Enthusiasts of farm animals, funnel cakes, tilt-a-whirls, and fun contests are in luck. The annual Johnson County Fair this week features all of the above and more. The fair traditionally ran Monday through Thursday in late July, but this year, it started on July 22, and it will run through July 25. Fairgrounds manager Brenda Christner said she hopes the change in dates allowed more people to attend the festivities.
“We want to invite the community, the working community that can’t come during the day or in the evening during the week that they can come out on a weekend day, which would then be Sunday,” Christner said.
The July 22 festivities kicked off around 7:30 a.m. with a farmer’s breakfast. Two local bands, the Great Bluegrass Herons and the Awful Purdies, also took the stage on the morning of July 22. In addition, the Master Gardeners of Johnson County held a ribbon cutting for its new demonstration area.
“I worked really hard for the last year to acquire this antique corn crib that was donated to us by an Oxford family, the Pat Johnson family,” said Sharon Jeter, a co-leader of the Master Gardeners. “I believe that it anchors our space all-together.”
The old corn crib will be used as a learning center for gardening activities for both children and adults and should host activities during the fair beginning next year. The gardener group has an expanded garden at the fair now in its second year, as well as a butterfly house that was added in 2013.
The evening of July 22 concluded with a grandstand concert by Exile, a band from the 1960s and ’70s.
The fair offers many opportunities for the nearly 400 kids in grades four through 12 involved in 4-H in Johnson County to participate in contests. The nearly 1,200 4-H exhibits will be on display at Montgomery Hall, and livestock judging started July 21 and continued July 22.
“I hope that people get out here and see that there’s something for every kid,” said Camie Marshek, the county youth outreach educator with the Johnson County office of Iowa State University Extension. “You don’t have to live on a farm, you don’t have to have lots of land to have your livestock [participate in 4-H]. I want kids to know you don’t have to live in the country, and there’s definitely something for everybody.”
There are rocket launches, an adopt-a-horse program to lease horses if people don’t own one as well as knitting events at the fair going on through 4-H for those who don’t live on a farm, Marshek said.
Perhaps the most intriguing part about the fair is that unlike many other fairs around, parking, entrance, and concerts are all free and open to the public. Fair-goers only have to pay for any food they eat or if they wish to partake of the carnival rides.
“It’s really very friendly to the public and especially to kids,” Christner said.
The fair generally welcomes between 30,000 and 50,000 visitors annually, and Christner hopes that number will grow with good weather in the forecast this year.
