It's that time of year again! This year's Candidates for NICA's Board of Directors are Brandy Arredondo, CCE, Noel's Foods; Sandy Class, CCE, Tavern at the Park; and Phil Delahoyde, Extreme Food and Beverage. Read more about them at our Elections Page and in the upcoming October issue of NICA News.
We sent out election ballots on September 15th to Voting Members. Members without email, non-working emails, or those with a shared email address were sent the election ballot via mail. If you do not receive a mail ballot by September 30th or have received an online ballot, but would prefer it to be sent by mail, reply to this email or contact (813) 438-8926. Thank you for your continued support!
Join Us in Las Vegas for NICA Marketplace: Early Bird & Trade Show Registration Now Available!
Dear Business Owners, Managers, Fair Industry Leaders, Trade Show Exhibitors, and YOU! We are proud to announce the upcoming 2023 NICA Marketplace, "Together!" event, taking place December 3-6, 2023 at the Tuscany Suites and Casino in Las Vegas, NV, where we will share ideas, networking, products, and services. Ever since we held our inaugural event last year, we are continuing to receive positive responses from our Attendees and Trade Show Exhibitors. 2022 Attendee Brandi Ebner, Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center, said, “I set the bar low on what I would gain out of it as I am the Vendor Coordinator of the largest County Fair in Oregon and I felt that this conference was likely designed for Food Concessionaires. I was unsure what the educational content would be or if I would be the only Fair represented in the room. My assumption could not have been more wrong! I left the NICA convention inspired and excited. I would HIGHLY recommend this convention for any Fair Directors or Vendor Coordinators. It was affordable, well planned, and one of the best convention experiences that I have ever had.”
NICA Marketplace, "Together!" will feature a non-exclusive Trade Show, Educational Sessions led by hands-on Event Industry Thought Leaders, and Networking Opportunities that are welcome and comfortable—a place where we all understand we are Customers of each other and "Together" we share a Fair Guest to serve. We are proud to welcome many new and returning Trade Show Exhibitors to this year’s event including Action Lighting, Aspire/Otis Spunkmeyer, Beach Cities, Berk, Boxed Water, Entegra, Eventeny, Fare Foods, Florida's Best, Good Source Solutions, Goodyear, Heinz, Holten Meats, Hummel Group, JKJ Workforce, The Langlois Company, McCain Foods, McGowan Allied Specialty Insurance, OA Finance, OCC Signs, Pactiv, Smithfield, Sysco, and Tyson/Advanced Pierre. See you in Vegas!
You must sign in to your Online Member Account when registering to receive your special rate. If you do not have an account or are not sure what it is, you can Create Your Account today; if you do not receive a verification or reset link in your email, you may not have a valid email on file.
Stay tuned to NICA's emails, social media and www.nicainc.org/marketplace for upcoming event information, programming updates, and more. If you have any questions or require registration assistance, please contact us at (813) 438-8926 or reply to this email. "Together We Can!"
Thank you to everyone who attended our recent Gatherings last week at the Clay County Fair in Iowa and at The Big E in Massachusetts. These opportunities allow our members, non-members, and Fair staff to enjoy greetings from NICA and Fair Leadership, learn more about NICA benefits and events, including NICA Marketplace, and have the chance to win something too!
We are currently accepting any photos or videos that were taken during any of these events. Submit them online via our Submission Tool or by replying to this email. Stay tuned to Social Media and NICA Now! for upcoming event announcements.
Save 20% with Goodyear's Consumer Tire Sales Program for the NICA Membership
We invite you to use Goodyear's NEW Consumer Tire Sales Program designed for NICA Members, saving you 20% off of Tires and Installation. Carmel Dyer-Pittroff, CCE, Foundation Trustee, has been an early adopter on NICA’s Goodyear Tire Program and shared her experience with us. She said, “This is the easiest benefit ever! I called Tim Koenigsfeld with Goodyear and Tim organized my tire installation. It is becoming a lot easier with the new system, and I just got a text my tires are done. It was just as quick two weeks ago when I again had tires installed on my Food Stand. This is the fourth time I have used this benefit!”
Show up to have the work completed or schedule mobile installation (depending on your location).
To get started with the code already applied, select the flyer below.Our existing sign up process will still be available for both commercial and auto/light truck consumer products at www.nicainc.org/goodyear, as we want to keep the program as flexible as possible for you.
Do you have any news or resources you would like to share with us? Reply to this email, post on our Social Media pages, or utilize our Submit Your Content tool. "Together We Can!"
Hot weather in the south continues to affect bird weights. Breasts have steadied after weeks of gains. Tenders are in high demand and are in short supply. Wings of all sizes are up on good demand and short supply. Dark meat is moving up on increased demand.
Pork
Butts markets remain strong, but demand should decline after labor day and bring the markets down. Ribs are holding steady right now with little signs of movement. Loins are coming down due to less demand from retail. Bellies are still on a sharp decline.
Beef
The market has slowed. Tenders and ribs are popping up but enough to make buyers pause. Strips, mostly Choice, continue to fill the pipeline, yet packers are hesitant to clear them out. Packers and buyers continue to eye the spread in price between strips and ribs, expecting a shift in sales. Chucks and rounds continue to show balance. Grinds are showing softer undertones on 73% & 81 lean.
Eggs / Dairy
Shell Egg markets steady. Cheese markets up this week, look to remain steady. Butter markets are down again this week, but still have some bullish overtones. Cream and Culture pricing will increase for most of the country, California will remain flat for September pricing.
Grains / Oil
We experienced another week where the soybean crop score was downgraded, which has serious implications around harvest and production. Despite this, futures for soybean oil fell hard. Canola seed futures continued to move lower. Dry weather is allowing the farmers to continue to harvest. Palm oil moved along with soybean oil futures.
Seafood
The floods in China have affected Tilapia raw material availability. The extent to which it will affect our availability and cost is yet to be determined. Alaskan King Crab season has been canceled for the 6th year in a row. When looking for options to king crab, Golden king crab and Santolla crab (South American) are great options.
Avocado
The size curve is starting to even out with more 48s showing up in the pack–outs, roughly 29%. #2 fruit will remain short with only 5% of pack–out.
Citrus
Lemons – Demand is high. Fancy grade and small sizes are extremely tight. Expect supplies to be tight in September as Argentina and Chile are expected to finish the end of this month. The desert crop is expected to start early to mid–October.
Oranges – Strong demand and tight supplies on small sizes 113–138’s, small sizes expected to remain tight through the Valencia season. Crop peaking on 72’s and larger. The market continues to strengthen on 88’s and smaller.
Limes – Demand exceeds supply. Overall volume from Mexico low. High shrink due to heat so grading a challenge. New crop will start in October, but they have been impacted by summer heat, so that volume could be down also.
Eggplant
East – Eggplant supplies light, quality is good, demand good, and market moving well at current prices.
West – Very limited supplies, possible prorates until weather improves.
The September 2023 issue of NICA News has the theme, "All In For the Future!"
Featuring 2023 NICA Foundation Scholarship Recipients, Event Information and Program Schedule for NICA Marketplace, "Together!" Election Ballot information, Save the Date for 2024, Gatherings in the Midwest, A Message From the NICA Foundation, Midwest Photos, and more!
NICA is a membership-driven organization dedicated to strengthening relationships with the Fair, Festival, and Special Events Industries through effective communication, benefits, education, leadership, and solutions.
