Randi Carnahan - General Manager

Annette Gerlitz - Operations Manager/Concessions

Ozzie Oszustowski - Competitive Exhibits Manager

Bill Howe - Maintenance Manager

Carol F. Machos - Specal Events Coordinator

Amanda Bent - Stages Coordinator

To contact any of the above listed staff, click on their name.

Randi Carnahan

Bio coming soon.

Annette Gerlitz

Operations Manager/Concessions Manager

Annette Gerlitz came to us from the mountains (okay, hills) of Kentucky by way of a job transfer from Ohio. She promised her momma that she would only be up here in Alaska for one year.  Annette is now in her tenth year in Alaska and this will be her third year at the Fair.

As Operations Manager, Annette oversees the vastness that is the Tanana Valley State Fairgrounds,as she coordinates all the people, places, and things that keep this place humming all year long (except for Maintenance - that's someone else's bailiwick).

Annette loves building destruction, Barry Manilow, Peter Moffay, and the Black Eyed Peas, and considers chocolate to be a major food group.

She can be very trusting at times - the staff managed to convince her that dressing up as the Fair Hare for the Midnight Sun Festival was a good idea!  And Annette was horrified when she realized that the animals sold at the Market Livestock Auction were going to be EATEN! ("What do you mean, they're not sold as pets!")

Besides her very demanding job here at the Fair, she has 3 dogs, 2 cats, 5 kids (not goats), and a husband that keep her constantly sleep deprived.

Bill Howe

Maintenance Manager

Bill Howe has been involved with the Tanana Valley State Fair for over 20 years.  He has designed the posters for the following years: 1990 (Lettuce Entertain Ewe), 2004 (Corn to be Wild), 2006 (Diamonds are Fair Ever), 2008 (Pirates of the Carrots & Beans), and 2010 (Barn in the USA).  Most of the signs made on the Fairgrounds were done by Bill.

Wild Bill has worked as a graphic artist and grounds crew employee from 1991 to 1997.  He has also served as a TVSFA Board Member for six years.

When the Maintenance Manager position came open, Bill figured that if he was spending most of his adult life arounf the Tanana Valley State Fair, he might as try for the job.

Bill is looking forward to working as the Maintenance Manager.  He knows he has some big shoes to fill.  But he is up to the challenge.

Bill's friends have already nicknamed him "Billy Fairgrounds!"

Ozzie Oszustowski

Competitive Exhibits Manager

Ozzie Oszustowski, sometimes known as Ozzie Jones, left New York in 1973 to attend the University of Alaska Fairbanks,and she's been here ever since. Ozzie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre, which, strangely enough, comes in handy at times.

Ozzie has a long history with the Tanana Valley State Fair.  She started entering cakes and embroidered shirts in 1976, when the Cake Decoration and Needlework Divisions where in the E-shaped exhibit hall. Ozzie has also been a volunteer, as Martha Washington and Betsy Ross, as a judge for different  divisions, and as a Superintendent in Needlework.  In 2007, just three weeks before the Fair started, she became the Competitive Exhibits Manager, and learned more about goats and cattle than she ever thought she needed to.

Ozzie is the Offical Cat Herder of the Fair.  If something can get a ribbon, it's her problem, be it an Abyssinian Satin Cavy or a zebra-striped dress that's been recycled into a rug. And she loves every moment of it. It's like running away to the circus and sleeping in your own bed every night!