GREENVILLE—The Darke County Agricultural Society Board of Directors met Wednesday evening to discuss moving exhibition sales online and more.
During public comment, Tim Clark from Smash It Demolition Derby spoke about the Fair doing a School Bus Demolition and how it would work. Smash It would bring the buses to the fairgrounds, and 4-H kids from the schools in the county would come out and paint the buses with school colors.
“We’ll need you guys to get with the schools and get the 4-H involved in it to paint the buses,” Clark said. “We can bring them out here to the fairgrounds, but we just need a little bit of your lead to get a hold of the schools and get the 4-H kids out to paint them before the fair.
Clark went on to explain that what they have done with other fairs is the students paint the buses, and the School with the winning bus would get a donation to be put towards a youth program.
Clark also discussed the contract between the Fairboard and Smash It Demolition Derby. He hopes to get more of the payout to support the drivers in the derbies.
“I know our contract is up; with the contact, I just ask for a couple thousand dollars more for payout,” Clark said. “The derby here has been really great with car count the last ten years, it seems like, and with people coming. The drivers are just wanting a little more money. I just ask for $2,000 more.”
This $2,000 would be split among all the drivers in the different heats and classes.
Also shared during public comment was the Horsemen’s Banquet. The Horsemen’s Banquet will be on February 17 at Romer’s Catering. The doors will open at 5 pm.
A contract for The Ohio Widow Sons State Rally was also brought up during public comment. This will take place July 19 and 20 of 2024, and they will use area 1, area 2, the coliseum, and the infield in the grandstand.
They predict around 300 – 400 people will come to the Rally, with a concert bringing in more people. They are also working with the police to get a temporary beer license for the event and the Sheriff’s Office for security.
All proceeds from this event will go to the Darke County Cancer Association.
The contract was approved unanimously by the board.
Also during public comment, renting the coliseum for the Grand National Pull was discussed. This is a kiddie tractor pull for the first, second, and third-place winners from throughout the summer. The winners all come to one spot to compete in the Grand National Pull. This would take place on April 6 and 7.
The board approved setting up a contract for them.
During New Business, Jo Wintrow spoke about the Darke County Home and Sports Expo Inc. The expo will take place on April 12,13 and 14, with a contract being made to get into specifics.
A motion was made to partner with the Darke County Home and Sports Expo Inc. The board will get what they collected for rent last year guaranteed, plus with hopes of more that they can put back into a special youth project after the expo. This passed with only one no-vote coming from Greg Pearson.
Also mentioned during New Business, the Sale Committee proposed moving exhibitors to an online sale through Final Drive Breeders World Auction Service. This was brought forward with the hopes that moving sales online would make room in the fair schedule for a Celebration of Achievements event while increasing the likelihood of buyers attending that event, sales would begin the day of sale and be open for a week, allowing more time to gather bids and not rely on reception at the fairgrounds, there would be fewer mistakes and human errors, and there would be quicker invoicing.
As the Sale Committee gets this set up and going, more answers on how it will work should come.
While there are hesitations and questions, the board approved the Sale Committee moving forward with setting up online auctions for exhibitors’ sales, with a no-vote only coming from Dave Singer.
After an executive session, the board moved to have the daytime tractor pull on Tuesday of the Fair. This motion passed unanimously.
The board then moved to hire Fair Caretaker Rex Weyrick to clean the snow off the racetrack on his own time with his own equipment. This motion passed unanimously.
The Darke County Fair Board meets the first Wednesday of every month at 7:30 pm at 800 Sweitzer St., Greenville, Ohio, 45331, in the meeting room across from the fair office. For more information, contact the Fair office at 937-548-5044.
