Erica Moore, 8, of Amelia, rides the bungee jumping trampoline at the 2015 Clermont County Fair on July 30.
By Kelly Doran
Editor

The 2015 Clermont County Fair was a success, but numbers were down because of heat and humidity.

“It went very well,” director Bill Scharber said. He was grateful there wasn’t any rain, but he saw lower numbers of fairgoers until Thursday when the humidity went away.

Attendance was down from a typical 90-100,000 to about 65-70,000, Scharber said.

Everything went smoothly this year, Scharber said.

“Nothing major happened,” he said.

Fair week was quiet for law enforcement. Clermont County Sheriff AJ “Tim” Rodenberg reported that no arrests were made.

A few offenses were reported: three cars were spray-painted and a soap dispenser was pulled off the wall in a restroom, Rodenberg said in an email. Only one person, a teenage boy, had to be transported to the hospital. He was suffering from heat-related distress but was treated and released without complications.

“Although the Clermont County Fair Week has never involved an abundance of problems, this year’s was one of the best in recent history,” Rodenberg said.

Rodenberg appreciates the fairgoers’ safety and consideration.

Fair events this year included the usual Royalty Contest, Baby Contest, rides, tractor pulls and the very popular animal shows.

Maddie Hill, 14, of Goshen, won the 2015 Overall Grand Champion Clermont County Born and Raised Market Hog.

“It feels great. It’s a rush of adrenaline through your heart, you just know that your hard work paid off,” Hill said.

This is not her first time winning overall. Hill also won Overall Grand Champion in 2013 and was close to winning in 2011. She has been showing pigs for six years.

This year, Hill also won second in her class of 14-year-olds in the Junior Fair Swine Showmanship. She brought two pigs to the fair this year.

Hill enjoys working with pigs because she feels they are very unique animals with different personalities.

Scharber and the other fair organizers try to add something new to the fair every year. This year it was the Lykins Pavilion, which allowed Scharber to upgrade the bands.

In a couple years, Scharber hopes to have a new show arena, but that depends on fundraising. There have been so many fairgoers in recent years that they have outgrown the current arena.