HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Water Safety Booth at the Kansas State Fair won a top honor here Thursday, Sep. 12, 2013.
The indoor booth received the “reserve grand champion” ribbon for the caliber of appearance of the booth and the value it provides to fair visitors.
“There are 700 exhibitors at the Kansas State Fair this year and that was the competition for the Corps booth,” said Susan Stoecklein, commercial exhibits director for the fair.
Building managers, outside managers, and fair staff nominate booths for the ribbons based upon the appearance of the booth and the staff. Then the commercial exhibit staff looks at various things to be sure the nominees are exemplary exhibiters. Finally, Stoecklein hires 12 people to be judges and they visit the booth and judge it on specific details.
“We want them to look at whether the staff at the booth is interacting with people, if the booth is clearly identified, if it attracts attention, is the booth creating excitement, is there prompt service, is the staff professional,” said Stoecklein.
After the winners are chosen, Stoecklein notifies them and they are invited to a breakfast where they receive the ribbon and certificate. Winners can display the ribbon and certificate each year at the fair and they receive a discount on the booth contract for the following year. They must wait a year to win again.
Stoecklein uses photos of the winning booths as an example to new exhibitors of the kinds of booth the fair wants.
“They are going to be in front of 350,000 Kansans for ten days; I want the exhibitors to show off,” said Stoecklein.
The joint effort to staff the booth involved the USACE team including USACE volunteers from the Kansas City District Operations, Environmental, and Regulatory Division, and Tulsa District Operations (Kansas and Oklahoma) and the Safety Office.
The major emphasis of the booth was to promote learning how to swim, wearing a life jacket, and the dangers of alcohol consumption while recreating at Corps lakes.
Approximately 40,000 people visited the booth over ten days. Each visitor to the booth took a ten-question water and boating safety quiz, and after USACE staffers reviewed and graded the quiz with the visitor, they received a water safety promotional item.
The booth featured a low water dam simulator demonstrating why those areas are so dangerous, and a variety of life jackets was available so that visitors could try one on to learn about the importance of the proper fit of a life jacket.