All eyes are on the Trumbull County Fair Board.

Other fair boards in the region have been contacting the Trumbull team, asking for advice because the 175th Trumbull County Fair is one of the earlier fairs of the season in July.

This also is the 175th year for the Canfield Fair, in early September.

Last week, Gov. Mike DeWine gave the cautious OK for fairs, along with proms and other events, to be held this year, with rules that will be rolled out leading up to the events.

“Since we’ve heard this, other fairs are calling us wanting to know what we’re doing,” said Bud Rogers, president of the Trumbull board.

Rogers said each board member has committees to lead, and work to piece the fair together. It is scheduled July 13-18.

Fair dates cannot be pushed back, he said. Once a date is registered through the state, it is held firm.

The planning process involves more than the fair board, as Trumbull County commissioners and the health department also are watching the emerging guidelines and helping with planning, Rogers said.

“Everybody is coming together to help us put this fair on this year,” he said.

THINGS CHANGE

A crucial component to the planning is remembering that guidelines and decisions about having fairs may change at a moment’s notice, George Roman, the Canfield Fair’s director of entertainment and concessions, said.

“We’re cautiously optimistic at this point,” Roman said. “Our fingers are crossed. It’s a very fluid situation… But it’s looking a little brighter than it has.”

A fair task force met virtually last week with DeWine to discuss seating percentages and other guidelines, said Rodney Arter, president of the Ohio Fair Managers Association. Now fair organizers could be tasked with guaranteeing state officials that every person at each fair will wear a mask, which Arter said realistically cannot happen.

“We can announce, we can make signs, we can walk up to them,” but it will be difficult to enforce mask mandates after people pay admission only to be told to leave, Arter said.

Until the governor makes more firm guidelines, more concrete plans can be made, Arter said, adding that the governor has said that as fair dates approach, capacity for the events could change to reflect larger crowds.

CANFIELD

This year is also milestone for the Mahoning County event: It is the 175th Canfield Fair, too, and it will be Sept. 1-6.

Fairgoers and organizers aren’t the only ones ready to get back in business, as 4-H students are ready to get back in the saddle, the officials noted.

Due to the Trumbull fair happening early in the season, COVID-19 restrictions were still tight last year and even a junior fair couldn’t happen, Rogers said.

“As the summer went on, some of the later fairs could have some type of junior fair,” he said. Canfield had its junior fair, with restrictions.

This year, amusement ride companies and concessionaires are also feeling the excitement, Rogers said.

While last year saw the “food frenzy” events in Trumbull and “fair food extravaganza” in Canfield, where people drove through the fairgrounds on designated weekends to get their fill, this year those vendors are ready to get back to a calendar of events.

FAIR GOODIES

“The food frenzies got some kind of income,” Rogers said, but the concessionaires are “real excited” to hit the fair circuit.

Ongoing discussions among the governor and the Ohio Fair Managers Association, and with other organizations and groups, are continuing, Roman said, in an effort to show DeWine how crucial this fair season is.

“If it doesn’t go this season, you’re going to see a lot of fairs close up,” Roman said. “They just don’t have the finances to be able to continue through this for another year.”

Fair organizers are aware that the experience will look different, with ways to incorporate additional spacing and everyone wearing masks.

“We’re going to do what the CDC says, and our local health department, and after that if we see something we’re not real comfortable with, we will change our own rules to fit our fair,” Rogers said — adding that each fair is different.

In Mahoning County, other events held at the fairgrounds have had additional precautions the past year, Roman said.

afox@tribtoday.com