PHOTO BY JOHN FRYMAN / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
PRESENTATION … Mary Brown of Evansport (above) gave a presentation to the Williams County Fair Board on the upcoming “Color Your World 5K/one-mile fun run/walk benefiting Williams County Special Olympics and 4-H Explorer programs on Thursday, September 18.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
The Williams County Fair Board held its regular board meeting on Thursday, September 18, in the Thaman Building.
Following the call to order and the Pledge of Allegiance, a roll call of directors took place with 11 board members and two auxiliary board members in attendance.
The board heard a report from fair accountant Robin Schaffner regarding the daily attendance and admission figures following the 2025 fair, which ended on Saturday, September 13.
Schaffner reported that gate admissions were down from a year ago, with 65,671 people attending this year’s fair compared to 65,827 who had attended the 2024 fair.
Six of the eight days saw a decrease in attendance, with the biggest drop occurring on the opening day of the fair (Saturday, Sept. 6), with 8,029 people attending compared to 8,946 attendees in 2024, a decrease of 917 people.
Two of those days, attendance figures had climbed to over 10,000 people. There were 10,029 people attending on Monday, September 8, which was also Band Day, and 13,996 attending on Friday, September 12, highlighted by the demolition derby.
“All week long, we were really close every day in attendance,” pointed out Schaffner. “The demolition derby really bumped us up on Friday when it sold out.”
The daily attendance figures included Saturday (8,029), Sunday (9,191), Monday (10,029), Tuesday (6,214), Wednesday (6,074), Thursday (5,889), Friday (13,996), and Saturday (6,251).
In gate receipts, the fair brought in $86,1118 compared to $82,699 (2024) and $83,331 (2023).
Schaffner also pointed out that the demolition derby brought $70,365 in grandstand admission revenue. The rodeo held on September 6 brought $12,250 in grandstand tickets sold. The harness racing held on Wednesday, September 10, recorded $6,090 in grandstand receipts, and the KOI event drew $5,415 in grandstand admissions.
She also reported there were a total of 14,025 daily tickets sold along with adult passes/vendors/courtesy tickets (1,386); student passes, 4-H, FFA passes (306); courtesy day passes (45), and free admission (37,934) during fair week.
Schaffner noted the fair did quite well with sponsorships this year, especially with the Rodeo event, in which the fair board had received $8,900 in sponsorship money.
“Overall, our sponsorships are up, but the fair entertainment sponsorships were up more,” commented Schaffner. “We did well, getting the sponsorships made us a little careful of spending too much and not having enough sponsors for it.”
She pointed out that the cash flow is a little tighter now, just because the fair board is running out of all of the grant money it had.
“There isn’t anything (grants) out there available yet, maybe the state or the county commissioners can come through,” Schaffner said.
Junior Fair director Megan Schulte reported the recent livestock auction sale did well. She also mentioned the Williams County Pork Producers raised everything they had taken in to bid on the pigs they had raised. The preliminary figures totaled $257,672 and don’t include add-ons.
She also reported that the Northwest Ohio Showman of Showmen contest held on Friday, September 12, went well despite hosting the event for the first time.
Board member Scott Carroll reported that attendance in the Gillette Building was strong, despite fewer antique exhibits, and that floral exhibits had increased.
Mary Brown of Evansport presented a request to the fair board regarding the use of the fairgrounds for the “Color Your World Run,” a 5K and one-mile fun run/walk benefiting the Williams County Special Olympics and 4-H Explorer programs.
“Not only does it bring smiles to people’s faces from all the colors that we put into it, but kind of opens people’s eyes in the community,” said Brown.
The board then approved Brown’s request for using the fairgrounds for the “Color Your World Run”, scheduled for April 11, 2026.
In other action, the board approved dates for the fair fundraising raffle on Saturday, February 14, 2026, and the Spring Flea Market on Saturday, February 21, 2026.
Action was tabled regarding nominations for the Outstanding Fair Supporter Award. The fair board will be hosting the District 1 meeting on October 26 at 1 p.m. at the fairgrounds.