Fair officials say events a success

With the cleanup completed and the carnival long gone, officials are looking back on the 2008 Franklin County Fair and Rodeo as a success.

“I’d say it went real well,” Mike Streebin, fair board president, said. “We’re always learning what works and what doesn’t.”

Even a light rain Saturday morning didn’t stop the fair from going on as scheduled.

“It never rained hard enough to affect anything,” Streebin said. “It just helped settle the dust and keep the temperature down.”

JoEllen Arnold, Franklin County Extension Office agent, said the number of entries was slightly down from years past.

“The entries were down in most exhibits, but I thought the quality was still good,” she said, adding that different scheduled summer activities might cause a fluctuation in entry numbers.

Arnold said fair attendance was about average.

“It was a little slow Friday afternoon, but it picked up Friday night,” she said. “Saturday was good. We had people everywhere. Overall, it was a good fair.”

Kathy Niehoff, fair board treasurer, said preliminary totals fair revenues aren’t available yet, but that both the barbecue and demolition derby did well, and the carnival total is expected to be higher than last year’s.