What will the Custer County Fair look like this year?

BROKEN BOW - The Custer County Ag Society held a special meeting June 18 at the Custer County Fairgrounds to determine how to move forward with the fair in 2020. The questions being determined throughout the meeting were how would the Fair look in 2020 with the different guidelines that must be followed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ag Society Board discussed livestock stalling, the open horse show, allowing campers at the Fair, the metal tractor pull, the celebrity cow milking contest, the teen dance, vendors at the fair, the Citizen Washington Focus (CWF) group having concessions, allowing entertainment, and whether to have a base or terminal bid livestock auction.

In terms of housing animals, the Ag Society decided they should be able to do stalling as normal Sunday through Thursday. There will be guidelines put in place that may include social distancing and wearing a mask but that is yet to be determined.

It was a 6-1 decision to go ahead with livestock stalling as normal with guidelines.

In an unanimous decision, it was decided that campers will be allowed with Nebraska Game and Parks guidelines and the metal tractor pull will happen on the last Wednesday of the Fair.

Vendors will be allowed throughout the fair as long as they follow the Directed Health Measures (DHM) guidelines. Entertainment will be allowed as well under the same stipulations along with having to sign a waiver.

It was also decided that CWF, who won’t be doing concessions this year, can come back and do the concessions in the coming years.

The biggest topic of the night was deciding if the 4-H and FFA Livestock Auction should be a base bid sale or premium bid sale.

After much discussion, it was a 5-1 decision to go forward with the Fair’s traditional base bid sale. The reasoning behind it was it’s a tradition to do this type of auction and it’s what makes it unique.

“It’s a market project from the beginning to the end,” Marla Stallbaumer, Ag Society Secretary, said. “It’s what makes the Custer County Fair different from the Buffalo County Fair. The kids get to go out there and shake the hand of the buyer.”

The main difference between the two sales according to Ag Society President Kent Nelson is with the premium bid sale the kids take their animals home. With the terminal bid sale, the animal is sold and taken that day by the buyer and normally shipped to a processing facility.

In a 5-1 decision, it was decided to have a base bid sale and make a committee to come up with a plan and present it at the next Ag Society meeting.

Two of the members of this special committee will include President Kent Nelson and Secretary Marla Stallbaumer.

The decision to hold the teen dance, which is normally hosted by the Elks, has been tabled. Currently DHMs prohibit dances and street dances other than wedding dances.

Their will be no shooting sports, no open horse show, and no celebrity cow milking contest at the fair this year.

For shooting sports, there will be a postal competition this year between Aug. 1 and Nov. 1.