Jasper County Fair still a go

After some deliberation, the Jasper County Fair Board has decided that the Jasper County Fair will be operating in a more scaled back manner this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

In order to follow all relevant guidelines, the Jasper County Fair Board has announced the fair will be a 4-H/FFA show only. This includes livestock shows, static exhibits, auction and supreme showmanship.

“All of that is going on as planned. Our static building the kids will be assigned times to drop off their entries and will be judged in the buildings ... It will be open for the public to come and look if they like,” Jasper County Fair Board president Jerry Elscott said.

That also means many of the usual events of the fair will not be happening this year. The entertainment, parade, barbecue contest, free supper, Mutton Bustin and tractor pull have all been canceled. Also all open class shows and the open class building have been canceled for this year only.

While there are many events not happening, there are still events to look forward to.

“We are still doing the fireworks,” Elscott said. “The concessions will be limited. There is going to be about two concessionaires down there as far as food concessions.”

An importance was placed on making sure 4-H and FFA kids were able to showcase their hard work.

“This whole thing has been built around the 4-H and the FFA kids so they get to show their projects ... It was a lot of tough decision making, a lot of discussions,” Elscott said.

The fair will run over the same amount of days and there will not be a limit on the amount of people who can attend. However, fair officials will be watching buildings to make sure there aren’t too many people in one area and are following social distancing and sanitization guidelines.

“We will do the disinfectant each night ... (It’s) going to be a lot of work but it’s worth it,” Elscott said.

The fair schedule of events can be found on the website jaspercofair.com. As usual, the countdown is on the Jasper County Fair website and while it won’t look quite the same this year the fair board conveyed the decision to hold the fair this way was not an easy one to make.

“It was one of the toughest decisions we have ever had to make,” Elscott said. “I would much rather put on a full fair. It is a lot easier than doing something like this.”

The fair board reminds people they are to try to keep the social distancing guidelines recommended by the Center for Disease Control. They also ask if you feel ill or have been exposed to COVID-19, the board asks you to not attend.

Contact Dustin Teays at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or dteays@newtondailynews.com