Alan Phillips, new Chief Executive Officer for the Imperial Valley Expo, is pictured outside his office as he prepares for the 109th California Mid-Winter Fair & Fiesta, this year themed, “The Sweet Life.”

As a drummer for the country band the Mud Puppies in his younger years, Alan Philips had his share of performing during the California Mid-Winter Fair, often on the Rabobank stage but even once on the Grandstand as an opening act for country singer Earl Thomas Conley.

That night on the Grandstand took place more than 20 years ago, and what that younger version of himself couldn’t have known while sitting behind those drums in front of hundreds of fans was that one day he’d be running the fair.

Today, Phillips, 50, a Holtville native, husband (Kimberly is his wife of 17 years) and father of two, is the newest chief executive officer of the Imperial Valley Expo, home

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