Benton, Washington County Fairs Expand Attractions To Boost Attendance

STAFF PHOTO BEN GOFF • @NWABenGoff Linda Hancock, from left, of Bentonville, drops off four quilted items entries Saturday with volunteers Judy Bell, of Rogers, and Shirley Sands, of Cave Springs at the Benton County Fairgrounds.
STAFF PHOTO BEN GOFF • @NWABenGoff Linda Hancock, from left, of Bentonville, drops off four quilted items entries Saturday with volunteers Judy Bell, of Rogers, and Shirley Sands, of Cave Springs at the Benton County Fairgrounds.

Benton County Fair organizers said they're pulling out all stops this year to shake off the lower attendance of recent years.

The fair runs from Tuesday through Saturday, with the Washington County Fair coming up two weeks later.

At A Glance

Fair Schedule Highlights

Benton County Fair, www.bentoncountyfai…

• Tuesday: Gates open 1 p.m. Carnival opens 5 p.m.

• Thursday: Senior Citizens’ Day, free admission for seniors 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

• Friday: Livestock and Dairy judging starting 9:30 a.m. Carnival opens 11 a.m. Local bands start performing at 7 p.m.

• Aug. 16: Livestock Auction, 6:30 p.m.

Washington County Fair, www.mywashingtoncou…

• Aug. 26: Gates open 10 a.m.

• Aug. 27: School Day, students admitted free until 3 p.m.

• Aug. 28: Senior Citizen Day, seniors admitted free until 5 p.m.; Livestock Auction, 6:30 p.m.

• Aug. 30: Tractor Pull, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Source: Staff Report

Cindy Brown, new manager of the Benton County Fair, said new country music acts, more food vendors, a pig race and a mutton-busting competition -- the equivalent of bull riding for kids on sheep -- will be part of the attractions. Fair admission remains $5 and carnival rides cost a few dollars more.

"There's a lot of things you can do on that $5," Brown said. "I'm working really hard this year to build it back up."

Brown and other fair organizers are working against a streak of low attendance that began in 2007, the fair's first year in west Bentonville on Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard.

Yearly attendance before the move averaged about 30,000. Afterward, the fair regularly saw less than half that many. Besides the move, organizers pointed to uncooperative weather, an earlier fair date and the economic downturn. About 15,000 people came last year, up slightly from the year before, said Dan Douglas, fair board member.

Competition entries suffered alongside attendance, said Katie Rieff, who oversees the home economics and fine arts division.

About 150 people have shown quilts, pies, carvings and other handiwork in recent years, Rieff said, compared with 200 or so in the past. She accepted nonbaked items Saturday at the Exhibit Hall and urged would-be participants to submit pies Monday morning.

"This is an opportunity for them to display the things they've made and developed over the year," said Rieff, who first got involved with the fair in 1955. "It's not necessarily all a rural or farm thing. It's supposed to be for the communities to come and see what goes on countywide. And of course there's always the carnival."

"We're trying to make improvements where we can to make it a better experience," Douglas said, adding with a laugh, "if you keep doing the same thing over and over and expect to get different results, you'll be disappointed."

Benton County's efforts may pay off, if the Washington County Fair's experience is anything to go by.

Several years ago, the fair's attendance was dropping instead of increasing as expected, said Kendall Pendergraft, fair board president. About 2009 the fair "started changing things up, started adding attractions," he said. Attendance has held steady between 16,000 and 20,000 since.

Washington County's fair also will have new attractions this year, Pendergraft said, with 30 rides instead of 25 and extended hours Aug. 29 and 30.

"We haven't seen the decline like a lot of the fairs have," he said. The use of the fairgrounds by Bikes, Blues & BBQ in September also has helped the fair board pay for its facilities. The Arkansas Music Pavilion also called the grounds home for two years before moving to Rogers.

Nostalgia for the old county fairs remains a major draw, Benton County organizers said. Benton County has held a fair for more than 100 years, and the Washington County fair began in 1857, just 21 years after Arkansas became a state.

Rieff said she got involved when her daughter displayed a black Angus heifer, while Brown and Douglas both recalled attending as school kids.

"All the kids got out of school, and we had a parade," Brown said. "The older folks would bring their lawn chairs and sit around where the food vendors were, and just let the kids go."

"I wouldn't trade those childhood memories for anything," she added. "I feel like we might be able to get our numbers up this year. I'm feeling very optimistic."

NW News on 08/10/2014

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