OCF Food Committee Site

Improvements for 2026 Poll

The Food Team folks met with each booth and cart each day of the Fair. They reported all of the issues and concerns you all shared to us, the Food Committee. We collected your issues and would like to hear more about your concerns. We also want to work out what are the highest priority issues the food committee should try and advocate for changes with the other crews and committees at the Fair this year.

We will discuss the highest priority issues at the upcoming Food Community Town Hall on Sunday, October 5th at 3pm via Zoom. We will try and share your concerns with the relevant Fair crews prior to that meeting and invite them to come to the town hall so we can explore the issues in more depth and look for creative solutions to these food booth-related concerns.

Dust Management! What is the solution? It was definitely harder for food booths to keep dust out of the food, and as temperatures get warmer and drier in the summer, the issue will only get worse and worse.

High Priority	Medium Priority	Low Priority	Indiffrent

How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about this dust issue?

Handwashing stations at the Porta Poties, particularly near Xavanadue and Chela Mela Meadow, were frequently out of water, paper towels, soap, and supplies. The port-potties at the upper end of the Fair were better maintained than last year, but the places with built-in sinks do not have paper towel supplies, and there is still room for improvement, especially during setup on Wednesday and Thursday.

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How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about this porta-potty issue?

Recycling posters are great, but still need to add more of the unique things relevant to food booths, so we all know how to combine and sort (things like wax milk cartons, gallon jugs, tetra packs, tin cans, plastic fruit baskets, latex gloves, etc)

High Priority	Medium Priority	Low Priority	Indiffrent

How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about what to recycle?

Recycling depots were often overflowing, and there is still some confusion about when recycling is picked up, when compost/ garbage is picked up from food booths, and when booths should take it out to a nearby kiosk.

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How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about recyling in your booth?

Water filling schedule concerns, not getting enough water, not getting enough water early enough, being asked to take a 1/4 tank, but some tanks are much smaller, so a 1/4 tank isn't enough. Getting water early enough to be prepared for opening is critical to food safety.

High Priority	Medium Priority	Low Priority	Indiffrent

How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about water?

Grey water pumping was delayed or uncoordinated, particularly in Xavanadu, which made it so some pump-outs occurred during public Fair hours, and some booths were missed entirely, and it was unclear who to talk to about it.

High Priority	Medium Priority	Low Priority	Indiffrent

How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about gray water pumpout?

Reefer access on Wednesday for food booths has been mentioned as a priority again, like it has been for several years. Hopefully, some kind of coordination can happen with Main Camp Kitchen and the reefer crew to begin to make a plan on how to achieve this, although it is likely to take a few years to find a solution to this problem.

High Priority	Medium Priority	Low Priority	Indiffrent

How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about Reefer access on Wednesday?

Reefer closures (particularly at the Lower reefer) to facilitate ice delivery were awkward and difficult to navigate.

High Priority	Medium Priority	Low Priority	Indiffrent

How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about Reefer closers?

Day worker parking was too far from the Fair. Several booths have more than one town runner but there is no way to drop off or cart supplies in if you're not the medaillion row vehicle. The Day Worker early LTD buses are great, but do not accommodate all the day workers' needs. Is there a possibility of an Out of Site and Dead Lot shuttle in the morning?

High Priority	Medium Priority	Low Priority	Indiffrent

How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about Day worker parking?

Medallion Row usage is still a challenge. Some vendors occupied spaces intended for others, and the parking crew had a difficult time accommodating all the larger vehicles requested. Do we need to restrict the number of large vehicles to ensure everyone can fit?

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How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about Medallion Row?

Sunshine Database was better this year, but still needs improvements on the user interface (especially where to pay for ice and durables), and would prefer to get an emailed receipt after each transaction.

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How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about the Sunshine Database?

Vendor banding lines are still way too long on Wednesday, lots of people reporting a 3-hour wait. Vendor lines seemed significantly slower than staff banding lines. Early Tuesday banding for food vendors in town is a great help, but not accessible for all of the out-of-town workers, and it is still time-consuming.

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How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about registration?

Day worker stamps for re-entry wore off too easily, causing problems for crews that go out and come back in during the day. Could there be a different solution for Day Workers to keep part of the ticket? Or have the stamp on the ticket and then keep the ticket for re-entry?

High Priority	Medium Priority	Low Priority	Indiffrent

How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about Day Workers?

Maniac Monday load-out schedule was a great attempt, but still needs some work, especially the Chela Mela exit plan and Top of the Eight/ Chickadee two-way traffic early, since recycling trucks were not done by the scheduled time and two-way traffic was not managed well.

High Priority	Medium Priority	Low Priority	Indiffrent

How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about Monday?

Still a need for more consistent process for getting a full Load Teddy for load in, especially at the Top of the Eight/Chickadee and Sesame gate. And should the yellow parking pass for pre-fair (with contact info) be saved and reused for Monday load out, instead of having to get another pass? And should it be pre-printed with clear load-in and load-out instructions on the back of it?

High Priority	Medium Priority	Low Priority	Indiffrent

How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about Parking and Full Load Teddy's?

The Vendor Wi-Fi password access was challenging to find. Could the password be generated and shared at the Food Booth Meeting?

High Priority	Medium Priority	Low Priority	Indiffrent

How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about using the Vendor Wifi?

Durables were way, way better this year!! But there were still a handful of folks who didn't receive their durables on Wednesday/Thursday, and it was unclear how they could contact folks to get that fixed during the Fair. Some carts had issues picking up their durables at Lower Reefer. Some people say they tried to purchase durables during the Fair, and were not able to, but others say there were supplies at both reefers, even on Sunday.

High Priority	Medium Priority	Low Priority	Indiffrent

How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about Durables?

How to avoid ever running out of ice and being asked to limit ice purchases? It is a safety issue for booths, and getting restricted is an issue. And receiving ice at the lower reefer is still unsanitary, and there still needs to be some work to make sure the ice bag is kept clean from contaminants.

High Priority	Medium Priority	Low Priority	Indiffrent

How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about Ice?

Does the Fair need to reduce the price of Sunday tickets to encourage more Sunday patrons? Was the reduced Sunday attendance just based on the weather?

High Priority	Medium Priority	Low Priority	Indiffrent

How important would you rate this issue?

Do you have any helpful comments, suggestions, or anecdotes about Sunday?

Are there things not covered in the issues shared above that you would like the Food Committee to look into?

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If we have follow-up questions, we may reach out to get more info on your concerns or suggestions.