The organization that presents the Erie County Fair has named its new CEO, but she’s no stranger to the fairgrounds.
Jessica Underberg’s ties to one of the region’s most popular summer events go to her youth. In the mid1980s, she participated in numerous exhibits in the fair’s Youth Development Building.
Underberg has been working for the Erie County Agricultural Society since 1996 when she began a part-time gig in the administrative office. She moved up on the ranks and most recently served as the agriculture and competitive exhibits manager.
Underberg succeeds Dennis Lang, who retired Friday after an 18-month stint with the fair.
Underberg told WBFO she is looking forward to the challenges that extend far beyond the 12 days that people flock to the fair.
“Everything that happens on the property 356 days a year will be under my wings. I suppose. Anything like a craft show to a livestock sale to the 12 days of the fair.”
Underberg said many people would be surprised to discover the “huge impact” the organization has on the community. She cited one example.
“A lot of people don’t realize that we do field trips for Western New York schools two weeks of every month all throughout the year. So we have educated over 30,000 kids to date.”
Does Underberg expect to propose major changes at the fair?
“We just started last week actually holding staff meetings and talking about ‘what do we want to change? What do we want to do? What can we make better? Maybe what needs to go?’ We’ve started that process, but we’re still working on that.”
