Four-day fair

Four days, free gate admission, Farmer’s Building concerts, a demolition derby and, of course, food.

Those are the basic details of what the Jay County Fair will look like this year.

Jay County Fair Board announced today that the event, originally scheduled for nine days, will instead be slimmed down to Wednesday, July 15, through Saturday, July 18, because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“Our fair board has worked hard to come up with a plan,” said fair board president Brian Aker. “They just didn’t want to walk away from the fair.”

The board, following a four-plus-hour meeting, had announced last week its plans to change the format of the fair. Its members met for another three hours Tuesday night to move forward with details of what the event will look like.

Many of those details remain up in the air as board members work with performers and entertainment providers to schedule shows and modify contracts on short notice.



The one event that is locked in is the Saturday demolition derby, which will be an all-day event. It will be the only grandstand entertainment during the fair this year.

The fair board is working with its amusement provider on its options for the scaled-down event.

“We’re hoping to have the rides there,” Aker said.

Other plans call for free concerts each evening at the Farmer’s Building, with the performers positioned so they are playing out toward the fairgrounds. Attendees will be invited to bring their lawn chairs to watch the shows. Performers for those concerts have not yet been finalized.

Baby contests will be held July 18 at the Farmer’s Building, which will host events daily. There will also be attractions like the pet parade and children’s pedal pulls. Vendors will be set up in the Bubp Building and the Women’s Building.

The traditional Kids’ Day, Republican Day and Democrat Day will also be part of the schedule.

Aker said fair board members have reached out to local service groups that run food stands at the fairgrounds and that they plan to be open during the event.

The major changes to the schedule are the timeline — the fair was originally scheduled to run July 10 through 18 — and the elimination of almost all of the grandstand entertainment. Those events were scheduled to include three concerts, headlined by the Tracy Lawrence performance slated for July 17, a monster truck show, a rodeo and bookend demolition derbies.

Two key concerns — the requirement for social distancing and cost — led to eliminating all of those except for a demolition derby. Those events run at least $15,000 per night up front (and significantly more for the big concert) and the fair board feels under the current circumstances the possibility of taking several nights of heavy financial losses is far too risky.

“It would take years to come out of the red,” said Aker.

The fair board has already missed out on income this year with the cancellation of demolition derbies and the Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Association Swap Meet. Its June 20 Farmer’s Building concert featuring Brothers Walker and Rachel Lipsky has also been canceled.

“What the fair board operates off of is our rental money,” said Aker. “Without that rental money, it’s a huge gamble to put anything in front of that grandstand. So we had to go with the sure thing. The sure thing is the demolition derby.”

The Jay County 4-H Fair, which is governed by Purdue Extension and the local 4-H council, announced last week that it will be held in a show-and-go format this year. Because of the need for social distancing, animals will not be staying at the fairgrounds.

The 4-H shows would typically run from Saturday, July 11, through Wednesday, July 15, to be followed by the supreme showmanship competition July 16 and the auction July 17. However, Jay County’s Purdue Extension director and educator of 4-H development Allison Keen said the different format this year may require changes to the schedule.

Jay County Commissioners on Tuesday approved up to $2,500 to cover the cost of COVID-19 sanitizing supplies during the 4-H fair.

The fair board had discussed a variety of possibilities — going forward with the fair as scheduled, moving it later in the year, scaling it back and eliminating it entirely — for its part of the event, ultimately deciding on the plan it released today. The goal, Aker said, is to be able to provide Jay County residents with some fun while also following health department guidelines.

“This is a whole different road for all of us,” said Aker. “It took a lot of thinking.

“We want people there. That’s why we don’t want to charge to get into the gates. That’s kind of our payback to them over the years. … We’re happy just to provide something.”