Fair Weather: Crowds flocked to Ogle County Fair when temperatures dropped

OREGON – Mother Nature cut a cool break for the Ogle County Fair prompting an estimated 9,500 people to visit the Fairgrounds over a 5-day period.

“The weather was perfect,” Ogle County Fair Board President Tom Simpson said. “We could not have asked for any better weather. We had an excellent week.”

A drop in temperatures and the humidity came just in time for ‘fair week’ – Aug. 2-6. The cooler temps made for good crowds at the queen pageant on opening night and the Illini Tractor Pull on Thursday. On Friday, the Big Hat Rodeo offered two shows — one in the afternoon and one in the evening.

“We had two rodeos this year and I was quite impressed with the number of people we had for the first show,” said Simpson. The evening show almost filled the 3,200 capacity grandstands, he said.

As usual, those grandstands were at capacity on Saturday night for the ever-popular demolition derby. “We were maxed out this year again, similar to 2021,” Simpson said. “The 3,200 capacity is based on 18″ per person so, of course, some people are larger and some are smaller.”

The fair also included a carnival and the Ogle County 4-H Fair, complete with exhibits and livestock competitions.

“It’s quite a juggling act to get everything together,” Simpson said. “You have all the kids for carnivals and the kids and their animals for the 4-H show and then the commercial vendors and, of course, our sponsors. So everything is happening in the 38-acre fairgrounds. We really squeeze in a lot in that space.”

And those ‘jugglers’ are all volunteers, including the fair board which spends months planning the fair.

“We are all volunteers and that makes us rather unique,” Simpson said.

Simpson said he was pleased with this year’s attendance and thinks it is an indication that the fair is growing in popularity.

“It looks like we are somewhat growing,” he said. “This year we had commercial vendors calling us to get in and I think that is an indicator in the right direction.”

Food vendors also appeared to have a good fair. The Ag in the Classroom food stand was sold out of just about everything on Sunday and went through about 50 dozen ears of sweet corn — one of the stand’s fair staples. That stand also was staffed by volunteers.

“It was steady every day,” said Melinda Charbonneau, Ag in the Classroom coordinator.