LOCAL

Liz Warner named first ever Cheboygan County Fair Volunteer of the Year

Kortny Hahn
Cheboygan Daily Tribune
Cheboygan resident Liz Warner was named the first ever Cheboygan County Fair Volunteer of the Year Friday night, after it was found she had brought in the most donations and sponsorship money of any volunteer in the record of the fair.

CHEBOYGAN — On Friday, members of the Cheboygan County Fair Board surprised Liz Warner by naming her the first ever Volunteer of the Year.

Cheboygan County Fair Board President Ron Fenlon said he, Cheboygan County Fair Manager Keith Ginop and another fair board member met Warner the year after the COVID-19 pandemic, when she hosted a hot dog eating competition at the fairgrounds.

"Liz has been our adopted child, daughter so to speak. She's made fair meetings and has done a lot of work around here," said Fenlon.

When Ginop became the fair manager, Fenlon and he had discussed that this year's fair was going to be a year of tradition and of firsts.

"This year we would like to speak with Liz, talk about Liz and what she has done and what she has accomplished," said Fenlon.

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Cheboygan County Fair Board President Ron Fenlon (left) gave a history of the Friends of the Cheboygan County Fair and how Liz Warner (right) stepped up and headed up that program.

At a fair board meeting earlier in the year, the board had been talking about who could take the lead on gathering sponsorships for the upcoming fair. Warner put her hand up to volunteer. Since she was new, the fair board members were a little nervous about giving her the task. However, they chose to take the chance and brought her into the fair family.

"She went out and absolutely killed it," said Fenlon. "She has brought in more sponsorship money than anybody else in the history of the Cheboygan County Fair."

Fenlon said Warner has spent countless hours and devoted her time to the fair family, and to the annual Cheboygan County Fair. Because of this, Ginop and Fenlon decided to start the volunteer of the year award and give the inaugural award to Warner for all of her efforts.

"On behalf of the Cheboygan County Fair Board, its many sponsors and volunteers, I present to you the Cheboygan County Volunteer of the Year award," said Fenlon. "In recognition of your commitment to the Cheboygan County Fair. We are pleased to present this award to you."

Fenlon said Warner's professionalism and dedication to the fair reflects greatly upon herself and the fair.

More:Cheboygan County Fair returns with a week of fun Aug. 6-13

Liz Warner had not been expecting to be recognized for her efforts to help out the fair. Her son, Michael, in the audience, said she did know how to say no, just not when it came to her volunteer work.

Not only did Warner take on the role of collecting sponsorships for this year's fair, she also worked at bringing the Friends of the Fair committee and program to the fair, which was an idea the two fair leaders had discussed at the annual fair convention.

"People don't have to commit to every fair board meeting, they don't have to commit to every day at the fair, and they can be on this committee," said Ginop.

Warner volunteered to head up this program and has recruited a number of other people in the community to help with the weeklong event.

Ginop thanked Warner for taking on this added responsibility. The committee is a work in progress and will take some time to get fully up and running, but he said he is positive it will develop and become bigger.

Contact Reporter Kortny Hahn at khahn1@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @khahnCDT.