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Citrus County Fair

He's the gatekeeper

Paul Iverson is in charge of tracking attendance, handling ticket sales and maintaining security at six entrances to the fairgrounds.

By Paulette Lash Ritchie
Published March 15, 2007

INVERNESS - There are six entrance gates to the Citrus County Fair. There is one director of admissions whose job it is to monitor those entrances. Bob Iverson has been doing that since 1999.

Iverson, 57, a volunteer, is assisted by more volunteers and hired not-for-profit organizations. The first group is comprised of interested community members who enjoy helping out as needed. The not-for-profit groups - Floral City Masonic Lodge, Sun Coast Baptist Church, Eagles Auxiliary, Floral City Eastern Star and Gulf to Lake Pilots - are paid, not as individual workers, but as groups.

"We make a single donation to their organizations," Iverson said. He likes this arrangement because it simplifies things and the money is returned to the community.

As director of admissions, Iverson says his job "encompasses the gates, the information booth, the rental of ticket machines and the handling of money."

This is not only for the Citrus County Fair, but also for other functions held at the fairgrounds. The fair association owns 14 ticket machines, which Iverson says do a pretty good job of counting visitors. (Fairgoers might have noticed in recent years that the turnstiles are gone.)

The machines, he said, have paid for themselves during the six years the fair association has had them. They are rented out to other fairs. The rentals help to raise funds, which are used for maintenance and new programs. "We're trying to have more functions throughout the year," Iverson said.

The gates he monitors circle the fairgrounds on U.S. 41 S. The biggest gate is at the main entrance near the horticulture building. It can have up to four ticket sellers.

There are usually only two windows open, but all four are available Monday, the fair's biggest night ($1 admission) and Thursday, Friday and Saturday during peak times.

This gate is climate controlled, a comfort added in recent years with the renovation of the horticulture building. All the gates are climate-controlled, except one. All are open to the public.

There is a new gate, which is completely collapsible, but not yet climate controlled on Airport Road. It will be open Monday and Tuesday nights and all day Friday and Saturday.

It might be a more convenient option for fairgoers who park along the gate near the airport.

"We're continually trying to make it more user friendly," Iverson said.

The maintenance workers, who are hired about a month before the fair opens, built the new gate. Iverson credits them with saving the fair association thousands of dollars by building it for about $400. An ordered gate can run about $9,000.

Another recently built, larger and climate-controlled gate cost about $1,500 to build and, Iverson said, would have cost $12,000 to buy.

Continuing along the fairground perimeter, the next gate is called the pit gate. It is the entrance used to enter the speedway. It is used mainly by fair workers.

The fourth gate is the livestock gate on the south side of the grounds. It is used primarily by students and their animals. This is the director parking area. This gate, Iverson said, can get a bit dusty.

The exhibitors' gate, also on the south end, but closer to U.S. 41, is where some handicapped parking is available. For fair participants who have something to show, this is the convenient gate.

The sixth gate is the auditorium gate. It sits to the south of the Citrus County Auditorium and faces the highway.

With about 30,000 visitors and participants entering the fairgrounds, Iverson and his volunteers are the initial security. The gates are open and staffed when the fair is open and during the times when the fair is closed or when workers or exhibitors need to gain entrance. "It gets kind of hairy sometimes," Iverson said.

Iverson was attracted to the fair through his friendship with the former fair director, Jean Grant, whom he has known "forever and a day," he said. He has been a fair volunteer, though not a director, since the mid 1980s. And, although the fair might keep Iverson heavily occupied, it does end and he likes to keep active.

"I'm retired," he said. "I have to have something to do." So he volunteers other places. When he retired, he said, "I just started going around joining things." He also gives his time to 4-H, Citrus United Basket and the First Lutheran Church Council. Iverson is married, but his wife, Mabel, is not completely retired.

Having so many responsibilities as admissions director, Iverson stays very, very busy during fair week

He checks gates, cleans equipment and counts money. He said it is not unusual for him to walk 3 to 4 miles a day tending to the gates. He could use a cart, but he tries to keep their use to a minimum when the fair is crowded.

"Actually," he said, "I really don't get to see much of the fair."

[Last modified March 15, 2007, 06:25:13]