It’s back already!

The 2013 version of the Clinton County Fair, which will run for eight days of events over a nine-day period, will officially kick off this Friday night, June 14 with a horse show at 6 p.m.

The show will feature about 20 categories of competition for all comers, with gate admission being $5 each.

Then on Saturday, June 15, day and night events will be held leading into the “main” full week of fair activities at the fairgrounds that begin on Monday.

The annual baby show will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, with gate admission being $2. Then that evening, the Little Miss and Mister and Miss Pre-Teen pageants will be held at 6 and 7 p.m., respectively, with admission that night being $3 per person.

Clinton County Fair Board President Jackie Flowers highlighted some main events of this year’s fair, including some brand new events and programs that will be taking place.

One such brand new event, catered to children, will be the nightly shows featuring former Clown of the Year, Lovey and entitled “Lovey’s Kid Show,” which will be held every night of the fair at 6 and 8 p.m., including this Friday and Saturday.

Lovey, a part of NoJoe’s Circus, will have her own area set up behind the yellow building on the fairgrounds to entertain kids and the young-at-heart alike. She will be doing such things as magic tricks, hand painting, making animals from balloons and while not putting on her own show, will be milling around the fairgrounds, entertaining the children.

As far as the 4-H programs go, the annual pet show this year will feature its initial run at having an “obstacle course” for your pets to compete in–which should be entertaining at best.

Although not officially a competition this year, but something as a promotion to possibly get started in the future, there will be a “miniature” farm scene, complete with farm, animals, ponds, houses, etc. set up to demonstrate what youngsters may try and create themselves to showcase at next year’s fair. Flowers called this a “good project” for kids to do in the winter time to present at the fair and requires a lot of work to put together.

Other new programs will include KOI Drag racing, dirt drag type races for cars, trucks, ATV’s, and motorcycles with a 300-foot stretch with lights. Flowers says he hopes this event, which will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, will see a big turnout, not only of spectators but competitors.

Another new event that is becoming more and more popular in the area will be an archery competition on the show track, which will be replacing the mule pulls this year. That competition is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday.

There will be few, if any changes, to the exhibit hall entries, showing and pick-ups, but the exhibits will be in the main, air-conditioned, exhibit hall this year, Flowers said.

As a way to recognize veterans and senior citizens, on Family Night Tuesday, all veterans and persons 62 and over will be admitted free. Flowers said, as always, they were planning on a lot of participation in the family night events.

This year’s carnival, Carnival Tyme out of Tennessee, will not be set up until the main fair week and as of now, pending required inspections prior to setting up in a location, they could be in operation as early as Monday night, and if not, by Tuesday night, Flowers said.

The armband price–ride all rides all night for one price–will also increase this year, despite objections by the fair board, from $15 to $20.

There will also be a couple of nights this year when gate admission prices will increase, derby night on Wednesday and truck pull night on Saturday, when the cost will be $8 per person.

Flowers noted the need for the increase was due to the high pay-out the fair has to award and the rising costs of putting on the programs. For example, four classes for the truck pull, in pay-outs, is $7,000, plus $1,800 for the sled and paying two tech people. “It’s hard to cover $10,000 in cost with only 2,000 people paying at the gate,” he said.

Flowers also noted about the demolition derby on Wednesday that there would be more emphasis this year on small cars.

Also of interest to clubs and non-profit organizations is the fairgrounds has 10 spaces available behind the main grandstands for vendors to set up and either hand out promotion material, sell tickets as a fundraiser, etc. As of last week, there were about four spaces left for any club or organization interested in a space, which rents at only $50 for the week.

The annual tractor give-away will again be on a Friday night, June 21 in the main exhibit building and several of the 350 total $100 tickets are still available. The grand prize is the Case 55 tractor, or an optional $10,000 cash, but there are also several other prizes on the first, next-to-the-last and each 25th ticket drawn, including cash prizes ranging from $100 to $1,000.

The tractor can be seen in the parking lot at Albany Building Center on Washington Street and tickets are available from any park board member.

Flowers said that tractor tickets sales are what keeps the fair going, with the funds raised from the sale of the tickets used for fairground improvements, maintenance and so forth from year-to-year.

He noted the cost of keeping the fair up and running and the fairgrounds itself in good condition is a costly venture. Although the board applies occasionally for any grant money that may be available, those type funds are few and far between.

The cost of maintaining the fairgrounds and presenting the week-long event each year is high, the fair board president added. When you count utilities, insurance, pay-outs for events and programs presented to the public each year and building maintenance, the expenses are high, he said.

Everyone is invited to attend and/or participate in this year’s 2013 Clinton County Fair, which will hopefully be bigger and better.

This week, the Clinton County News has included the annual fair preview section, which highlights all the events, schedules, times, rules and regulations.

See you at the 2013 Clinton County Fair!