County fair?

[Bigfoot]

We wound our county fair up tonight. It runs 9 days Friday-Saturday. We had terrible worthy. Floods to be exact. It really hurt the gate admissions, but hit our grandstand activities the hardest. Our biggest draw is the tractor pulls, and they were rained out. We did actually have some good livestock shows though........80 poultry entries, 45 hogs, 30 some odd sheep, 30 some odd goats. Only about 25 cattle entries, but they were all excellent. Anyway, I doubt this is the nail in the casket, but financially the whole thing was a bust.

People just seem generally uninterested in attending the fair. I personally feel like we drag it out too long. Most people are only going come once, twice at the most. Makes no sense to draw it out 9 days. Anyway, long story short is anybody's county fair flourishing?

We have:
Paegents
Tractor pulls
Demolition derby
Go cart races
Mud bogs
Rides

Admission is $3. Grandstand events are $10-$15

 

[inyati13]

Agree. That is too long for a county fair.

 

[greybeard]

is anybody's county fair flourishing?

not here, and I think one of the reasons is there is too much competition for visitor's time and $ nowadays.
There are usually 2-3 'festivals' in the area during the year, as well as all the private goings on, and the young folks are all hooked up 24/7 with their iPhone type gadgets anyway.
Ours has a similar time frame BF. We have very little attendance compared to what county fairs had when I was much much younger.

http://www.sjcfairandrodeo.com/event-schedule.html

 

[pricefarm]

Wish our local fair was on 3$ to get in. Cost 10$ to get in then if you want in the grandstands to watch a band it's 10-15$ more.

 

[Bigfoot]

We had to cash a few cd's to put on the fair this year. It can't go on indefinitely at that pace.

 

[crossbredcalves]

We run Tuesday through Saturday, July 19-23 this year. We are landlocked, so we haven't been able to add extra events, like tractor pulls, rodeo, etc. We have pageants, music acts, vocal contests, livestock shows, and carnival rides. Admission to the grounds is $5. We have had really good turnouts the last couple years. We had some slow years, but the last 3 or 4 have really picked up, like 1,500-3,000 people a night. Our biggest draw has been the carnival rides for the younger generation and the entertainment for the middle age plus.

 

[Duramaxgirl]

Ours runs August 9-13th... My kids have several 4h entries. Rabbit, chicken and archery...ect.. I'll be there every day 2-3 times a day. Fair is crazy busy around here. My famlies favorite time of the year!

 

[dun]

Ours wraps up today (sunday) started the 5th. Horrible heat and humidity but the stands for the events were pretty well full. 4wheeler rodeo, tractor pull, draft horse pull are the main draws other than the 4H/FFA livestock stuff. The cattle xhibits are down from 10 years ago but still doing pretty well, mostly pigs for some reason this year. By next years fair a building for the showing and the lievstock sale will be completed. It will be next to the livestock pavillion(pens) and be an enclosed building. Local sales tax is paying for it. This years sale was bigger than ever. Usually they just sold the top 25 animals in the fair. This year they sold all the animals including the eating chickens. Because of community involvement and donations our fair has always at least broken even and frequently makes some profit which gets carried over to the next year. You have4 to keep in mind that this is still an agriculture oriented area even with some manufacturing, i.e., boat manufacturing mostly.

 

[pricefarm]

Seems early for a fair. Ours is the first week of sept usaly by then it isn't so hot.

 

[Aaron]

Our runs the 3rd week in August, from August 18-20. Some years even 3 days is too much as very few people are around even on Thursday. We look at ours from a profit perspective. The fair has to make money to keep going a do upgrades and new buildings. Admission is only $3. They get about 6,000 to 8,000 visitors each year. Biggest draw is stock car races on Friday and Saturday nights. Lots of livestock exhibits, carnival rides and vendors. What is really hurting attendance it the state of their restroom facilities which are 2nd level and in a old-as-the-hills wooden shack. I haven't used the facilities in years as I am made sick when I go in there. It is a major upgrade expense that has been on the backburner for years. I know a lot of people that won't even come to the fair because of their restrooms.

 

[bmoore87]

Our county fair has expanded alot over the last 10 years with 5 day attandence a little over 30000 ($10-15 admission ) for last year while it seems like the majority in our area have gotten smaller or completely quit. Usually have parade, carnival, tractor pull, stock car races, night of destruction, and band (Gretchen wilson and montgomery gentry) have been the last few years.

I am happy it is growing instead of dying out like many have but its become more geared towards car and motor people with the agriculture/show side of it having really shrunk over the last 10 years. The beef show still gets a couple hundred entries but the rest of it as far as livestock has pretty much died out.

 

[Ky hills]

Our county fair was over last Saturday, it runs similar in length to BF"s county fair as well. It used to be 6 days, but in recent years was spread out longer. We also have been having out fair earlier too, used to be late July or early August, which I thought was better because more garden produce would be ready here at that time of year.
I have noticed a decline in traffic going to the fair, some could be as a result of being extended to more days. I also attribute some of the decline to the regional economy.
We went to the fair this year, with some family friends that were visiting. I thought it was a pretty good county fair, were several people there but would have thought more would have been, being that it was on a Friday night. They had a truck pull, and lawn mower races that night, as well as a Bluegrass band, carnival rides, petting zoo, and circus type acts.
Sheep show was going on that night. I don't know about this or recent years, but used to have a good sized cattle and horse shows.

 

[greybeard]

Seems early for a fair. Ours is the first week of sept usaly by then it isn't so hot.
..

Ours wraps up today (sunday) started the 5th. Horrible heat and humidity.

Ours is during peak hurricane season. Ike blew thru on Sept 14 '08, Rita on Sept 24 '05. "Hold on to yore hats boys, we're in for a rough ride!"

 

[M.Magis]

I don’t see the books, so I don’t know if ours is “flourishing”. But it appears to do well, attendance the first couple days is 2000-2500 people. It’s held in mid Sept, so it’s either perfect weather, or raining. It used to be 7 days, but they changed it to 6 a few years ago. We’re not a highly populated county, but there are hundreds of cattle entries. Not sure on sheep/goats/hogs, etc…. but lots of them. The Demolition Derby is the biggest money maker and by far the busiest day. They also hold an NTPA event, and open truck/tractor pull, harness racing, and quite a few other events. They typically have one “big name” country singer concert as well. The barns on sale day are full, and most of the kids do well. While I don’t know if they’re making much money, people still love to go to the fair as much as they ever did around here. And younger people just as much as adults, you’ve never seen so many redneck kids.

 

[bball]

I look forward to the 'mutton busting' at the fair. The put smaller kids on the back of a sheep and see if they can make the buzzer. Fun stuff to watch. Seems like the interest in showing large livestock is dwindling around us.

 

[Son of Butch]

Today's fairs have become irrelevant with no purpose other than to amuse or entertain.
Once upon a time fairs were useful and informational with a purpose, in addition to providing entertainment.
The show ring hasn't shown anything in the last 25 years, except to show the irrelevance of the show ring.

 

[bball]

Today's fairs have become irrelevant with no purpose other than to amuse or entertain.
Once upon a time fairs were useful and informational with a purpose, in addition to providing entertainment.
The show ring hasn't shown anything in the last 25 years, except to show the irrelevance of the show ring.

Interesting observation SOB. Couldn't dispute that either. Seems like the county fair has gone the way of many things in our culture- entertainment driven, something to appeal to everyone; placate, pacify and certainly don't require any real thought or effort to engage. Should we be surprised?

 

[Duramaxgirl]

I can't argue on the fair part. But being involved with 4h is awesome. I did it and my kids are all doing it. They learn to care for their animals show them handle them. Learn about livestock diseases and how to prevent it... The list is almost endless what they have learned. My kids love animals and love 4h. When their older we hope to do market steer.

 

[john250]

Jefferson Co. Indiana has a strong fair. Beef entries are declining because who can afford to feed out a steer these days.
Goat entries are up, because It takes a lot less $ to feed a goat. Local businesses bid up to buy the animals, The County extension takes this as his most important job. Great volunteers with common sense on the fair board. And the Methodist church donuts are to die for.