PRESS RELEASE
YREKA, Calif., The 10th District Agriculture Association – Siskiyou Golden Fairground is proud to announce that it has won the prestigious Western Fairs Association Merrill Award for its 2022 Junior Livestock Show and Sale held at the Jackson County Expo in Central Point Oregon. The 2022 Siskiyou Golden Fair was cancelled because of the McKinney Fire, the fire camp on the fairgrounds, and the State of Emergency that put the fairgrounds within the evacuation zone just ten days before the fair was to open.
The Merrill Award, the highest honor a fairground can achieve, is named in memory of Western Fairs Association Founder Louis Merrill. The Award is given for those entries that clearly demonstrate innovation, vision, and excellence. At the 2023 Convention Awards Ceremony on January 18th there were five entries that were deemed finalists for the prestigious award – Arizona State Fair, California Mid-State Fair, San Mateo County Fair, Marin County Fair, and The Jackson County Expo and Siskiyou Golden Fairground. It is a great honor to win the award with the San Mateo County Fair and our partner The Jackson County Expo.
The Award was created in 1985 and for the first time the Siskiyou Golden Fairground was selected as a finalist and was awarded the Merrill Award for the collaboration with Jackson County Expo to move our Junior Livestock Auction across the state border into Oregon and successfully holding the Junior Exhibitor Show and Sale in 2022. The 2022 show and sale was a collaboration of hundreds of volunteers, the Siskiyou Golden and Expo Boards of Directors, Staff and the communities in both counties across the state line from each other. The record setting sale was online, in person, and for the first time offered by live feed in Siskiyou County. 272 lots were sold with a gross of over 1.2 million dollars, which surpassed the 1.2 million mark for the first time in history.
We want to thank the Western Fairs Association for recognizing our efforts and we look forward to hosting the Siskiyou Golden Fair back on our grounds in Yreka, August 9-13, 2023.