'Lorain County Fair 2009'
Slow year for fair sees 113,299 attend
Fair attendance for 2009 was down a little more than 7,000 people from last year but topped 2007 — just barely. A total of 113,299 people attended over the fair’s seven days. Last year saw 120,628 and 2007 saw 112,428. This year’s total is the second lowest since the fair began verifying attendance figures about [...]
VIDEO: Raucous, wildly popular demolition derby rounds out slow year for fair
WELLINGTON — Call it his swan song. After picking up his eighth title in 26 years of demo derbying, Henrietta Township native Chris Zurcher said it may be time for him to bow out. His was the last remaining car of more than 130 that participated in three heats and the feature, but Zurcher said [...]
Fair food: Italian meatball sandwich
Well, it’s been a while since I posted on the fair food I’d been checking out, but, trust me, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been eating. A couple days ago some perfectly innocent — and I’m sure perfectly delicious — fried green tomatoes put me over the edge. I just happened to be eating these [...]
4-Hers’ steers earn big bucks at auction
WELLINGTON – 4-Hers paraded their steers Saturday afternoon during the market steer auction and hoped to see their college accounts grow. Lamar Horton, 12, of Grafton, had the Grand Champion Dairy Beef Cross, which weighed in at 1,363 pounds and sold for $2.20 per pound – 35 cents shy of a fair record. That’s $2,998.60 [...]
Three win in 4-H thank-you card design contest
Each year, 4-H members across the county design thank-you cards with the hope that their card will win the organization’s annual contest. The creative young artists design, draw, color and word the cards, and the best of the best are picked. This year’s three winners, senior division, Jillian Auble; junior division, Madeline Ott and intermediate [...]
Aussie import an exotic add to fair’s animals
GRAFTON — It doesn’t take long for anyone to see why Stella may steal the show as far as small animals are concerned at this year’s Lorain County Fair. The pint-sized marsupial native to Australia definitely can elicit the wow factor. At least that is what 16-year-old Veronica Vena hopes when she unveils her sugar [...]
Faces at the fair: Thursday night
A cooler and overcast Thursday didn’t keep the crowds away from the Lorain County Fair. 4-Hers flocked to Junior Fair Night, complete with an awards ceremony and parade. And spectators packed the grandstand for a horse pull competition. Fairgoers filled the midway, snacking on fair food and racing from ride to ride. See if you [...]
BREAKING NEWS: Tornado warning issued for Lorain County
The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning for northern Lorain County, effective until 4 p.m. At 3:20 p.m. the National Weather Service Doppler radar indicated a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado. This dangerous storm was located six miles southeast of Amherst or six miles southwest of Elyria and was moving 25 [...]
Veteran rooster crower, first-time turkey caller win
A first-time turkey caller and a veteran rooster crower took home top honors today at the Lorain County Fair. Emily Pohorence, 13, of Huron, also won first place for rooster calling in 2007 but didn’t place last year. She said she spent fair week so far “practicing in the chicken barn.” Asked how the chickens [...]
Lorain County Fair horse pull draws a crowd
The horse pull drew a crowd to the grandstand Thursday night at the Lorain County Fair. The spectators oohed and ahhed as the large animals were brought out, two at a time, and hitched to a large sled of concrete blocks. More than once the horses failed to cooperate, sending a murmer through the crowd, [...]
Junior Fair celebrates with parade, awards
The Junior Fair celebrated as their events for the week are nearly wrapped up with the Junior Fair awards ceremony and parade Thursday night. Fair royalty was escorted in to the reviewing stand, awards were announced, and the parade began. First in the parade were animals, and their owners, in costume. Among the fan favorites [...]
Young fairgoers show off their treasures
WELLINGTON — The Lorain County Fair’s youngest attendees got their moment to shine Thursday morning as those as young as 2 years old showed judges everything from ducks to kittens to a papier mache head. Four-year-old Lucas Secrist of LaGrange brought a papier mache head of the “Nightmare before Christmas” character Jack Skellington. Lucas told [...]
Fair rolls into weekend with high marks
If the recession is affecting this year’s Lorain County Fair, it wasn’t evident at Thursday’s Junior Fair livestock auction. A record was set for grand champion single fryer rabbit. The buyer — Lorain County Sheriff Phil Stammitti — paid $800 for Jacqueline Squires’ meat rabbit, resetting his own previous record of $725 paid in 2004. [...]
Rabbits, chickens, goats and more at livestock auction
Junior Fair participants saw dollar signs for their efforts Thursday afternoon at the annual Junior Fair Livestock Auction. Meat rabbits, meat chickens, market goats, turkeys and market lambs were sold to the highest bidder throughout the afternoon as crowds packed the Junior Fair Show Ring in Building 9. Each child strode in turn to the [...]
Rodeo rider in stable condition
A cowboy hurt last night in the rodeo at the Lorain County Fair is in stable condition, according to a spokeswoman at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland. Nelson Miller of Coshocton was bucked from his horse and apparently kicked in the head during the bareback bronc riding portion of the rodeo. He was LifeFlighted from [...]
Horse judging Wednesday afternoon at the fair
Wednesday afternoon I wandered over to the ring outside the horse barn and caught a little of the judging of the draft horses and ponies and farm horses and ponies. The majestic animals walking, trotting and reversing had drawn quite a crowd, and the “oohs” and “ahs” of admiration were audible, as were the thank-you [...]
Fair food: Cheese sizzle and fried green tomatoes
I’ve been eying the cheese sizzle for days, and since I’ve heard of the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes” but had never had the actual food, I was eager to try those as well. So I got both wrapped up to go after the PRCA rodeo wrapped up Wednesday night at the fair. A number of [...]
Fair food: Cold pizza
I made a major fair food mistake yesterday afternoon. I was running around like crazy, trying, yet again, to be three different places at once, and I knew it was eat now, or forget it. So I hastily grabbed a slice of pizza from a stand near the grandstand. After all, how can you go [...]
Faces at the fair: Wednesday afternoon
I was videoing draft horse and farm horse judging Wednesday afternoon when some fairgoers spotted my Chroniclet.com T-shirt and asked me to snap their picture. Nicole Russo of Elyria, Sarah Majoras of Elyria and Cassie Riddick of Grafton said they had just checked out the LifeFlight helicopter and eaten some fried veggies. It was the [...]
Lorain County Fair rodeo packs grandstand
Fairgoers packed the grandstand Wednesday night at the Lorain County Fair to see live rodeo action. The event was a stop on the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s Heartland Prorodeo Series, which includes rodeos with purses of $30,000 or less, according to the PRCA Web site. The series was created “to encourage cowboys to enter rodeos [...]
Kids Fun Show allows young attendees to show off
WELLINGTON — One of the sweetest features at the Lorain County Fair is the Kids Fun Show. If a child can walk and talk, he or she is probably big enough to win a ribbon, plaque and hat. Youngsters up to — and including 8-year-olds — are eligible to enter. They just have to show [...]
4-H band movie medley challenge
Think you know your movies and your movie music? Well, I got the chance to check out the 4-H band in concert tonight in Building 11 at the fair. One of their great — and incredibly long at 12-plus minutes — songs was “Hollywood Milestones,” a medley of tons of movie classics. So I’m throwing [...]
Rodeo rider LifeFlighted after being hurt at fair
A participant in the rodeo Wednesday night at the Lorain County Fair had to be LifeFlighted to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland after he was thrown from his horse and apparently kicked in the head. Logan Kohler was participating in bareback bronc riding early in Wednesday night’s program when he was thrown from his horse [...]
Lifeshare wants your blood at the fair
I stopped over this afternoon to chat with the friendly folks at Lifeshare Community Blood Services. They’re set up at the fair and are ready to take your blood. They said they get about 65 to 70 units of blood a day and are hoping to have 500 by the end of the fair. They’ve [...]
Fairs attract crowds, festivals falter
Fun-seekers venturing out to farm fairs, art festivals and other mainstays of the American summer are finding either crowds or cancellation notices this year — and sometimes for the same reason. Many festivals have met their demise when national sponsors pulled away and lawmakers slashed grant budgets, leaving organizers without enough money to buy tables, [...]