By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Three nights of entertainment at the grandstands for the 2016 Crawford County Fair were penciled in at the Crawford County Senior Fair Board meeting Wednesday night.
Two nights of the entertainment will be harness racing. Harness racing, which usually was held on Wednesday, will now cover both Wednesday and Thursday nights to accommodate an expected rise in race entrants due to an increase in purse funds from the Ohio Racing Commission. One day of the races will be devoted to stakes racing, the other to an open race.
The Fair Board also approved a KOI Drag Racing event for a second straight year on the Tuesday of the 2016 fair. The KOI racing price will be the same price as last year at $3,000. Last year’s KOI Drag Racing featured everything from cars to trucks to semi-trucks to snow mobiles drag racing down 200 feet of the infield.
The livestock sales will change up for the second straight year as the Fair Board approved splitting the sale between pens and the sale of champions by a vote of 10 to 7. The Fair Board approved having the sale of champions all together, 18-1, and moved back to the pen livestock sale format by a vote of 14-4. The livestock sales will still take place on Saturday.
The Fair Board approved to continue using the services of Jim Pry and Miller Financial Services in order for the fair to receive tax-exempt status. Currently numerous county fairs including Crawford County have lost their tax exempt status due to the articles of incorporation coming up missing at the Statehouse. If the Crawford County Fair loses its tax-exempt status the livestock sale would be in danger of being cancelled.
The Crawford County Fair has set up a meeting between the Building and Grounds Committee and the Crawford Cattlemen’s Association at 7 p.m. next Wednesday. The meeting has been scheduled in order to understand the Crawford Cattlemen’s Association’s intention in regards to their concession space on the Crawford County Fairgrounds.
The Crawford County Fair Board approved setting budgets for the Feb. 6 gun raffle. The budget for items purchased for the side raffle will be $5,400. Food for the event will budgeted at $1,500. Proceeds from the gun raffle will go towards upkeep on buildings on the fairgrounds.