Washington County fair is bringing back old favorites

By Eric Seiverling
eseiverling@yourmvi.com

It may have been much smaller in scale last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but attendees to this year’s Washington County Agricultural Fair will be happy to learn that the event is now back to its normal size.
Now in its 223rd year, the fair opens at 9 a.m. Aug. 14 and concludes the night of Aug. 21 at the Washington County Expo Center Fairgrounds, 2151 N. Main St., Washington.
Along with the popular livestock show and sale, cheerleader demonstrations, tractor pulls and car shows, this year’s concert lineup includes Ruff Creek, the Hobbs Sisters, Cross Creek, the Good Karma Band, Scott Blasey, Aaron Margeria, Six Gun Sally and Abby Abbondanza.
Fair President Todd Richardson said the event felt the financial sting of last year’s restrictions and shutdowns.
“We lost a majority of our hall rentals, which generates a good bit of revenue for us,” Richardson said. “But our sponsors came though and that really helped us out. And the Washington County commissioners helped financially to help keep us moving.”
Richardson said last year’s event consisted of only the children’s livestock show and sale. The smaller attendance allowed the event to follow pandemic restrictions and guidelines.
“We decided to do that so the kids could still have an outlet,” Richardson said. “We still wanted the kids to be able to sell those animals. But even this year, it’s in the back of your mind if it will get canceled again. But once everything opened up earlier this year, we knew we would have the full-sized fair.”
This year’s event will feature new demolition derbies — a car derby, a minivan derby and a youth Power Wheel derby — in addition to the school bus demolition derby, which Richardson said has been a fan favorite for 20 years.
“We’ll get 10,000 to 12,000 people through the gate for that one,” he said. “Everybody wants to see crash and burn.”
Richards said another popular attraction is the two-day livestock show and sale scheduled for 6 p.m. Aug. 20 and 10 a.m. Aug. 21.
“It’s a good way to fill your freezer,” Richardson said of the market’s goats, rabbits. steers, lambs and hogs.
The fair will also be held rain or shine, although Richardson said some of the Grandstand events could be canceled if the weather doesn’t cooperate.
“From what we’ve been hearing, when the weather is good, the crowd is good,” he said. “I think the largest part is that people are excited to be out and about.”
Richardson said seeing kids enjoy themselves is the reward for the hard work and dedication of the fair’s staff and board of directors.
“Our board is 11 members, and it takes all 11 members a year’s worth of planning to put on the fair,” he said. “It’s definitely a 365-day planning period for the eight days we’re there. If we punched a time clock, we’d be doing overtime.
“But we do it because we want to see the next generation enjoy and continue the preservation of agriculture.”
Daily passes for the fair are $10; weekly passes are $30. For more information and the fair’s complete schedule, visit www.washingtonexpocenter.org.