Sounds like a good phrase doesn’t it? “A winner every time”…
Unless you’re me last week, stepping into the Warren County Fair – smack dab in the middle of the midway with three kids in tow. “A winner every time for the kids Dad”, shouts the carnival barker. Now hear this: my kids have a total of six ears between them, the haven’t heard me tell them to brush their teeth once in their entire lives. But say something about a free KISS mirror if you pop an under-inflated balloon with a dull dart for a mere $5.00, and its like God has spoken to them. It’s not a phrase I want to hear, it’s too good to be true. We all know that the jumbo KISS mirror is the final prize you can get if you pop 22 balloons (in a row, with no misses) with each additional dart at 5 bucks a pop until you have exceeded the value of the mirror by 1700% (not that you could ever really place a value on any carnie’s mirror). Not exactly my idea of a winner.
Believe me, if I could get EXAIR to give away the finest silk screened KISS mirrors with the purchase of a Chip Vac, I would. But we traditionally run a promo which gives away a Vac U Gun – something of value, something useful, and something we don’t think you’ll mind winning (getting for free).
So we scurried through the crowd to reach the exposition hall where America at its best is on display; I seriously love a good county fair. One of my favorite spots is the Ohio DNR booth. I picked up the latest map showing every wildlife area in the state, a great resource for weekend hiking excursions. My boys grabbed the wetland slough ecosystem poster and a sport fishing identification booklet. This book identifies 42 different sport fish of Ohio. It confirms my non-status as a sports fisherman as I have caught 4 of the 42; bluegill, small mouth bass, sunfish and crappie – all out of the same farm pond; have I said I enjoy hiking? A quick grab of the annual Wild Ohio Kids magazine and we were off.
Of course you can get all the hometown information as well. We took some fans and a “magic gripper” to help with those pesky jar lids from the Warren County MRDD. The kids played Warren County Sheriff Plinko and they scored carabiners and sterile bandage holders, each labeled Warren County Sheriff Department. We spoke with a 4H representative as my kids could hardly contain themselves, I am certain we will soon be raising rabbits and/or chickens. There are always booths with the latest kids fads and toys, non clogging gutters, water filters, fudge and career center information. The ministries folk are also well represented, people doin’ God’s work. Based on the appearance, language and even smell of the crowds – they were in the right place.
Once you’re inside EXAIR’s website you’ll be in the right place too. The right place for saving compressed air energy, lowering noise levels and air consumption, and for increasing safety throughout your operations. You can pick up everything from the tiniest engineered air nozzles to a huge 8″ Super Air Amplifier. You will find compressed air optimization and electronic cabinet cooling systems.
So we made our way out to the main attraction as far as the kids were concerned, the animal barns. It was a hot day, REALLY hot and humid, 96 degrees that day. I haven’t mentioned it because every time I think about the swine barn at about 100 degrees I get a sudden onset of nausea. Not pleasant to say the least, but I do enjoy the rabbits and chickens, horses, llamas and alpacas. Wait a second, the llama and alpaca barn? The all-American barn of South American, high altitude Andes dwelling pack animals bred for their heartiness and wool? Yes that’s right llamas and alpacas have held a place at the Warren County fair for years now, it’s another sign of the American way of life – if you want to raise alpaca and llamas, emus or ostrich – do it, but don’t forget to get ’em in to the fair for the chance at a blue ribbon! It’s evolution of the American county fair from cows and horses to alpacas and llamas.
EXAIR’s first printed catalog had 48 pages and 9 product sections. Our current catalog has evolved to 160 pages and 14 product lines. We continue to want to manufacture more compressed air products and offer you one place to get them all, so we do. We have even received many “blue ribbons” (Plant Engineering Awards) of our own.
We were all very hungry at that point, how couldn’t we be after spending so much time near multiple versions of 100 degree scat? We sped off in different directions with plans to meet back at the eating tent. When we convened once again we had 1 foot long corn dog, 1 blooming onion, 1 order deep-fried mushrooms, 1 slice cheese pizza, 1 sirloin tips dinner, 1 lemon shakeup, 2 mountain dews, 2 waters and 1 thin wallet. We went back for two elephant ears and headed off to the tractor pull.
There we soaked up the power and adrenaline created only from multiple V8’s strapped to a highly modified John Deere. After a few pulls it was time to go, but not before handing off our Warren County MRDD fans to a couple of ol’ boy’s trying to cool themselves with their baseball hats. And throughout these things at the fair we always run into old neighbors, boy scout parents, basketball parents and friends we have made during our years in Warren County, Ohio. Another winning night at the fair.
And during my years at EXAIR I have learned the winning part of the equation is our relationship with the customers. We enjoy getting new customers and helping them accomplish goals. We recognize maintaining our current customer’s satisfaction at high levels is important and we are always happy to hear from old customers who have come back with a new challenge. Yes, it is a lofty goal but what we want is a Winner Every Time.
Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com