LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Fair’s chief executive officer will soon be heading east to take on a new job.

Courtny Conkle has been hired as the manager of the Wyoming State Fair.

Conkle began as Lake County Fair CEO in November 2017. Her last day with the fair will be Thursday, Sept. 19.

She and her fiance, Ronan O'Rourke, will relocate next month, as she’s due to begin her new job in Wyoming in Sept. 23.

The timeline of Conkle’s departure allows her to oversee the upcoming Lake County Fair, which takes place Aug. 29 to Sept. 1.

Conkle is a wunderkind of fair management, having grown up in the industry.

“My mom went into labor at a fair so it’s in my blood,” she said.

She comes from a fair concessionaire family, and working at fairs with her father’s business, Conkle’s Concessions, was her first job.

So far, Conkle has worked for seven years in fair administration. Before coming to the Lake County Fair, she managed fair admissions for the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa and exhibits for the Sonoma-Marin Fair held in Petaluma, and acted as interim chief executive officer and fair manager for the Sonoma-Marin Fair.

She’s also been a member of the Western Fairs Association Board of Directors, served as Service Member Board of Directors first vice chair and International Association of Fairs and Expositions Young Professionals Initiative Zone 8 chair, and was organizing chair and board liaison for the Western Fairs Association Blue Ribbon Foundation.

“One of my ultimate career goals is to become a state fair manager,” she said, and that was a goal she believed was probably at least another decade out.

Then, earlier this summer, the Wyoming State Fair began to seek its new manager.

Conkle said she was one of more than 80 people who applied. “A few weeks ago I was taken into the top three.”

She traveled to Wyoming for the interview by the state fair board and later that afternoon she got a call asking if she was interested in the position. She accepted.

“The Wyoming State Fair is undergoing some pretty major changes with the way it’s structured,” she said, describing it as a “fresh beginning.”

The Wyoming State Fair Board – appointed by the governor – previously was an advisory board under the umbrella of the State Department of Agriculture. However, Conkle said it’s now transitioning to the first governing fair board.

The state fair manager is a governor-appointed position, Conkle said.

On Aug. 8, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon confirmed the state fair board’s selection of Conkle and her appointment.

Conkle said this is a unique opportunity for her to help the Wyoming State Fair move to its next level. “I think they’re getting ready to enter their golden age,” which she explains is when the fair is central to the community.

The Wyoming State Fair, now in its 106th year, is based in Douglas, which is located in Converse County in eastern Wyoming, about two hours north of the capital of Cheyenne. It has about 6,500 residents, Conkle said, making it comparable – and just a little larger – than Lakeport.

The state fairgrounds in Douglas is 118 acres – compared to the Lake County Fairgrounds at 34 acres – and also hosts the Douglas County Fair, which takes place earlier in the summer, Conkle said.

The Wyoming State Fair took place last week, and Conkle was there to see it in person before flying home on Friday to get back to work preparing for her last Lake County Fair.

Conkle said she and her new board will be looking at annual attendance at the Wyoming State Fair. Based on the record keeping, it looks like around 45,000 people, but she said she would venture it’s actually twice that number, noting they haven’t done the most accurate accounting previously.

That’s compared to the average 45,000 attendees at the Lake County Fair, a number that Conkle said counts exhibitors, vendors and comped passes. “That’s a pretty true count of the people who are actually on that grounds.”

Conkle said that she will help the Lake County Fair Board with recruiting her successor. Applications opened for the job this week.

She said the Lake County Fair Board would like to have someone selected by Oct. 1. However, “They want to make sure they get the best candidates possible,” so they will lengthen the recruitment period if necessary.

Applications are available on the fair Web site or at the office, 401 Martin St. For more information, call the fair office at 707-263-6181.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.