PREP WORK RAMPS UP FOR MONTGOMERY FAIR
Future expositions to be held at Jefferson Twp. location.
The Montgomery County Fair will be held earlier than usual this year, the last time the exposition will be conducted on the grounds on South Main Street in Dayton.
This year’s edition will be held from July 10 to 15 instead of late August and early September.
After 160 years in Dayton, the fair will be held in Jefferson Twp. starting in 2018. Judge Arthur O. Fisher Park will be the new home to the fair then.
On Thursday in preparation for the final South Main Street edition, Montgomery County Auditor Karl Keith and his crew inspected scales used for weighing animals.
“All of the animals that come into the fairgrounds, one of the first things they do is get weighed,” Keith said. “So it is important that the scales weigh them accurately so they have a successful fair.”
Keith said that there are changes this year, but he still expects things to go smoothly.
“This will be the last time here at the county fairgrounds in Dayton, and a date change too,” he said. “So it’s a little different for us this year, but we expect everything to go well.”
With the fairgrounds’ official move to Jefferson Twp., the University of Dayton and Premier Health plan to use the Dayton site. They don’t have a plan yet, but promise to redevelop the area.
The Montgomery County Agricultural Society will continue to occupy the fairgrounds until next spring.
Keith and his team aren’t the only ones having to deal with an adjustment period. Residents near the iconic fairgrounds will have to get used to the departure as well. Newer residents, like Shirley Reichard, are excited to see what the site will become.
“I really don’t have any problem with that,” Reichard said, who has lived near the site for about four years. “I’m looking forward to UD and Miami Valley’s plans for that area.”