Mercer County Fair named County Fair of the Year

CELINA - The Mercer County Fair raked in top accolades from a state organization with the 2023 Best Fair and 2023 Fair Manager of the Year awards.

Riding the crest of a momentous wave of success, fair officials have their sights set on again breaking the fair attendance record next month at the 171st Mercer County Fair. They're aiming for the once elusive but now inevitable 100,000-people-thru-the-turnstile mark.

Fair manager Cara Muhlenkamp and fair social media coordinator Rachel Reichert revealed news of the awards during a media day on Thursday where they highlighted new and returning events planned for the upcoming fair.

Both awards were bestowed by The Greater Ohio Showmen's Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the improvement and perpetuation of the outdoor amusement business in the state.

"This year they completely floored us," Muhlenkamp said of GOSA.

Muhlenkamp said it's tremendous for the county fair to be recognized in such a way.

"It's so exciting, it's so neat for our peers to nominate us. When they spoke about us at the conference I was just blown away because they see the changes that we're doing," she said. "They were excited about what we were doing, and they have seen the growth and the changes that we're implementing."

The fair has indeed grown considerably over the last decade in locking in a caliber of entertainment, activities and features that locals would normally have to drive hours away to enjoy.

That ambition has been aided in part by the fair's membership in the International Association of Fairs and Expos and the Ohio Fair Managers Association, Reichert said.

"They've been a great resource on getting new entertainment, and talking with the state fairs and seeing what they do and how we can scale it down to what we do here is huge," she said.

"I think a lot of it is building the relationships that we have been working to create, and it's the nonprofit organizations," Muhlenkamp added. "It's the different clubs and organizations that have been coming out."

"We have friends in Kentucky, in Texas, in Tennessee. We're just like, 'Hey, what do you do at your fair that you've seen (success)?' So it's been really neat to build those relationships, like Cara said," Reichert said.

Fair officials' efforts to enlarge the scope and offerings of the fair have paid off in spades. Fair attendance numbers have nearly doubled in the last 12 years, surging from 50,000 in 2010 to 89,000 in 2022.  

Muhlenkamp presided as fair manager over much of that period where the fair grew by leaps and bounds. Prior to securing the top role in 2012, she worked part-time in the fair office for eight years.

She was honored for her success by GOSA when it named her the 2023 Best Fair Manager.

"I love what I do and I hope that it always shows," Muhlenkamp said about the award. "I want my community to be proud of the work that we're doing."

Muhlenkamp said she should couldn't do what she does without the support of the fair board and staff, her family and the community.

"Our community rallies behind what we're doing here and it's pretty incredible," she said.

The next milestone for fair officials will be the $12.5 million Grand Event Center.

Plans call for the construction of a venue boasting over the 100,000 square feet and converting the adjacent former county engineer building into Market Hall, which would be used as a support site during large events.

The two buildings would be connected by a covered outdoor walkway and together would accommodate 6,000 people for a wide range of big events such as livestock shows, concerts, indoor tractor pulls and large trade shows.

Although a fundraising campaign is ongoing, enough money has now been secured to proceed with Phase 1 - the Market Hall transformation. The project, pegged at $1.4 million, is expected to start Sept. 1. The completion deadline is March 1, 2024.