A man rides a lawn mower Tuesday near the stage and grandstand at the Rock County 4-H Fairgrounds in Janesville. The fair board met Thursday night but did not announce any decisions about the 2020 Rock County 4-H Fair.
A man rides a lawn mower Tuesday near the stage and grandstand at the Rock County 4-H Fairgrounds in Janesville. The fair board met Thursday night but did not announce any decisions about the 2020 Rock County 4-H Fair.
Like many other things in the coronavirus-stricken world, plenty of uncertainty surrounds the 2020 Rock County 4-H Fair.
Whether the usual sights, sounds and smells of the fair—deep-fried food, barns populated with freshly groomed animals, and carnival rides filled with screaming, laughing children—will grace the fairgrounds this year remains an open question.
The fair board met Thursday night but did not announce any decision about the fate of the fairÃÛèÖÊÓƵ 2020 edition.
Board President Ryan George said earlier this week that the board continues to meet and strategize about the possibility of hosting the annual large-scale event and what changes might be needed to cope with COVID-19 concerns.
George said the board hopes to conduct some version of the fair for the kids in 4-H. While itÃÛèÖÊÓƵ unknown what that might look like if itÃÛèÖÊÓƵ able to happen, the board wants to do something for those who have been working on fair projects for the last year.
“I think the kids need something to look forward to,†George said. “They’ve had everything in their lives canceled. … Some of these projects were started a year ago, and they’ve been looking forward to that last week of July ever since.â€
George told ÃÛèÖÊÓƵ on Wednesday that the board had drawn up plans that would have allowed for a fair that adhered to physical distancing guidelines.
A barn at the Rock County 4-H Fairgrounds in Janesville stands empty Tuesday.
Angela Major
But the board recently learned that the Craig Center, currently set aside as an emergency shelter, and two other facilities at the fairgrounds would not be available for use.
That means the fair would have to operate with just a fraction of its usual space.
“A lot of the plans we had figured out have kind of fallen through because we don’t have the space now,†George said.
“We talked a lot about, can we provide this without long-term financial problems to the fair, without safety concerns? We thought we had a lot of that figured out, but when you lose half the fairgrounds, we had to start over. ItÃÛèÖÊÓƵ hard to social distance on that because our fair (site) is pretty small to begin with,†he said.
The county owns the fairgrounds and can use the buildings as it sees fit. The county and the fair board have been in discussions about trying to make a fair work, County Administrator Josh Smith said earlier this week.
The fair board is still working to find a solution for a safe fair in the limited space that remains, George said.
He added the boardÃÛèÖÊÓƵ focus is on what happens to the projects that area kids have been working on for the fair.
“The main part of the fair that is what the fair is based on is the kids exhibiting their 4-H and FFA projects,†he said. “ThatÃÛèÖÊÓƵ the part of our fair that is really our root and the part we’re trying so hard to do.â€
Contracts with entertainers and other vendors are still being sorted out, but so far they have been easy to work with because the pandemic is affecting everybody across the country, George said.
“ItÃÛèÖÊÓƵ a tough year for everybody, but everybody is being very understanding and working together,†he said. “Everybody just kind of understands where we’re at, and we’ve gotta get through it.â€
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