Survey can save Canfield Fairgoers on admission price

By EMMALEE C. TORISK

etorisk@vindy.com

CANFIELD

Fairgoers who enter the 168th Canfield Fair from its busiest entrance gates and complete a survey about the annual event will receive a couple of dollars off their admission price.

This year is the first for the survey, which is a collaboration between the fair and Youngstown State University. It will take about five to 10 minutes to complete, and will require participants to answer questions such as, “Why do you come to the fair?” Participation is voluntary.

“It will be a great help to the fair board,” said George Roman III, a fair board director who manages advertising and the grandstand, along with special attractions and concessions. “It will provide us with a lot of information we’ve been trying to gather over the years.”

The survey was just one of many topics up for discussion at Tuesday evening’s meeting of the 17-member fair board. The fair runs Aug. 27 through Sept. 1.

Present at the meeting was Linda Neel, who lives on Fairground Boulevard. She expressed her displeasure over the construction of a permanent manure pit located a little more than 40 feet from her property line and 105 feet from her kitchen window. The Ohio Livestock Manure Management Guide states that such pits should be located at least 300 feet away from neighboring residents.

Neel explained that the pit, which already looks terrible and will soon smell just as bad, was constructed Thursday without any warning. It’s both a nuisance and a health hazard, she said.

“I think I deserve a fairly clean environment to live in,” Neel said. “It needs to be moved.”

Craig L. Myers, fair board president, told Neel the board will “take it under advisement” and try to do something to rectify the situation.

Most fair directors reported that all seemed to be going according to schedule for the upcoming fair.

The majority of entry registration forms and fees are in, for example, and the slots available for concessionaires are pretty much full.

Myers noted that this year marks the 75th anniversary of the pig iron derby, a horse pull that will take place at the grandstand from 8 to 11 a.m. on both Aug. 30 and Sept. 1, and the 50th anniversary of the Big Pumpkin Show.

Lisa Toy — a fair board director who is in charge of the arts and crafts, floral and fine arts departments — noted that the Ohio State University Extension also is celebrating 100 years of involvement with the fair.

For more information about the fair, and for daily schedules of events, visit www.canfieldfair.com.