The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Smaller fair finishes with sales, smiles
Junior Fair only this year due to pandemic wraps up
The 2020 Lorain County Fair ended Aug. 29 with Junior Fair participants putting their livestock on the auction block.
The 175th anniversary of Ohio’s second largest county fair landed in the novel coronavirus pandemic year that spurred a gubernatorial order to pare down festivities to youth programs only.
So the 4-Hers and their families found fun within the shows on a trimmed-down schedule, said fair leaders on Aug. 29.
“I thought it went very well,” said fair board President Kim Meyers.
“I thought they had a good week. The shows went well, the competitions.”
The small-animal auction was held Aug. 27 and was well attended, Meyers said. More buyers came out two days later for the sale of cattle and hogs.
“We’re appreciative of our buyers,” he said.
“Our buyers were very generous to the kids.
“We’re very, very pleased with this week, even though we’ve been very limited, as you can see when you walk around. It’s like a ghost town compared to what it usually is, but this piece of it has gone very well,” Meyers said about the livestock sale. The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly, with exhibitors’ families and buyers visiting each other.
On the calendar, the formal last day was to be Aug. 30, but the only things left to do were take out any remaining animals and begin cleaning up the grounds.
The shows went on earlier in the week.
Honey Wilson, 10, a member of the Hoof & Hide 4-H Club, was a second-year exhibitor.
She and her modern beef steer, Micah, netted third place in showmanship and type contests.
But in 2020 the barn was different from the year before.
“I like it but — it’s quiet. It’s weird,” Honey said.
“There ain’t nothing here, is there?” said her father, Adam Wilson, of Eaton Township.
Usually the barns would be full of animals, people and things to do. That was lacking this year, but it was cool that the children still got to participate, Adam Wilson said.
Participants were encouraged to wear masks and keep a safe social distance between each other. Hand sanitizer, present in the barns in other years, was available again.
The health requirements seemed to go well, Meyers said.
He noted he could not speak for Lorain County Public Health, but the fair board had a plan and stuck to it.
Being outdoors is a great thing at the fair, Meyers said. He noted the weather generally was good until rainstorms poured the afternoon of Aug. 28.
There was no running tally of daily attendance because there was no paid admission this year, Meyers said.
The 4-H and FFA exhibitors received wristbands to get in and tickets to give their family members and friends to turn in at the gate. Tickets weren’t numbered, Meyers said.
The lower attendance would lead to lower revenues, but Meyers said the board is conservative and judicious with its finances, so this year’s income likely would not affect the 2021 fair.
Junior Fair Coordinator Sherry Nickles estimated the young exhibitors brought about 60 percent to 70 percent of market animals they raised. There were fewer breeding animals and there were no displays of still projects and the family and consumer science projects.
The biggest challenges for 4-H families was not knowing how social distancing would work or not being able to camp at the fairgrounds, she said.
Yet, people seemed to be understanding, at least for one challenge.
There were no complaints Aug. 27 when that day’s livestock auction started almost an hour late, Nickles said. The 2020 fair may be a chance for participants to appreciate their lives, go with the flow and be happier to be out and about.
“No one complained, no one came up with a question, nobody got frustrated, we all dealt with it,” Nickles said. “And maybe we need to look at our lives and how we deal with things and say, you know, I get so uptight anymore about things, and it really isn’t a big deal.”
Flooding social media with information helped participants and families get ready, said Junior
Fair Board President Cori Aviles. An eight-year lamb exhibitor, this year Aviles had to balance fair week with her first days of study at Baldwin Wallace University.
“There were some complaints but I think a lot of people are understanding, we have no control over the pandemic that’s going on right now,” Aviles said.
“We just tried to still make it the best fair possible. We got lots of compliments on the job well done that we have done this week. There are complaints in there, but there’s a lot more compliments than those.”
During fair week, a number of junior fair participants also began asking for applications for next year’s board. Usually that happens in September after the fair, Nickles said.
“If that’s any predictor of the future, it’s bright,” she said.
There were no complaints Aug. 27 when that day’s livestock auction started almost an hour late, Nickles said. The 2020 fair may be a chance for participants to appreciate their lives, go with the flow and be happier to be out and about.