GREENVILLE—The Darke County Agricultural Society Board of Directors met Wednesday evening to discuss the dog barn, Fairboard petitions, and the adult changing table.
All Board members were present.
The Fairboard confirmed the official date and time for the Sensory Friendly Amusement Ride Time during public comment. It will be Monday, August 21, from 11 am – 12 pm. Shortly after this, at 3 pm, is the Hearts of Darke Show put on by the Jr Fairboard.
The Fairboard also heard from Jr Fairboard member Ellie Earwood who brought up the Dog Barn.
“I have been in 4-H for 11 years now; seven of that has been showing dogs, and 6 of that has been without a barn,” Earwood said. “It’s starting to get increasingly frustrating because the last two years, we’ve been promised. This year, we’ve had issues with our show ring as well, and it’s not the first time we’ve had issues with it. I think it’s unfair. It’s unfair to us that we’ve been doing this and committed to it for as long as we have, and we have nothing to show for it.”
Earwood went on to talk about the safety concerns of not having a barn for the dogs.
“There’s a lot of safety concerns being so close to the road; any dog can jump over the fence or slide under the fence and just run towards the road,” Earwood said. “We are also next to the rides, which are incredibly loud and cause multiple distractions throughout our shows. We have a lot of dogs off lead, and just because a dog is off lead doesn’t mean it’s going to listen 100% of the time; it’s still an animal. Taking our dogs off their lead makes us incredibly nervous that something is going to happen with one of the rides or something is going to make a loud noise, and we are going to lose our dog.”
The only response from the Fairboard came from Jim Zumbrink.
“All I can say is I think it’s coming down the road,” Zumbrink said.
“I would love to believe you guys, but we have been hearing that for two years,” Earwood said.
The Fairboard went on to discuss Fairboard petitions. Based on a previous meeting, there was some confusion about how to run and whether to run for a specific term. It was brought up that there will be four open spots for a three-year term and two open spots for a two-year term. Those who turned in their petitions needed to declare whether they were running for a three-year or two-year term.
After the Executive session, Marla Werner brought up the adult changing table and the red cross building in which it is now set up.
“I met with some of the people from Darke DD, and we’ve expanded our idea for this building,” Werner said. “We are going to transform it into a cooling, quiet area. We know we have the sensory room in the fine arts; it won’t be as sensory-friendly as that because we can’t block out enough noise and light, but we can make it a quiet place.”
Werner thanked those who have helped her with the improvements so far and is excited to continue improving.
The Great Darke County Fair is from Friday, August 18, 2023, to Saturday, August 26
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.
