Misinformation is causing “the recent, inflammatory public behavior at the fair board meetings,” says longtime Santa Cruz County Fair volunteer Becky Steinbruner, who has attended meetings regularly since 2020. She insists new president Don Dietrich is doing a good job and has tough work to clean up years of neglect and lack of oversight. The fairgrounds has to follow state regulations, she writes — something she believes Dave Kegebein, the ousted fair manager and CEO, never did.
Santa Cruz County Fair
Posted inCoast Life
Santa Cruz County Fair board to meet Tuesday amid ongoing Dave Kegebein firing controversy
Dave Kegebein, fired abruptly in October as CEO of the Santa Cruz County Fair, says he hopes to “provide entertainment” at Tuesday’s meeting, at which he and his supporters aim to confront the fair’s board about the upheaval that also included the replacement of two board members.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
A question of retaliation: Why were two Santa Cruz County Fair board members terminated?
Only two members of the Santa Cruz County Fair board voted against the October termination of CEO Dave Kegebein. Two weeks later, each received terse phone calls from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, telling them their terms — 34 years and 16 years, respectively — were over. At this point, the state won’t respond to the charges of retaliation.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
After firing CEO, new Santa Cruz County Fair terminations add to disarray
After the surprising ouster of 11-year CEO Dave Kegebein earlier this month, the two board members who opposed the termination were told they themselves were being fired, via a brusque call from California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office. The well-established and well-loved Santa Cruz County Fair now finds itself in disorder, the man who is given credit for its good run gone. How did the state compliance audit of Kegebein lead to the chaos?
Posted inUncategorized
Rides, pigs, monster trucks and a ‘zucchini in a bikini’: It’s time for the Santa Cruz County Fair
Our county fair isn’t exactly a cheap outing, Wallace Baine writes, but it delivers an annual opportunity for a community to celebrate itself. Indeed, it’s one enormous talent show, for talents and passions that don’t always get their due respect. Come Wednesday, the funnel cakes and corn dogs will be calling you to the fairgrounds.
Posted inUncategorized
With the return of the county fair comes a return to some normalcy in this world of ours gone mad
It’s too easy to dismiss the fair as corny or cheesy, Wallace Baine writes in welcoming it back from its pandemic layoff. Sure enough, there’s plenty of corn and cheese, literal and figurative, to be found here. But that’s not a bug. That’s a feature.