The Montgomery County Fair is looking for new ways to make its annual summer event more attractive to the community.
This comes as the local fair has struggled with financial uncertainty and lower attendance rates over recent years. Admission income from the three last years dropped from a high of $172,000 to $88,000.
The Montgomery County Ag Society puts on the county fair each summer to promote local agriculture and bring community members together for exhibitions, food, fair rides and entertainment.
Montgomery County Ag Society President Tim Colston said with financial pressures and weather extremes, the fair has been struggling.
"Economic challenges, losing some money, our attendance has been down, participation that way has been weak," he said. "Sponsorships are down. Everything since COVID has seemed to have gone south that way."
Board members have tried various tactics to fix these issues in recent years including diverting money to more popular events.
"We had free laser tag, we also had the misting station, the little fire truck that ran around and was kind of a misting and blowing bubbles and that sort of thing," he said. "The tinsmith and some other things to try that would interest the general public, bring them to the fair, keep them here a little longer."
While those attractions were popular, Colston said they are now turning to the community to give their own suggestions on how to save their local fair.
“I don't want anybody to be under the impression that there's not going to be a fair and that sort of thing," he said. "And we're looking at making these changes and we're trying to go at it with a positive attitude.”
Nearly 100 community members gathered at the Calumet Center on Sept. 21 to discuss these ideas and learn more about what can be done.
Some visitors proposed a craft exhibition, local high school band performances and even discounted days or events for sponsors.
Colston said those sponsors are a major part of the funding for their fair each year, which cost the board $386,000 this summer and $431,000 in 2024.
"(We're) looking perhaps at engaging more corporate sponsors not only to get their support but also perhaps bring more awareness to the fair and perhaps their employees and help with two things, the sponsorship as well as attendance," he said.
Colston said the board will meet again in October to go over every community suggestion so they can formulate a plan for next year’s fair.
"We're trying to be proactive on this thing so we can't wait until a month before the fair and then start making decisions," Colston said. "There's contracts to be signed, or not. There's acts to be booked if we're going to go that direction."
The board has also considered reducing entertainment costs and focusing on youth programs, which have grown in popularity over the years.
"We spend a lot of money for entertainment, the track events, tractor pulls, demolition derbies, that sort of thing," he said. "The way we pay for that is people through the gate and if we're not getting people through the gate it makes it difficult."
Community members also encouraged focusing on youth events at the fair over entertainment. Colston said these suggestions are backed by higher enrollment in the youth 4-H program.
Those numbers are up more than 11% since 2018 with 14 active clubs, 86% of which have new members.
Colston said these numbers are encouraging as their urban-heavy county fair continues to look for ways to become financially sustainable.
“If there's a cultural shift in this county where the fair is not a big thing to them, then we need to throttle down our offering for that, but we're certainly going to keep our focus on junior fair," he said.
