick Outzen: you know, Gil, when you look at you've led some pretty complex organizations with the Navy. do how does that translate to the fair? How do you think it's gonna translate? ⁓ Gil Clark: Well, what I've blessed with opportunity, which was that's what it was, is because I've always had people around me that maybe look way better than than do, and I have that now. We still have our same general manager, Jamie McDonald. She's been the fair for forty one years. And so our to day operations hasn't really changed by putting me in this position. When the board decided create the CEO, it didn't change the general manager on down for our staff. And so if you pick up the phone and And do business with a fair, it's still gonna be the same voice as you're used to. what they really brought me into was try to transition the nonprofit into something bigger. And we have got an incredible property out there. And we to get back to some of our agricultural education roots. And that's probably gonna center around a new barn. Our barn took some damage recent storms. And not only redoing barn where we can have our livestock auctions during the fair and do some other shows, but it it's really an to build out. Classroom space where we can bring in and teach our young kids Yeah, agriculture, farming, ranching, and what that lifestyle may be. Rick Outzen: one of the things when I looked at the press release and and was thinking about the fear that that education component some sometimes gets lost in the funnel cakes in the shows in the rides the livestock, you know, it it it it kinda gets lost. So how do you is what's plan on tapping into that ⁓ Gil Clark: So for years we have had scholarship programs for all the kids that come out and participate. We usually do about $30,000 a year in scholarships. And to date, about $1.6 million have been given out to local kids that participate in our programs. And so through sponsorships and some relationships that I hope to grow with the local school system, with universities to bring in those new techniques and keep things modern, we hope to grow that. And eventually as our revenue Which is mostly generated based off the fare, continues to grow in a positive way. We can recapitalize on that property, meaning new facilities and and I've been asked to build a strategic plan for what the fair grounds will look like so that we can utilize that property all year long. And that includes what was chartered to me, which was come up with a spring event. Rick Outzen: Well th that's the other thing that jumped out at me too, Gil, is ⁓ how that walk me through that. What how do you think that's gonna look? Gil Clark: So I said, okay, well we'll do another fair in the spring and everyone said, it's not that easy. And it is different. And and so as you get into the the April, May months, what I want to do is make sure that we are complementing opportunities for our families in the region, ⁓ not competing against some of the other events that are going on. And so first off, we're just trying to find the right date. And we're close to landing on what that would be. But I don't know What I wanna do is go through the the fall event, see it, work with our our partners at Rythoffer ⁓ shows. They're the ones that bring all the carnival in and find out how feasible it is to do another carnival in the spring. And I've heard that it may not be as feasible as we think it is. And so maybe we pivot something that's ⁓ agricultural festival, whether that's a strawberry or a blueberry festival, and it's more centered around food and music and and see if we can bring When you take out the rides out of that gigantic midway in the middle of the property, you can put a lot of people to put down a blanket and listen to some great music. And so maybe it turns into a music festival. So we're not sure yet. We're just in those initial planning efforts. ⁓ but that's what they brought me in is to have those big dots. We've got a fantastic eleven person board of some of some of the city's finest, and they have day jobs. So they can't think ⁓ all the about this. But Rick Outzen: I do appreciate their their w their thinking outside the box and bringing you in. Yes. Gil Clark: And that's where the military experience can translate into this job. It's because I've I've had to have strategic plans before. Right. ⁓ it's far less life and death in this situation and I'm I I greatly appreciate that. I sleep much better at night knowing that that don't have a lot of lives on my hands. Right. But what it is gonna be is hopefully more opportunity for our families to get out and about and enjoy this great city in in new exciting ways. ⁓ Rick Outzen: Great. Gil, thank you so much for coming on. I wish you all the best. I mean I I I'm just I'm excited for you. Your energy level's unbelievable. ⁓ so again, thank you for coming. Gil Clark: Thank you, sir. I greatly appreciate it. And opening days twenty two October. Can't wait to have people here. We'll do it. Rick Outzen: We'll do it. Listen, we're gonna go ahead and take a break. We'll pay a few more bills. I'll come back with Rick's blog live, and of course I'm Rick Altson.