Key Du Quoin State Fair staff members retiring; Fair lineup in next two to three weeks
Two key staff members at the Du Quoin State Fair--their careers arguably worth their weight in gold--are retiring from the Du Quoin State Fair.
Lyndall Graff, who first signed on with the fair in the mid-1970s as head of security having just graduated from SIU then went on to manage one of Iowa's largest expositions, will retire from the fair's staff April 18. He said he made that decision on Monday.
Graff reviews many of the fair's business and entertainment contracts, manages space rentals and is responsible for much of the business accountability to the Illinois Department of Agriculture.
Jeff Mason, grounds superintendent since about 1980, has been responsible for creating a world class destination. He has worked tirelessly through the best of times and the most difficult of times to maintain the grounds and buildings, effect capital improvements and repairs and create the beautiful fairgrounds that all of Southern Illinois enjoys and takes pride in. Mason retired in March.
He has also sustained the large Ag Expo and Agriland programs, Southern Illinois' late summer premier agricultural expositions.
Other changes include assistant fair manager Norm Hill moving into Mason's office and overseeing many of those responsibilities. Du Quoin State Fair manager John Rednour Jr. and aide Angela Wildermuth have moved from the offices in the Hayes Fair Acres stable into the grandstand.
Staffing assignments and filling the Graff vacancy will be a work in progress.
Graff began as a key staff member in the mid 1970s working alongside longtime Hayes family friend, confidant and fair manager Fred Huff. Others of that era included Norb Bartosik, hired in 1973 as vice-president of finance and moving on to become director of the California State Fair, one of the largest expositions in the world. He recently retired.
Others of that era included the late Curt Greene. Greene, 51, onetime Du Quoin State Fair vice-president under the late W.R. Hayes II, who died suddenly of an apparent heart attack in 2000 in Lexington, Ky. He was a standardbred horseman and consultant and owner of Greene Speed Limited. Like Graff and Bartosik, Greene was a graduate of Southern Illinois University where he studied journalism.
He had served as vice president for marketing and public relations for the Du Quoin State Fair. He also authored the creation of the World Trotting Derby here at Du Quoin after the Hambletonian was moved to the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J.
Greene moved to Lexington in 1982 to serve as general manager of the Red Mile and Tattersalls Sales Company until 1991.
Fair manager John Rednour told the Du Quoin Evening Call on Tuesday that his staff is in the middle of filling out the grandstand lineup for the 2013 Du Quoin State Fair. He said an announcement should be forthcoming in the next two-to-three weeks.