WILMINGTON — The Clinton County Agricultural Society hopes to receive funds from Columbus to construct a new maintenance building on the county fairgrounds.
Ag Society President Scot Gerber met Monday with Clinton County commissioners to update them midway between the 2019 and 2020 county fairs.
A grant application will be submitted by Friday’s deadline for Ohio Capital Budget dollars to build a maintenance facility along the West Main Street frontage of the fairgrounds.
The 60 feet by 100 feet structure would warehouse ag society equipment, and also include space for a shop where the ag society’s tractors, lawn mowers and so forth could be worked on.
Gerber noted the rides company Triple Treat Shows was the amusement rides provider for the Clinton County Fair for the first time in 2019. The Cincinnati-based company has been secured for the next three fairs in 2020, 2021 and 2022, he reported.
Revenue from the popular Jeep Jam event, held at the fairgrounds on an August weekend, was up 30 percent in 2019, Gerber said.
Winter rental storage inside fairgrounds facilities has increased by 10 percent, he said, and horse stall rentals is at about 85 percent capacity.
The ticketing process for the 2020 fair will be streamlined and will include the ability for attendees to use credit cards for gate admission.
The ag society president advised commissioners that the Senior Fair Board plans to rebuild the announcer stand at the track on its own.
In addition, there will be a new outdoor event held at the fairgrounds this year. On a Saturday, a nationally sanctioned Kansas City barbecue contest will be conducted, a truck show will be staged, and country music performed including a big-name entertainment finale yet to be announced (but in the works, Gerber told commissioners).
The event is made possible by a $30,000 grant to the agricultural society from the Clinton County Convention & Visitors Bureau.
There will be tickets available ahead of time for the event, which Gerber announced in December will be called “Country Invasion”.
Also on Monday, Neil Cochran who is a resident of the Westboro area in southern Clinton County, spoke with commissioners about the area’s appearance, thefts, and about vehicles being driven through yards, leaving them tore up.
He said Midland, Martinsville and Westboro are all south of State Route 350 in Clinton County, and added that nothing north of Route 350 looks like they do.
“Westboro looks like a Third-World country. Midland, Third-World country. Martinsville, Third-World country,” Cochran said.
This didn’t happen overnight, he said.
Regulations have not been enforced for a couple decades, he added. Last time something happened along those lines, according to Cochran, goes back to Liz White, who was the director of the Clinton County Health Department’s Environmental Division in the 1990s.
There haven’t been any repercussions since, he said.
Clinton County Commissioner Brenda K. Woods had previously spoken with Cochran, and told him she has come up with a list of people to contact about getting together and coordinating efforts for some cleanup.
Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.
