GENERAL
MEETING: Tuesday, September 23, 2014
General
Meetings are a time to welcome visitors, hear guest speakers and discuss club
business. We invite women who
are new or established residents of Greater Winston-Salem to join us. General
Meetings are held at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 1416 Bolton Street, W-S 27103 (just off
Silas Creek Parkway via the Bolton Street exit), at 10AM on the fourth Tuesday
of each month, except August and December.
Presenter: David Sparks, on “The Dixie
Classic Fair”
David Sparks is the
Director of the Dixie Classic Fairgrounds, a position he has held since 1993.
Among his many achievements there, he has managed capital improvements budgets
of $10 million, increased facility bookings by over 60%, and increased
attendance to the annual Fair by 30%. Sparks developed and co-authored the web
page for the facility in November 1995.
Prior to assuming the
Director position, Sparks worked from 1988 to 1992 as the Assistant to the
Director; so he has been involved with the fairgrounds for 26 years.
Sparks graduated from Wingate University in
1976 with an Associate in Science degree in Business Administration and then
completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro in 1978. While working toward his degree, Sparks
worked for WXII television as a production assistant. After earning his degree,
Sparks was promoted to a Producer/Director position and began directing
newscasts. He also produced and directed commercials, promotions, and local
programming in addition to working with clients to develop their marketing and
advertising plans.
Sparks’ interests
include traveling, sports, gardening and automobiles.
The Dixie Classic Fair (http://www.dcfair.com/), on which Sparks will elaborate, is the 50th
largest fair in North America. For this year it runs October 3-12. It is held
every year in Winston-Salem on the Dixie Classic Fairgrounds (formerly known as
the Forsyth County Fairgrounds).
The fair began in 1882 in the former town of
Salem as a grain exposition. In 1897 the Piedmont Tobacco Fair was started and
shortly thereafter the two events merged to form the Winston-Salem Fair. The
fair moved to its current fairgrounds in 1952 and changed its name in 1956 to
the Dixie Classic Fair
for Northwest North Carolina. Today, though, it’s usually called the Dixie
Classic Fair.
CALENDAR
OF EVENTS: September 2014
Please RSVP for all events. Non-members who wish to attend
one of our events should contact Barbara Classen, Membership Coordinator, for
additional information at wsnandn@aol.com.
EVENING CARDS – Wednesday, September 3, at 7PM.
COMMUNITY
SERVICE DAY – Saturday,
September 6.
BOOK CLUB – Monday, September 8, at 10AM, to discuss The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat
by Edward Kelsey Moore.
BOARD MEETING – Tuesday, September 9,
at 10AM.
BRIDGE – Thursday, September 11, at 12:30PM.
GALLERY GROUP – Friday, September 12, at 9:30AM.
“SNOOP” SOCIAL – Saturday, September 13, at 7PM.
LUNCH GROUP – Thursday, September 18, at 11:30AM.
DAY CARDS – Thursday, September 25, at 1PM.
