(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa State Fair’s C-E-O and a key official in the Iowa COUNTY fair circuit say concerts are a growing emphasis to spur fair attendance. Tom Barnes, executive secretary of the Mighty Howard County Fair, is also executive director of the Association of Iowa Fairs.  “There’s a lot of other things at the fair that we want to brag about and push, but we’ve got to get the people there first,” Barnes says, “and that’s what the concerts will do.”

Rodeos and race track events were the bread and butter of county fairs not too many years ago, according to Barnes, but a handful of county fairs started emphasizing concert entertainment about eight years ago and the trend spread. “Fairs were seeing what their neighbors were doing and now we’re seeing a lot of even small county fairs throwing a small-dollar concert,” Barnes says. “It gives the community something else to come to the fair for.” Gary Slater, the General Manager and C-E-O of the Iowa State Fair, says about 10 percent of people who attend the Iowa State Fair go to a show at the Grandstand — but the performances matter to those who do NOT attend a concert.

“That’s the pulse of the Fair,” Slater says. “Whether you attend the Grandstand or not, you like to know what’s going on and you like the Fair to pull those popular entertainers.” The Fair spent a million dollars renovating the Grandstand stage in 2018, to meet artists’ expectations for video screens, lighting and sound systems. “We had to get into that business or else they wouldn’t come to an outdoor state fair venue,” Slater says. “…It’s an expensive thing.”

Every concert-goer has to buy a ticket to enter the fairgrounds and Slater says when expenses and profits are calculated from the Grandstand, they aim to break even. The 2022 Iowa State Fair runs from August 11th through the 21st this year.

Here’s a list of area County Fairs:

• The Adams County Fair concludes its full, 5-day run, on Tuesday
• Audubon, July 13-17
• Shelby County Fair, July 13-18
• Montgomery County Fair, July 19-24
• Adair, July 20-24
• Pottawattamie County Fair, July 20-24
• Cass, July 27-Aug. 2
• Guthrie County Fair, Sept. 1st thru the 5th

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Bryan York of Atlantic was recently selected as the first recipient of the Delores & Gail Nelson Cass County 4-H Scholarship. The scholarship was established to honor the Nelsons’ strong support of the Cass County 4-H program throughout their lives, both as youth members and adult volunteers. The scholarship is for a Cass County 4-H’er who has been active in 4-H and has demonstrated strong leadership skills. The student must be enrolled as an incoming freshman at a four-year college or university in the state of Iowa.

Bryan has been an active member of the Bear Grove Blazers 4-H club for 10 years.

Bryan York

He has participated in fair projects in the areas of Photography, Home Improvement, Visual Arts, Sewing, Food and Nutrition, Gardening, and Woodworking.  He has been active in his club community service projects, served in every office and currently is his club president. At the county level, Bryan is on the Youth Council and the Youth Action Committee. He has also participated in the SOFA and State 4-H conference trips multiple times and has received three project awards while in high school. Bryan will be a freshman computer engineering student at Iowa State University this fall.

(Corning, Iowa) – The Adams County Fair, “Memories in the Making,” continues its run through Tuesday, in Corning. Here’s what’s on the schedule for today (Sunday, July 10th):

8:00am 5K Color Run (registration at 7:30am)

8:30am Sheep/Goat/Alpaca Show

9:00am Fair Fundraiser Breakfast

9:00am Open Pet Show

12:00pm Fair Parade:

• The Parade starts at Grove Park.
• Head East on 10th Street.
• Turn South on Benton Street.
• Head back East on Ninth Street.
• South on Main Street
• East on Seventh Street *Crosses Hwy 148*
• Proceed on Seventh until it turns into John Street.
• Then head North on John Street and turn into the Adams County Fairgrounds.
  

  Adams County Fair Parade route, 7/10/22

1:00pm Poultry Skillathon

2:00pm Puppet Show

3:00pm Baby Contest (registration at 2:30pm)

3:30pm Family Fair Tours

4:00pm Puppet Show

5:00pm Quilts of Valor

7:00pm Dairyland Donkey Ball