Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

After 24 years as a hair-dresser, including operating her own shop, and 17 years as an official at fairs in Indiana and Ohio, Bev Kryder thought maybe she should retire.

"I wasn't ready. My life functions better when I have a schedule. I'm more productive," Kryder said this week from her new office at the Southeast Alaska State Fair. She was hired as executive director and arrived here Feb. 27.

Kryder grew up in Goshen, Ind., the daughter of a postmaster and a school music teacher. She has two adult children who have no plans for grandchildren, so there's nothing pulling her back to the Midwest, she said this week.

Plus, she likes challenging herself. She came across the Haines fair's top job advertised on an international festival and fairs jobs website.

"I saw it there and thought, 'What the heck? What's the worst that can happen? They can say no,' which is what I was expecting. Then they called me," Kryder said this week. She flew up to see Haines on Jan. 16, after being grounded in Juneau for two days by bad weather.

"We had 24 hours together with (fair) board members to see if we meshed and I met all great people here." She shrugged off a question about Haines winter weather. "I have two requirements – a good public library, which you have – and a coffee shop. I thought, 'My needs are filled. Let's give it a try.'"

Kryder is taking classes in nonprofit management offered by the Foraker Group and being brought up to speed by staffers Emma Nash and Amanda Randles.

She sees her job as team-building. "What they've built here works. My job is to make it run smoothly. The most important thing I can do is build a solid team that works with each other, and extend that out to the community. You do what your community wants to have happen."

Stability also is a goal. "You need stability as much as possible because it's very disruptive when you have changes. It's hard on everyone."

About fair finances, she said, "I think we're okay, but we still need the support of the community and support of sponsors."

Immediate fair goals include rebuilding the Klondike Saloon stage (destroyed by heavy snows in 2021) and working on the fair's strategic plan for Dalton City, the false-front town built 30 years ago that provides rental income and serves as a venue for many of the fair's headline events, including Brewfest.

"Like any fairgrounds, it needs constant upgrades and maintenance. It's there for the public to use and the public uses it," she said. At fairs, there are always emergencies, she said.

For most of her fair career, Kryder served as fairgrounds manager at the Elkhart County 4-H Fair in Goshen, the fourth largest 4-H fair in the state. She was responsible for maintaining the 342-acre site, which includes 323 campsites used to supplement fair income.

Her job ranged from making signage and brochures to dealing with commercial sponsors and hosting special events like RV rallies, where manufacturers of RVs sponsored dinners and shows to hawk their products. "It was a huge money-maker. It was just something we tried and found a niche. People like to come back to something they're familiar with."

Kryder said she "fell into" fair work when she learned of a job from a friend who worked at the 4-H fair. She also worked as the fair's bookkeeper in Goshen, a job she said is vital. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, she worked briefly as a "customer representative" for the Ohio state fair in Columbus.

She said she's learning about conditions in Alaska, including the difficulty of buying certain goods. "It's an interesting little game to see what you can get here. You can't just go down the street to get what you want."

Kryder said she's encouraged to have many young members on the fair's board of directors and said she looks forward to learning more about how the fair functions. "If you make changes too soon, you make big trouble. I have to see how things work here first, then we'll go from there... As a stranger coming into the community, I know that's sometimes difficult for a community, but I know I work for the community."

Fair board member Wendell Harren said he was impressed with Kryder's experience and her decision to move here in mid-winter. "Bev is in a good spot to get to know everybody and to feel welcome here. I think she can get a sense of what the fair is supposed to be – which is fun for everybody."