The 2017 Clinton County Fair went well despite a few blows from Mother Nature and the swine flu scare, according to Clinton County Agricultural Society President Scot Gerber.
“The fair started out very well, extremely well,” Gerber said. “When rain started coming it slowed things down considerably for 2-3 days. Then the swine flu incident affected us a little bit, but not as much as I expected. I was pleasantly surprised — it didn’t hurt us that much; most people understood the situation and we tried our best to let people know it was still safe.”
State officials shut down the hog barn last Thursday due to swine flu being detected. After that, only exhibitors and officials were allowed to see the remainder of the Junior Fair Market Hog Show
“I appreciate the fact that people understood and were supportive of the decision made by the state over the swine flu issue,” Gerber added. “Everybody seemed to understand that was not the fair board’s decision, it came from the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the state vets. We were just administering the decision, and overall it was received very well. Most people understood.”
Gerber said that overall attendance was “just a little below last year” with around 24,000 people attending this year’s fair.
Among activities that debuted this year, he said the KOI Dirt Drag Racing was very well-received. “We were really pleased, there were a lot of vehicles and a lot of people there. It was a big show.”
The World’s Greatest Cowboy/Cowgirl competition was affected by threatening weather, but “given a better day we would have seen a lot more people,” Gerber said.
Now that the 2017 Clinton County Fair is in the rear-view mirror, the fair board can relax a bit, right?
Not so much.
“We’re absolutely already working on different things for next year,” Gerber said. “The discussion for next year’s fair starts immediately; we’re making adjustments and looking for different things.”
