The show must go on.
At least, that’s what officials of the Genesee County Agricultural Society are hoping as they make plans to hold the Genesee County Fair this summer.
Agricultural Society Treasurer Norm Pimm this afternoon expressed optimism as he reported to the Genesee County Legislature’s Human Services Committee, which moments before voted in favor of allocating $11,000 in funding for 4-H judging expenses and 4-H premiums associated with the fair.
The 2021 fair is scheduled for July 24-31. Last year’s event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“This year, we’re starting to see (that we’re) still creating a lot of excitement with the youth,” Pimm said. “There are 238 youth members in 4-H in Genesee County, across 23 clubs, and there are another 68 adult volunteers who help out with running those clubs.”
Pimm said fair organizers are awaiting guidance from the state as far as what can be done, including the setup of the midway.
“We’re going to try our best to move forward with the full fair. If not, we plan on definitely doing what we need last year – a scaled-back version with some of the youth shows,” he said.
Pimm said Genesee County will host the largest draft horse show in the state (outside of the NYS Fair in Syracuse) on July 23, the Friday before the official opening of the fair.
The next day will feature the Empire Classic Youth Sheep Show, which attracts participants from surrounding counties as well. Pimm said more than 70 took part in the show in 2020.
Other shows, including open beef and open swine, are set for July 25, with Genesee County 4-H-only shows scheduled throughout the week.
“Obviously, last year was not what we wanted as we had to cancel the fair. As far as we know we had the longest running fair – consecutive fair in New York, 181 years I believe,” Pimm advised. “But we were able to still have some youth shows. We thought it was important because some of the youth start their projects in November, so obviously, the November before last nobody knew what was going to happen.”
Pimm mentioned that the Agricultural Society did not accept county or state money last year due to the cancellation, but is appreciative of this year’s sponsorship.
“We didn’t take county funding last year,” he said. “We thought we would try to help the county out, but we can definitely use it this year and it will be put to really good use.”
