County Fairs Making Strong Comeback, Official Says
Published: Friday, August 20, 2021
After a year spent in COVID limbo, county fairs are making a strong comeback across Michiana and the nation despite facing a myriad of challenges.
Marla Calico, president and CEO of the International Assn. of Fairs and Expositions, made that declaration Monday morning after helping the Berrien County Youth Fair celebrate its 75th anniversary by assisting in the opening of time capsule sealed in honor of the fair's 50th anniversary two-and-a-half decades ago.
Like so many fairs that were cancelled or greatly reduced in 2020, the BCYF was called off on account of the pandemic.
"The fair season in the United States starts with some fairs in Texas and Florida," said Calico, who is based in Springfield, Mo. "A lot of the Texas fairs did not go forward because there were still some concerns, especially with the larger ones, but the county fairs gave us real hope for the season because what they saw were people coming out in droves.
"There was no hesitancy whatsoever. We believed all along there would be pent-up demand for people to return to their community fairs and the summer season has proven that to be true. It's record after record after record being shattered so long as our No. 1 nemesis doesn't get in the away—the weather."
While fairgoers appear unaffected by the year off, the pandemic continues to impact such events from an operations standpoint.
The BCYF had to delay the start of its carnival rides by one day because the original vendor was unavailable in Michigan. North American Midway Entertainment came in to fill the void after concluding an event in Indiana on Sunday night.
"I'm looking across at some of these food vendors," Calico said. "They're having a hard time getting staff and because of staffing shortages all the way down the line, they're having a hard time getting product.
"There are shortages of (beverage) cups and there's shortages of aluminum for 16-ounce (beverage) cans. The carnivals are having a really hard time coming up with sufficient labor and our federal government has not responded in a timely manner to make it possible for the foreign labor that is absolutely necessary."
Although it's well-vetted foreign labor that comes in every year under very secure circumstances for seasonal work, immigration regulations have prevented many from returning.
"But when we look at the guests that are coming, they're here to celebrate and do what is most important – a reunion with fellow members of their community and that's happening all over," Calico said. "It's been fabulous."
So far, there has been no indication of fairs turning into COVID spreader events.
"We just have not had it," Calico said.
Calico visits about two dozen fairs a season. She made it to eight in Florida between January and May and completed a seven-fair swing through Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin in July. The BCYF is part of a 14-fair tour and she'll drive to another six or so in the fall.
Calico was recently invited to attend the 150th anniversary of a fair in Nebraska, but this was the first time she ever took part in the opening of a time capsule.
She was joined on the Al Barbott Memorial Mall Stage by 47-year BCYF board member Les Smith, who was the organization's president when the container was filled in 1995, and his son David, who was the fair king and is now an engineer for John Deere and living in in Ottumwa, Iowa.
All sorts of memorabilia, souvenirs, T-shirts, hats, documents, newspapers, rib-
bons, livestock ear tags and other artifacts were pulled from the big, heavy, metal box, whose lock was sealed with wax. Among the contents were 50 charred pennies from a tube that survived a fire at one of the fairground buildings.
Show tickets indicated that the rock group Chicago, Toby Keith and the Statler Brothers entertained fans in '95 and 4-H livestock show data was on printouts made with an archaic dot matrix printer. The auction brought in just under $300,000.
Les Smith, who was the BCYF president at the time, was given the honor of opening a greeting card he wrote to fair visitors of the future. He choked back tears while reading it to the audience.
"I didn't remember what I put in it , it was 25 years ago," he said. "It's an emotional thing when you know what it was like then (and) what it is now. It's just the feeling of a little nostalgia and I'm still so proud that (David) was fair king. It gets to you. When I started reading that, and then I looked out and saw him standing there and my wife's out there, it was a little challenging.
"I'd like to think of the things that are continuing on because out motto is 'Builders of Good Citizenship' and we are trying to continue to do anything and everything that we can to promote that through the kids."
One of the pressing issues the BCYF may encounter in its next 75 years, along with fairs in general, is participation levels by youth exhibitors. Maintaining strong funding levels is critical.
"I think we all have to do everything in our power to make sure that youth development organizations, like 4-H and FFA are still vibrant, that they have the leaders and the support of our county government and state government," Calico said.
Fairs also have an important role to play in terms of keeping consumers connected to farmers.
"None of us knows where anything is produced or how it gets produced, so it's ever-more important that we keep agriculture in the focus," Calico said. "That means if (there are) changes in participation, we have to focus on ag education. We have to do something like the (BCYF) Wonders of Birth (exhibition) because now we can get people in there that may be urban, and they see an animal being born, and hopefully we can get them to connect to the image of the farmer and producer who says, 'Yes, I care for my animals' because we are fighting a severe battle against animal rights extremists every single day that want to stop all of us that are involved with agriculture."
Calico, who as a young girl in 1967 worked at her local fair, said fairs are as important as ever for promoting a sense of community.
"Particularly in this time of our culture, we need a fair to take to take a respite from everything that's happening outside of these gates," she said. "Let's put aside all of our differences and come together, right here."
Return to Top of Page