DARKE COUNTY – The Darke County Agricultural Society Board of Directors met Wednesday evening during their Monthly Meeting.
During Public Comment, Darke County Dog 4-H Committee President Kathleen Ditmer presented a check for $1,000 to the board to help offset costs from the new building. The money was raised by selling brick pavers during the 2024 fair.
Alex Murphy, Pastor of Greenville Campus Community of Faith Church was also in attendance. He thanked the board for allowing them to host a Sunday church service.
“We are incredibly excited. Us and the Arcanum Campus that we have” said Murphy.
Jim Cameron, Darke County Veterans Council was also in attendance. He provided an update regarding the roof of the Veterans Building on the grounds.
He received two quotes, one was to repair the roof and the other was to replace the roof. It would be $8,000 to repair it and $10,700 would be the estimated cost to replace it. They were granted $10,000 to go towards the project through a grant from the American Legion and the Department of Ohio.
“We’re going to approve spending no more than $11,500 for the roof repairs with them providing a minimum of $10,000,” said Director Marla Werner.
There was also a discussion regarding infield sound at the fairgrounds due to a recent retirement with Brew Sound. Greg Peck is currently who does the sound for the remainder of the fair. Peck submitted a quote for the sound to the fair board and was there to speak during the discussion. He proposed a three-year contract to the board.
“I want to put in permanent speakers in the grandstand, fly them on top, and point them down into the grandstand. The infield speakers will be as they’re needed for the tractor pulls, horse races, speed barns, so everything that was covered before in the infield contract will still be taken care of,” said Peck.
Directors Jayden Hicks and Christoph Keller also brought forth the idea of using a Mobile App to help better promote the 2025 Great Darke County Fair.
Keller explained that there was previously an app started in 2019 that was used for the fair. He shared that Darke County 4-H and Ohio State Fair use the same company for this app and have had many successes with it as well.
Hicks and Keller both shared that the company is offering a deal for them to come back to use this mobile app again. The package they are looking to use will cost right around $2,700. Keller shared that he thinks that they could advertise on the app and the advertising could potentially pay for itself.
Keller made a motion to sign up for the app to start promoting the app and get it all set up in advance of the 2025 fair. Motion passed 8 to 3.
The Darke County Agricultural Society Board of Directors will hold its next regular monthly meeting on March 5, 2025, at 7:00 pm.
