Gere Goble|Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum
Over the last few days, hundreds of people have made their way to the Crawford County Fairgrounds — not for the fair, which starts Monday, but to get ready for the fair.
"It's going pretty smoothly so far," Rebecca Miller,fair secretary/manager, said last week.
Tents were delivered Wednesday; curtains were brought in the next day. Junior Fair board members set up a temporary office and concession stand in the old merchants' building. Vendors arrived and started to set up. Businesses and organizationswith tables in the merchants' building decorated their booths. The rides were put in place.
And in the middle of it all, work continued on a massive new multi-use building that eventually will housethe 4-H food stand, a meeting and dining space, and new offices for the senior fair, junior fair and Crawford County OSU Extension.
"They're working hard on this building out here, getting it roofed and the porch is on it," Miller said. "So it looks like a barn out here. Can't use it, obviously, but at least it looks good."
The new building is expected to be dedicated at the 2023 fair, Miller said previously.
4-H members' projects are judged
On Thursday afternoon, Connor Teters sat at a table in the Youth Building, listening as young 4-H members shared what they learned about cake decorating.
In separate sessions, Rachel Klamfoth, 10, and Aubrey Pope, 9, both members of Lykens Country Crew, answered Teters' questions about their experiences, and demonstrated their use of piping bags.
The serious-faced girls wore nice dresses, and brought along decorated cakes to show Teters.
"Great job with your project for your first year," Teters told Aubrey as their session ended.
Allison Cooper, 4-H youth development educator for Crawford County, said roughly 300 projects were scheduled for judging over the course of two days, Thursday and Friday.
"Cooking, sewing, rockets, veterinary science — any still project that's not animal-involved get judged these two days before fair," she explained. 4-H has444 project members in county. Many do both still projects and animal projects.
"They definitely all get nervous before their judging... but you know, once they get in there, I think they calm down a bit and get to actually enjoy the experience," Cooper said. "And then it's fun the rest of the week. Once your judging's done, they get to relax and have fun here."
Everyone likes the rides and the food during fair week, she said, butJunior Fair also offers contests and other events, such as the Barnyard Boogie at 3 p.m. Friday.
"My big push always is that yeah, we have a lot of livestock here this week, and that's definitely a fun part of the fair and something I encourage kids to do, but we also have a lot of other opportunities in 4-H that kids can participate in," Cooper said. "Even our younger members, if they're not taking projects, as little as 5 years old, we have different activities, things that they can participate in. I like to say there's something for everyone, even if you're not a country kid or a livestock kid."
Fine Arts Building is busy, too
Children weren't the only exhibitors getting ready for the fair on Thursday afternoon. Entries for domestic and fine arts, painting and photography and hobbies and collections departments were being set up in the Fine Arts Building.
Gary Moore, who lives near Wyandot in the southwestern part of the county,was carefully placing toys trains and street cars in a glass case. He collects Kenton cast iron toys.
"I grew up there; didn't know Kenton was known for anything," he explained. "And my brother found this bank up in our pump house, in the attic. And we turned it over and it said, 'Kenton Hardware.' And I Googled it, and all this stuff came up about Kenton cast iron toys and all this stuff."
He now has a couple hundred Kenton cast iron toys— anything from a variety of cap guns to toy coal-fired stoves for girls that could actually cook. "It would never pass safety issues nowadays," he said, laughing.
Jan Ricketts, who lives near Caledonia, was setting up a display of small oil cans and funnels.
"A lot of them were for sewing machines," she said. "They say not to clean them up, so I just wiped them off."
It was her first time exhibiting a collection at the fair, she said, asking Moore for tips on how to display everything.
"You go to garage sales and auctions and have fun," she said.
Senior Day returns to the fair
Not all of the preparations happen at the fairgrounds.
Senior Citizen's Day will return to the fair on Thursday after a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Courtney Moody has been preparing for her first fair event since becoming activities coordinator for the Crawford County Council on Aging in the spring of 2020. This year's event will have acountry-western theme, "Kick Up your Boots with the Council on Aging," she said.
Doors open at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Youth Building, Moody said. The program starts at 10 a.m., and hundreds of seniors are expected to attend. The day includes a free meal,entertainment by Randy Velez, the Strut Your Stuff dance troopand others,prizes,vendor tables,and more.
"To attend the event, seniors have to be 60 or older, and they have to reserve and pick up a ticket from our office prior to Thursday," Moody said. "And they also still have to pay admission to the fair. Thursday is Seniors Day, so it's $4 to get into the fair. I think there's been a little confusion about that."
Moody and Cassie Herschler, the Council on Aging's executive director, will host the event.
"To put on a large event like this, there's just so many people that put effort into this to make this happen," Moody said.The fair board lets us use the Youth Building for the event. Our meal and entertainment sponsors really help us offer a great event for the seniors. And just about each member of our staff really makes this event possible, from those who take in the ticket reservations, out transportation drivers that haul people back and forth to the fair, and then all of our staff that actually attend and work the event. It's a big production, and just so many people are involved."
Moody said she's still looking for sponsors for the event; anyone interested should call the Council on Aging office, 419-562-3050, or email her at cmoody@cccoa.org.
Going to the fair? Here's what you need to know
The Crawford County Fair runs Monday through Saturdayat the Crawford County Fairgrounds, 610 Whetstone St., Bucyrus. Admission, $7, includes midway rides.Rides operate noon to 4 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m.
The fair has partnered with Columbus-based HomeTown Ticketing to offer tickets online atcrawfordcofair.com. The website offers daily and weekly passes, plus tickets for the OSTPA tractor pull on Friday and the demolition derby on Saturday.
Schedule of events: What's happening at the Crawford County Fair
But people can still pay cash at the gate, Miller said.
Attractions will be the calf, chicken and sheep scrambles, 7 p.m. Monday; the Fair Jam (performers to be announced), 7:30 p.m. Tuesday; harness racing with parimutuel betting, post time 5:30 p.m. July 20-21; OSTPA Tractor Pull, 7 p.m. July 22; and the demolition derby, 7 p.m. July 23.
Tickets for both the tractor pull and demolition derby will be $5 for grandstand seats, or $10 for pit seats.
ggoble@gannett.com
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