GREENVILLE—The Darke County Agricultural Society Board of Directors met Wednesday, December 6, to discuss a possible Fair Food Delivery app, Jason Blackburn’s possible demolition derby, and harness racing schedule for the 2024 fair.
During the Fair Manager Report, Jason Blackburn discussed his hopes to bring a demolition derby to the Fairgrounds during his food truck rally in May. The board members brought up concerns they had with Blackburn doing a derby. One concern brought up by multiple members was that they had just decided earlier in the meeting to do two demolition derbies during the fair this coming year; they worry a third derby on the grounds would hurt their ticket sales for the derbies during the Fair. Russ Skaggs raised concerns about having another demolition derby on the track at that time of year, stating the track would have to be completely torn up and repacked.
Dean Neff stated they wouldn’t know for sure if the derby Blackburn wants to host would hurt the Fair’s derby sales unless they tried it once. The board also mentioned that Blackburn has always cleaned up the track after he has used it for one of his events.
Neff motioned to allow Blackburn the demolition with a second coming from Skaggs. Neff and Skaggs were the only two to vote yes. The motion failed, and Blackburn will not be allowed to have a demolition derby during his event in May.
During New Business, the new Harness Race Schedule for the Fair was announced. The Harness Races will take place on Friday night, Saturday night, Wednesday afternoon, and Wednesday night of the 2024 Fair.
Also during New Business, the board heard from Kim Harless about Fair Food Delivery. Harless discussed her 17-year-old grandson, who does a lot in IT. Harless’ grandson has come up with an idea in one of his classes to create a mobile app for food delivery specifically for the Fair. This app would work with concessions stands at the Fair for people to order through the apps and have people work as deliverers to bring the food to those who order. Harless mentioned this would be good for those who are disabled and cannot wait in the long lines, those in the horse barns or areas with fewer food concessions nearby, and just as a convenience for a lot of fairgoers.
“My idea was to get ahold of the fair board to see what the idea would be and to see if it could be a possibility for the fair,” Harless said. “My purpose here tonight is to take your questions that I can take back to him and see what we can do.”
The Fairboard stated that they would have to discuss it with their vendors to see who would be interested and the problem the Fair has with internet connection.
Overall, the Fairboard seems interested in the idea but will need more information on how it will work.
During the Directors’ reports, Jim Zumbrink made a motion to move the January meeting from January 3 to January 10. This way, the board members will have all returned from their respective conferences and can bring important items from those conferences to the board meeting. The board voted to move the meeting.
The next Fairboard meeting will be on January 10 at 7:30 pm.
The Darke County Fairboard 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.
