San Antonio, Texas — An official with the Clay County Fair has been named to an international post.
Officials with the Clay County Fair, which is held in Spencer every September, tell us that Fair CEO Jeremy Parsons has been named the 2022 chairman of the International Association of Fairs and Expositions during the business meeting at the association’s 2021 Convention & Trade Show. The Convention took place Nov. 28-Dec. 1 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas.
Fair officials tell us Parsons will serve in this international leadership role for 2022, spearheading the direction of the organization, which currently has more than 1,500 fairs and affiliated organizations worldwide.
He becomes only the sixth Iowan to serve as the chair of the IAFE, an organization with roots dating back over a century. He joins former Clay County Fair manager Myles Johnson, who served as chairman in 1990, and four managers of the Iowa State Fair (A.R. Corey, Lloyd Cunningham, Marion Lucas, and Gary Slater).
Clay County Fair officials say Parsons’ responsibilities at “The World’s Greatest County Fair” include leading all aspects of the year-round operation of the 240-acre Clay County Fair & Events Center, orchestrating details for the annual fair, and hundreds of non-fair events, and overseeing 12 full-time employees.
A passionate advocate for the fair industry and education, Parsons is involved in several industry organizations, including the IAFE. He graduated from the Institute of Fair Management in 2015 and received his Certified Fair Executive status in 2017. He is a past president of the Mid-West Fairs Association.
Parsons is heavily involved in his community, currently serving as a member of the Spencer Community School Board of Education. He is also past president of the Spencer Chamber of Commerce and the Clay County Convention & Visitors Bureau.
