By Wayne Gates –
The 165th Brown County Fair is in the books.
“It was a great success this year,” said Senior Fair Board Secretary Juanita Barricklow.
“We had the third largest gate receipts in our history, despite Wednesday being a washout.”
Rain and cold temperatures on Sept. 28 held down attendance and even forced the cancellation of the cheerleading competition.
“We sold lots of season passes which made a big difference. We sold over $20,000 worth of those. That shows that the Brown County community really embraces the fair,” Barricklow said.
She also took time to thank one of the biggest supporters of the 2016 fair.
“The Mt. Orab Auto Mall sponsored the talent show and Sawyer Brown, and Josh Williams of the auto mall was one of the talent show judges, so we would like to thank them for their commitment to the fair,” Barricklow said.
Hannah Kaltenbach of Batavia was the winner of the 2016 talent show, winning $1000.
Finishing in second place was Timmy ‘Elvis’ Hembree ($800), third was Emma Sandker ($600), fourth place went to Luke Witt ($400) and finishing in fifth place was Jeremy Bryant ($200).
Ten other contestants won $100 each. They were Dee Jay Wells, Caleb Girtman, Joshua Stewart, Eddie Henderson, Sarah Jones, Kaitlyn Blum, Anna Weigand, Jon Dunn, Troy Wait and Mikkayla Kelley.
Barricklow said that the fair board is already looking forward to the 2017 fair.
“We are hoping to get the Budweiser Clydesdales here next year. We don’t have a promise from them yet, but they are thinking about it,” Barricklow said.
“We don’t know what the Tuesday night talent will be yet, but Bob Hardyman will be working on that to get the best performer we can for next year.”
The dates for the 2017 Brown County Fair are Sept. 25-30, with the schedule for the big events remaining the same.
“If anyone has any suggestions for next year, we are very open. Just call us at 378-3558 or talk to any senior fair board member,” Barricklow said.
