01/09/2023
Ritchie County never ceases to amaze me!
It is with great disappointment that I am forced to cancel the Spring Vintage Gathering scheduled on May 6, 2023 at the Ritchie County 4-H Barn.
As many of you know, I put on the Spring Vintage Gathering last year, May 7, 2022 at the Ritchie County 4-H Barn. The event was a success I received many positive comments and encouragement to host another event, so in the beginning of June, I contacted the extension office and booked the second annual Spring Vintage Gathering for May 6, 2023 at the Ritchie County 4-H Barn. June 7, 2022 was the first date I started posting on social media to “Save the Date”. Throughout the summer, I handed out countless fliers at many different events in surrounding counties. I had contacted our Extension Agent and asked if the 4-H Leaders wanted to do the concession stand for a fundraiser at my event. In September they had a meeting and that was approved, it is noted in their meeting minutes. At the end of September, returning vendors started applying for a space. At the beginning of October, I called the extension office to confirm I could use the boys dorms if I had an excess amount of vendors, which I was told yes that would be an option for me. Additional vendors continued to sign up through the end of December.
On January 1, 2023, I posted an ad on social media stating only 125 days until our event. I then received a message from a lady (who works in the Ritchie County Clerk’s Office) that her son was getting married on May 6, 2022 at 2:30 at the Ritchie County 4-H Barn. She said I work in that office and noted that “we” looked over the entire calendar to make sure it was available and also secured her deposit in late 2022. I told her they must have double booked and reassured her that I had booked several months ago.
On January 3, 2023 I called the county clerk employee who is now in charge of the calendar for the 4-H grounds. I was told that she indeed did see my name on the calendar as, “Wendy Snider-pending”. I was told that because I didn’t pay the fee and fill out the form, she deleted my name and added the other name. She informed me that the policy was I had to pay or I was kicked off the calendar. First, I want you to know that I know I have to pay a fee and fill out a form to use the barn, however, I DID NOT know that I had to do those two things to secure the date. This was a new policy and a new form that was not given to the extension office until October 2022 (many months after I booked my date). I asked her why she did not call me to confirm if I really wanted that date before just taking me off and she proceeded to tell me that she did not know how to contact me. We live in a small town, she knows me, she can look me up in the phone book, she is my social media friend (which she had messaged me last in August 2022), and she knows my entire family. Instead of a courtesy call, she deleted my name off the calendar.
I contacted all three of our county commissioners to discuss the issue and to be sure they were getting my side of the story. They seem to all agree that this issue was not handled correctly, yet were not willing to fix or make it correct on my behalf.
Throughout this ordeal, I have completed a lot of research and it seems that not everyone dealing with the calendar was aware of the new policy and did not receive the new form. Therefore, I was never told about this new policy when I reserved the date and if you do not tell me, how can I be held accountable for that? Also, the extension office, where I called to reserve the date, did not have this new form with new policy wording until October 2022. Therefore, the county clerk employee in charge of the calendar should have made sure this form was sent to the extension office upon implementation. Also, I feel as if she should have reviewed the calendar and contacted those who were put on as pending. It seems that my name should have never been put on the calendar as pending, but once again how is that my fault and my responsibility to know that?
I work in a public office and have a small business, this is not how you handle such situations. You cannot just delete someone off of the calendar and assume they will eventually find out. A phone call or even a letter in the mail would have been appropriate asking if I wanted the date because someone else was interested. I did not and have yet to receive a formal notice that I got deleted off of the calendar.
Not only does this affect me, but also the many vendors from Ritchie County and surrounding areas that planned to use this event as a source of income. Last year, this event brought in an estimate of $40,000 to our county. Those in attendance last year also shopped at other local businesses, ate at local restaurants, and even purchased fuel while traveling through. All in all, our county is losing out!
I have a lot of time, effort and money already poured into this event and now it is just wasted and lost. I now have a ton of back tracking to do and will have to begin reimbursing over 40 vendors so far because the county decided to give an employee precedents over me, who really did reserve the date first.
If you feel the desire to do so, please contact our county commissioners and let them know your thoughts on this issue and what a great event was lost.
Sam Rogers 304-382-4626
Randall Riggs304-588-4339
Steve Ritter304-299-3834
Sincerly,
Wendy Snider
