Amador County - A preliminary model of the 2009 California State Fair Exhibit was presented by local sign expert Kam Merzlak to the Board of Supervisors during Tuesday’s Supervisor meeting. Merzlak, who won both the Silver and Superintendent's awards on behalf of the county for last year’s exhibit, brought to the podium a miniature of what he plans to be a functional replica of the Kennedy Mine head frame and tailing wheel. This involved a 16 inch replica of the Kennedy Mine head frame and a 10 inch diameter functional replica of the tailing wheel. The actual exhibit will be many times that size and will be used to promote Amador County at the State Fair, August 21 to September 7 in Sacramento. “If people can leave our booth with a little taste of Amador County, we’ve done our job,” said Merzlak. An actual flowing stream is planned to surround the exhibit, which will include an area for visitors to pan for gold. Small clear vials of gold will be available for lucky prospectors. Supervisor Oneto questioned where this gold would come from, but as Maureen Funk of the Amador Council of Tourism put it, “Kam has a plan.” The meat of the funds will come from the Supervisors, who initially agreed to contribute $1,250 each from their discretionary funds. This was revised to $1000 each after Supervisor Richard Forster expressed concerns over coming up with the money. Supervisor John Plasse, whose fund has not yet been established, agreed to contribute funds from his own pocket if the other Supervisors could put in $1000 each. $3,250 was budgeted for the exhibit in the last fiscal budget. Another $2,800 leftover from the film commission budget could also be authorized for the exhibit. In total, Merzlak will receive a minimum of $7,250 to build the project. In reference to the flowing stream, Supervisor Novelli jokingly said: “Don’t get mad if you find me floating in there in an intertube.” Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.