Smith canceled

Nate Smith is not coming to Jay County.

The party will go on without him.

Smith’s management team informed the Jay County Fair Board on Monday afternoon that the country music artist has canceled his scheduled Friday concert at the Jay County Fair.

He has not performed in about a month “after struggling with some vocal issues.”

“Due to Nate Smith’s vocal issues in the month of June, he has canceled our show for Friday, July 4,” said fair board secretary Dillon Muhlenkamp. (The board will be offering refunds. See details below.) “With this move, we understand that there might be some frustration,” he continued, “but we want people to understand that this was completely out of our control.”

The fair board is pivoting to a free-will donation concert with Smith’s planned opener, Josh Ross, as the headliner and Celina, Ohio, band 127 North stepping in to be the opening act.

Box seats will be available for $20.

The track will be open for patrons with no separate party pit. Sponsors that received VIP tickets will still have a VIP area for the show.

“We’re still gonna make this a party,” said Muhlenkamp. “We’re gonna make the best out of this. We’re still gonna have a party atmosphere, a party feel. We still want people to come out and enjoy the Fourth of July out here. We’re still gonna have our beer tent. … We’re still gonna have a great time regardless of who’s performing, because the Jay County Fair is about being together with each other and making memories with our families and friends and really coming together as a community to support each other.”

“It’s not the party we had planned, but it’s still going to be a hell of a time,” added fair board president Aaron Loy.

Smith canceled his June dates, including a scheduled appearance at CMA Fest, saying in a social media post June 5 that doctors had placed him on “strict vocal rest” for the remainder of the month. His team, though, had previously indicated that he would return to his planned schedule, including the Jay County Fair.

Fair board members said Monday evening that Smith is moving forward with his performances scheduled for the Schuyler County Fair in Illinois on July 3 and Summerfest 2025 in Milwaukee on July 5, but canceling the concert in between in Jay County. (The local concert was still on his website as of Tuesday morning.) He has additional dates planned in Canada and Wisconsin through mid-July.

Smith’s “Fix What You Didn’t Break” has earned the No. 1 spot on the MusicRow CountryBreakout Radio Chart for the last two weeks.

Ross (joshrossmusic.com) toured with Jelly Roll in Canada in March and won the Jeff Walker Global Country Artist Award at the 2024 CMA Awards. He has had six songs make it to the top five of the Canadian Country charts, with “Single Again” as his most popular in the U.S.

He counts Steve Earle, Guns N’ Roses and Metallica among his influences and has toured with Nickelback, Luke Bryan and Brantley Gilbert.

127 North (facebook.com/127north) bills itself as a “high energy rockin country band, playing all your favorite hits & originals.” It performs extensively in western Ohio, including a visit last month to the Fort Recovery Jubilee.

Though the concert will be offered for a free-will donation, the $5 per person gate admission fee will remain in effect from 3 to 8:30 p.m. Friday. Fair board members estimate there will still be more than $30,000 in production costs related to Friday’s concert, despite Smith’s cancellation.

“We’re still going to be charging at the gate, but we have plenty of free entertainment on the grounds,” said Loy. “The ride company is running all day, inflatables, foam party, entertainment in the Farmer’s Building.”

Other free entertainment in addition to the Ross/127 North concert at the grandstand Friday will include performances by Jay & Julia Riethman at noon, Noah Black at 3:30 p.m. and Ron and Fred at 7 p.m., all in the Farmer’s Building.

Fireworks are planned for 10:30 p.m.

Refunds

•Those who purchased a ticket through the online platform Etix will receive a refund automatically. Those refunds may take up to two weeks for Etix to process.

•Anyone who purchased a ticket by other means will need to stop by the secretary’s office at the fairgrounds in order to process a refund. Those who purchased with a credit or debit card are asked to bring the card with them in order to improve the refund process. (The fair board plans to have additional hours next week to process refunds, but those will be limited. Those seeking a refund are encouraged to do so this week.)