GREENVILLE – Mark and Patty Cotter of Lansing, Michigan, return to their roots each year during the Great Darke County Fair, giving nine days to helping make the event a cleaner experience for fairgoers.
Mark grew up in Randolph County, Indiana, just across the state line, and has been coming to the Great Darke County Fair “all my life.”
“To me, county fairs in America are the longest-running event anywhere, in any state, no matter where you go,” said Mark. “In the early 1800s, that was a community event; there wasn’t anything else going on, so the history of county fairs is strong within the American culture.”
“When you’re not here in Darke County and you’re not involved directly, you say to yourself, how can I help make the fair better and do something unskilled like picking up trash – anyone can do that,” Mark continued. “We believe that a clean fair is a happier fair. We started that in 2004 with a plastic bag and a pair of gloves, and bent over to pick up cigarette butts and other litter. You look around, and things are clean and nice. I think you’re happier about it. That’s how we believe.”
The Michigan couple has seen changes since beginning their mission of cleaning up the fairgrounds over the past 21 years, including donating the money found on the ground to local charities.
“The money is becoming more scarce in these most recent years,” Mark noted. “I’ve noticed more hand-holding this year with older couples.”
Mark remembered a band that caught his attention performing in a small tent back in 1965 at the Great Darke County Fair.
“1965, sawdust on the floor, a tent – the band playing, the McCoys,” Mark shared. “They played Hang on Sloopy and I listened to that song and go, that’s kind of a neat tune. Who would have thought 65 years later it would be iconic and played at The Ohio State University.”
“They were in the corner, I was walking around, and, oh, a band is going to play, so I had that experience and many more at the fair,” he added.
Mark is a United States Army veteran who served from 1968 to 1971, including two years in Heilbronn, Germany, with a Pursuing Missile Unit, where he also worked as a social director and got to know the German people.
