Young participants show their swine during the Pee-Wee Showmanship competition at the Clermont County Fair on July 28, 2016.

Young participants show their swine during the Pee-Wee Showmanship competition at the Clermont County Fair on July 28, 2016.
By Kelly Cantwell
Editor

The 167th Clermont County Fair was a success, despite facing 116 degree weather the first day and five inches of rain throughout the week.

“The fair went great considering what weather we had,” said Director Dan Hodges.

The fair’s gate numbers were not the highest the fair has seen in the last five years, but they were also not the lowest.

“I truly believe this would have been a very highly attended fair,” Hodges said.

Despite the weather, the fair board only had to cancel one event, the horse show on Saturday morning. The rain made the ground too wet and they were concerned about safety. There were a few delays, but everything went about as well as it could go, Hodges said.

The new additions this year, the beer garden and the country concert, also went well and the board plans to do both again next year.

“The beer garden went phenomenal,” Hodges said.

He checked with deputies and there were no alcohol-related issues at the fair. The only request Hodges received is to make the beer gardens larger, something the fair board will look at doing next year.

The Rodney Atkins concert on July 26 also went better than they could have expected, especially after getting two inches of rain that afternoon and the server going down just before noon. The concert was still close to selling out and the board met their profit goal, Hodges said.

The highlight for Hodges personally, though, was seeing how fair board members and volunteers worked so hard to make the fair go well.

“I saw a big team, a big family that was together making this a success,” Hodges said.

He received minimal complaints and saw only a few hiccups this year. Next year, however, is going to be even better.

“We’ve got really, really big plans for 2017,” Hodges said.

The most exciting part of the 168th Clermont County Fair will be the new barn, which Hodges announced on the opening day of the fair this year. The Senior Fair Board partnered with the Friends of the Fair and put a deposit on it this week, Hodges said.

The new barn will take the place of five barns in the southwest corner of the fairgrounds and will house goats, sheep and hogs. The building, which will have 200 pens, will also include a new show arena.

The building will be a steel structure, whereas the current barns are wood and the roofs are not insulated and are low, making it very hot for the animals. In addition, the current barns are a fire hazard, Hodges said.

Once the permits are finalized for the new barn, the demolition of the five barns, which were built in the late 1940s and early 1950s, will begin.

“They’re pretty much an eyesore and we’re better than that,” Hodges said.

He added, “We want to have a nice, open area that we can be proud of.”

As long as they get all the permits, the demolition and groundbreaking for the new barn will start in September. Demolition will not begin before the permits are in place, Hodges said.