County fair still planned for July

There will be a Jackson County Fair this year, but “just not in the traditional way,” according to Deb Dillner, secretary of the Jackson County Fair Association.

That means that while 4-H kids from all over the county will be showing their animals and other projects, open class exhibitors will have to wait until next year to participate, Dillner said.

And whether other aspects of the fair — namely the fair rodeo and the carnival — will go on this year will be determined prior to the date of this year’s fair, which is scheduled for July 20-23 at the Northeast Kansas Heritage Complex, she added.

“As the community moves through this challenging time, so many things are up in the air - undecidable until we are closer to the date of a specific event,” Dillner said after the fair board met last Thursday, May 21. “We are working on contingency plans to enable us to quickly adapt to what we can or cannot do when we get to those dates.”

With the possible spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus) remaining a concern across the state, at least one Kansas county — Sedgwick — has canceled its fair for 2020, while other county fairs will likely go on this year, but with changes to their regular schedules.

Dillner said some changes have been decided for this year’s Jackson County Fair, the 95th-annual event, including the cancellation of open class exhibits.

For more details, see the May 25-27 edition of The Holton Recorder.