By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Little did Amanda Barndt realize just how far-reaching the Ring of Dreams at the Wood County Fair would go in its first year.
Before, during and after the Aug. 3 event, plenty of local people were talking about the livestock show that offered the opportunity for individuals with developmental disabilities to show animals at the fair. She also heard from people where she works in Napoleon, 30 minutes west of Bowling Green, that they had seen her talk about the show on television. But when she received an email from the University of Florida Extension asking for information about the show, she was awestruck/flabbergasted/astounded/dumbfounded/.
“That was one of the coolest things. I saw the email pop up with the subject line ‘Ring of Dreams’ and I wondered what the University of Florida Extension wanted,” she said.
It turned out that they wanted to hear more about how the show went and how to implement something similar in Florida.
Somehow they had learned about it through a Google search. They saw some of her extensive promotions she had shared about the Ring of Dreams plans including the BG Independent story back in March.
“I knew we did a good job of advertising, but I had no idea to what extent it was seen,” Barndt said this week in a phone interview. “We knew not everyone’s on Facebook, not everyone reads the newspaper, not everyone watches the news or listens to the radio, so we knew we had to hit all of those. With the help of the community, it’s been just incredible to see just how far it’s reached.”
Though the Wood County event was certainly not the first or only event of its type, Barndt said she learned about other similar events by word of mouth rather than through online searches. There was very little information available online, which was one reason she decided to share the information as broadly as possible.
When she responded to the request, she assured them she was eager to share details about the event from the start through the finish. She sent copies of the flyers, letters and maps she created and a link to the livestreamed video of the event “that shows how smoothly the classes came in, how well-behaved the animals were, and how much joy there was,” she said.
She also explained her approach was to eliminate as many questions as possible at the beginning so that no one felt like it was an overwhelming experience. All of the information was provided.
Every document she created was saved as a pdf and sent to the Florida group. She provided a run-down of how the show was run, how they did signups, the practice day and the day of the show.
“I also explained how the community came out in full force, not only to pay for the show but to show support,” Barndt said. The arena was completely full of people showing how important all of the participants were.
One of the keys, she told them, was the importance of working with local agencies and getting them involved. “Amy Dauer of Wood Lane Residential Services (WLRS) was my lifesaver. She was the other half of absolutely everything we accomplished,” she said.
Dauer not only shared the information with so many of the participants that she knows through her work at WLRS, but she was also able to make sure all the necessary information was included. She also connected Barndt with the Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities, which was instrumental in backing the event and getting the word out to local families.
Barndt admitted the night before the signup, she was nervous not knowing what kind of participation they would have. Jen Krouse from the Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities emailed that she knew of 32 people who were planning to sign up. Her nerves were calmed, and they ended up with 43 participants.
The only changes she has in mind for 2024 are to start the show at 5:30 or 6 p.m. instead of 4 p.m. That should give more people the opportunity to watch the show after their workday, she said. She also will make sure the practice day can be done under a roof. Predicted bad weather on the planned practice day forced her to change the practice which ended up being a conflict for many people.
“We showed the fair and the community, just how cool of an opportunity it was that we had it here at our fair,” she said. “To witness the smiles and the conversations afterward was my favorite part of it. Can’t we end every livestock show in such a happy mood?”
