FAIRFIELD —
Rustin Lippincott didn’t apply for the job he now holds. At least, not originally.
Lippincott came to Fairfield’s Convention and Visitors Bureau after spending the previous years as tourism director for Nauvoo, Ill. That was in 2007.
Within three years the job title has shifted to include directing Fairfield’s arts and convention center and helping organize the effort to get the city of Fairfield to buy out the center’s debt. It wasn’t at all what he initially thought he would be doing.
Don’t get him wrong. He’s not complaining. He loves it.
“It has been a fun ride, a very interesting ride,” he said.
The work with the center has been a particularly winding road. It went through two management groups before the board finally decided to drop that approach. Lippincott wound up managing the center.
He figures the process that eventually wound up putting the center in his lap was part of the growing process.
“Just like any new company we took our lumps along the way,” he said.
The biggest change came with the city buying out the center. Voters decided on May 4 to reallocate a portion of the local option sales tax to the costs involved, essentially changing the center’s status to a city-owned facility. Efforts to include Jefferson County in the plan fell through.
At 31, Lippincott still has energy to spare with the job. He speaks quickly and animatedly when asked about the center. It’s still a challenge to him, albeit one that keeps him interested every day. Events run from local dance recitals to nationally known actors, and every one of them expects to be well taken care of.
Lippincott is enthusiastic about the center’s future. He said it can bring in more than operating costs, though it couldn’t have survived with previous debt levels.
He also sees room for growth.
“We are not where we want to be,” Lippincott said. “We are continuing growing.”
Local News
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Rustin Lippincott is enthusiastic about the future of the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center. Matt Milner/The Courier
Neighbors: Lippincott enjoying ‘the ride’ in Fairfield
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