That caused the grandstand events being planned in Champaign County to be canceled. This means 4-H and FFA projects will be not just the main but only attraction this year.
The fair is still scheduled to last through next Friday and be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is $5 except on the last day, when it will be free.
After months of planning — including some that ended up going to waste because of the last-minute change — Champaign County Fair Board president Wayne Cook had a simple message for those who will attend.
“Please wear a mask,” Cook said. “We ask everyone to wear a mask because even though we got knocked down to a junior fair only, we don’t want to jeopardize in any way the fairs that are coming after us.
“We don’t want to cause trouble by not wearing masks and have that affect, like Miami County is coming after us and then Darke County is after them. We don’t want to affect them being able to have at least a junior fair.”
Dairy steer and feeder showmanship, breeding gilts (swine), a horse show and the 4-H style review are among the events on tap for Friday.
Swine showmanship, more horses and several cattle shows are among the things planned for Saturday while the fair queen, 4-H boy and girl of the year and FFA boy and girl of the year are scheduled to be crowned Sunday night.
Melinda Ryan, director of 4-H in the county, said the schedule of shows will be similar to a normal year, but the sales will be different.
Exhibitors will still go through the sale ring, but animals will not when they take place for all animals Friday.
“We’re going to have the arena set up where the chairs are spaced six feet apart, and we’re moving the sales to our larger show arena,” she said, adding buyers will have the option of taking part in a traditional live auction or calling the fair office to donate additional money to a member’s project.
Those who cannot make it to the fair or prefer to stay home for health concerns — or any other reason — will be able to watch some of the shows online.
“We’re going to have some of them live on our Facebook page (@champaigncountyohio4h), or we’ll video and post them later,” Ryan said. “A lot of it depends on our Wi-Fi connections out here and the time for the shows.”
Cook and Ryan both praised the Champaign County Health District for working closely with them to develop safety protocols for the fair and said a recent outbreak of COVID-19 at a farm in the county was not a concern for the fair at this time because it appeared to be contained.
“I just had another meeting with him our health director today,” Cook said. “Our health department, our health director especially, has just been super with anything we’ve needed. We’ve called him to meetings and met with him at his office, and you get to the point where you’re afraid you’re going to lean too hard but I mean, he’s been he’s been great to work with. Any way you could, he’s helped us.”
Cook also has seen great cooperation from the county’s 4-H community despite a challenging spring and summer.
“The kids and parents and families that are in 4-H have been so understanding,” he said. “I think everyone knows what this whole country’s up against, but we’ve had rules changes at the last minute and extra shows canceled and everyone has been super understanding. It’s been amazing.”
Aside from 4-H and FFA exhibits, the fair should still have an abundance of food options, too.
“Some of them just didn’t come because of the situation,” he said of smaller crowds being expected, “but with nothing else going on we scattered them across the grounds so they can do social distancing if there are lines.”
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