WELLINGTON — This year’s Lorain County Fair will showcase what fair board President Brian Twining likes to call one of the fair’s hidden gems — the recently completed Heritage Barn.
A joint venture of the fair board and LaGrange Steam Engine Club, the structure was refurbished and rebuilt after being disassembled and transported from the old county fairgrounds off Third Street in Elyria three years ago.
“It’s going to be a really good show” with 100-plus vintage farm tractors, Twining said. “A lot of people come to the fair to ride the rides and see the big names, but to me this is one of the hidden secrets of the fairgrounds.”
Continuing the fair board’s tradition of making at least one major improvement to the grounds or buildings each year, this year’s project is a complete redo of the campgrounds for exhibitors, 4-H clubs and other participants. Planned for a long time, the upgrades include the installation of electrical lines and water service.
Visitors to this year’s fair will get to see vintage farm tractors inside the newly refurbished Heritage Barn. (Photo by Tom Mahl, The Chronicle-Telegram.)
While the project is something most fairgoers will never notice, it will make things more appealing for those who park trailers and campers on the 130-acre fairgrounds’ 400-plus campsites during fair week. The work also will help pave the way for a likely expansion of the campgrounds in the near future, Twining said.
Both projects carried a price tag of about $200,000, Twining said.
Other recent improvements included roof repairs to a couple of barns.
“Every year we try to do at least two,” Twining said.
Twining estimates the Lorain County Fair is among the top five in Ohio, ranking behind the Mahoning County Fair — “They pretty much smoke everyone,” he said — and the Allen County Fair in Lima.
And while most fairs drew substantially higher numbers of visitors in years past, Lorain County’s fair has managed to draw solid crowds in good times and bad. The 2008 fair had an official attendance of 121,000. Even when rain and lousy weather produced a quagmire in the grass-and-dirt parking areas a few years back, 112,000 turned out.
“That was still a good year,” Twining said with a laugh.
After state fair officials were called on the carpet some years back for grossly inflating attendance figures, fairs everywhere increased efforts to report truthful attendance figures.
“We try to get it to within a couple of thousand (visitors),” Twining said. “We want to be as accurate as we can get.”
Fair officials are counting on the region’s recent economic woes to produce bigger numbers for this year’s fair.
“Instead of taking a trip to Colorado or Hawaii, we’re hoping that more people are staying home,” Twining said. “That’s part of why we kept our prices down.”
Admission to this year’s fair remains $4 a person, compared to the $5 to $6 admissions charged by other area fairs, he said.
“A family of four can come to the fair and enjoy a full day,” Twining said. “Kids can ride the rides; Mom and Dad can feed everyone and spend well under $100.”
Touted as a prime “staycation” by Gov. Ted Strickland, this year’s 156th Ohio State Fair saw more than 826,000 visitors, the biggest turnout since 2004, according to Jim Tucker, CEO of the International Association of Fairs and Expos.
The numbers are even higher in California, where the 22-day San Diego County Fair drew a record 1,274,442, while the 17-day Alameda County Fair attracted record crowds of 432,000 in July.
“We’ve seen a remarkable number of state fairs and county fairs with double-digit increases,” Tucker said. “It looks like a real pent-up demand for entertainment and a good time. And once people get there, they spend money on food and rides and other things.”
Fairs also are seeing hikes in numbers of agricultural exhibits, and participants, he said.
“We’re seeing more entries of smaller animals. Goats and sheep have become very popular, and they’re even adding new display barns in many places” Tucker said.
Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-1746 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.
