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The Mercer County Fair's annual attendance has grown to around 100,000, increasing its annual gross income to roughly $4.5 million.
CELINA - The Mercer County Fairgrounds is inching ever closer to becoming a year-round destination, a long-simmering vision that may be fulfilled with the opening of the highly anticipated Grand Event Center in the second half of 2026.
For nearly 15 years, the public, sponsors, vendors and other stakeholders have rallied behind the 365-days-a-year concept articulated by fairground executive director Cara Muhlenkamp and the 16-member fair board, currently helmed by president Bart Leininger and vice president Frank Dues.
In turn, the fairgrounds' annual gross income has exploded from $633,320 in 2012 to roughly $4.5 million in 2025, according to Muhlenkamp, who has been with the nonprofit organization for 24 years, including 14 years as executive director.
Furthermore, the Mercer County Fair's annual attendance has swelled to right around 100,000.
"I came in at the start of the upswing, and I feel like there was a lot of foundation there. I just needed to build that team to get going with it," Muhlenkamp said. "By no means would I ever take credit for all that has happened around here. It has been a team effort, and our community - there's just something special about where we're from and what we have."
Fair officials have established an operational philosophy centered on sound business principles, ambitious goals, high-profile marketing and fundraising campaigns, and community buy-in. There's also an abundance of hands-on leadership, noted fair supporter, commitee member and consultant Bruce Swonger.
"We also changed the mentality of the fairgrounds by running it as a business," Muhlenkamp said. "It's not just a fairgrounds that holds an annual fair and then goes dark. We are a business that operates 365 days a year."
"You guys have turned it into a marketing machine. I mean, it's not just a business, it's a marketing machine - and that's what created everything we've talked about," Swonger said.
While shooting for the stars, fair officials have undertaken numerous capital improvements and significantly increased the number of events and camping opportunities at the fairgrounds. Meanwhile, the annual seven-day Mercer County Fair held in August has cultivated an exceptional reputation for passionately showcasing the area's proud agricultural tradition while at once booking attractions that appeal to a broad audience.
Carlena Heindl and Cora Schott, Celina, compete in a speed puzzle contest at the Mercer County Fair in 2025.
"It gives everybody something to do," said Mercer County Commissioner Dave Buschur. "If you're not 4-H and you don't have kids in 4-H, you might not come to the fair every night, but if you want to catch a concert, you can come on Thursday or Friday. If you're more into harness racing, (you can do that). The high school band show is always a big draw, and then even throughout the fairgrounds, the beer garden is for local entertainment and social atmosphere. And that's a pretty good draw there, and of course, the woodcarver's auction."
Before businesses pull the trigger on sponsorships, they want to be assured of a quality product or event, stressed fairgrounds marketing and sponsorship director Rachel Ungruhn.
"Businesses want to be part of something that's improving and growing and continuing to change," she said. "I think that's what our big success is: We continue to turn things around and change it. And agriculture is our roots, but we always ask, 'How can we expand it, how can we go past our traditional roots and how can we reach more people in our audience?'"
Indeed, a quintessential fair experience consists of several distinctive yet irreplaceable ingredients, a truth driven home in 2020 when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine limited county fair activities due to the pandemic. County fairs were reduced to livestock competitions for children and teens, without the usual rides, games and grandstand events.
"We kind of joked years ago that it was like the north versus the south, because the south end of the grounds was livestock. The north was the entertainment side of things. And there were a lot of folks that didn't cross that invisible line," Muhlenkamp said. "But when you didn't have those two things, you didn't have a fair, because all of those things are what makes that … fair experience."
Fair officials' efforts haven't gone unnoticed.
Just a few years ago, they brought home the 2023 Best Fair and 2023 Fair Manager of the Year awards from The Greater Ohio Showmen's Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the improvement and perpetuation of the outdoor amusement business in the state.
The 30-foot tall Mercer County Fairgrounds Bigfoot named Nelson has attracted many tourists to Celina and inspired an annual festival at the fairgrounds.
From paranormal aficionados coming to visit the much ballyhooed 30-foot-tall Bigfoot sculpture named Nelson and the two-day Spirit of the Forest Bigfoot Festival, to animal lovers, ag producers, crafters, campers, concertgoers, midway epicures, holiday wassailers and wedding guests, the Mercer County Fairgrounds appeals to a wide cross-section of society.
The fair has firmly established its reputation for offering popular country shows that have been appreciated by music fans from the area and beyond. It's also in recent years experimented with rock concerts.
Country star Jake Owen and a Bob Seger tribute act dubbed Forever Seger have been tapped to perform back-to-back concerts at the 2026 Mercer County Fair.
Forever Seger is slated to take the grandstand stage on the fair's opening night Aug. 13, while Owen will headline the fair's annual country concert Aug. 14, with support from local favorites 127 North.
Last year, Big & Rich, the powerhouse Nashville duo behind party-starting megahits "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)" and "Comin' to Your City," brought their high-octane, humor-laced brand of country music to the 2025 Mercer County Fair.
Mercer County Fair concerts have continued to grow in attendance.
"It's all about the routing and the budget and patience, putting those offers in and hoping that they get accepted," Muhlenkamp said about landing Big & Rich, a veritable household name in these parts.
Fair officials spend considerable time exploring and booking entertaining and/or educational acts. Thrill acts and animal shows are usually a sure-fire way of connecting with mass audiences. For instance, a trio of highly animated, attention-loving California sea lions enraptured audiences in 2023 and again in 2024 with an assortment of tricks, dance moves, backflips and soaring leaps.
"It's not really about quantity, it's about quality. We really want to have quality entertainment, but also quality vendors," Muhlenkamp said. "As far as food vendors go, we look at trying not to oversaturate a certain product."
"Our highest reason for people coming to the fair is the food and the animals - and of course concerts are thrown in there - but everyone loves to try the different foods," Ungruhn pointed out.
Events outside of the annual fair have been established, too.
What started out as a way to offset losses suffered from pandemic-related restrictions has morphed into an annual event at the Mercer County Fairgrounds.
Throughout December, vehicles make their way through a holiday wonderland brilliantly illuminated by a bevy of carefully planned Christmas lights and displays, including the North Pole, Toy Land, Candy Land, Grand Nativity, Cowboy Christmas and two tunnels of lights.
The second annual Spirit of the Forest Bigfoot Festival was held in late October 2025. The free, two-day Sasquatch celebration featured multiple speakers, a car show, a beer and wine garden, food and merchandise vendors, camping, a VIP dinner, numerous kids activities, trick-or-treating and a multitidue of Bigfoot-centered classes.
In fact, fair officials have worked to enhance camping amenities, opportunities and themed events. The camping season typically runs May through October. Facility rentals, including camping, along with special events and sponsorships are top revenue generators for the fairgrounds.
"Our sponsorship program has grown tremendously," Ungruhn said. "We have our traditional fair sponsorship, but then we also go more in depth, where people can sponsor different things happening at the fair. So they could sponsor the sea lions, the strolling acts."
Fair officials are transparent about the expenses of booking acts and entertainment, which in turn motivates more sponsors to come forward.
"So on our sponsorship form with the sea lions, it shows that it's $25,000 for them to be here," Ungruhn said. "A lot of sponsors have stepped up because they want to see those acts here, they want to see big acts and different things around the fairgrounds."
Riders laugh and scream on a swing ride at the Mercer County Fair in August of 2025.
The Mercer County Fairgrounds attracted 184,500 visitors for all events in 2024, resulting in a $35.4 million windfall to the local economy, a commissioned study by Johnson Consulting found.
Additionally, the Chicago-based real estate and hospitality consulting firm determined that the 2024 Mercer County Fair alone brought in 96,000 visitors and created a $21.1 million impact for the local economy.
The data reinforces the notion that Mercer County Fairgrounds is continually evolving into a 365-day destination, a standing that will be further bolstered once the multimillion-dollar Grand Event Center makes its debut this summer.
"We've been seeing the growth and the development of the fair and the fairgrounds as a whole - and now we have the numbers to put behind it," Muhlenkamp said. "That was a big thing. We knew that as an organization we were making a huge economic impact, but now we have the numbers to show."
Buschur agreed with that assessment.
"I think years ago - and probably most fairgrounds are still this way today - most people came to the fair one time a year, fair week," Buschur said. "Now, between the farmers market, the other campouts, the reverse raffle, the possibility of having a friend or family member getting married out here, there's a lot of people that are coming to the fair six, eight, 10 times a year."
In addition to determining that 184,500 people made their way to the fairgrounds in 2024, generating a local economic boon of $35.4 million, Johnson Consulting further broke down the attendance figures in dollars and cents.
It compared the local results to the average metrics for fairs with 25,000 to 100,000 attendees in the International Association of Fairs and Expos Ohio Valley Zone by establishing high-level economic and fiscal impact benchmarks.
Mercer County Fairgrounds significantly outperformed other similar-sized fairgrounds, the study illustrates.
The fairgrounds saw 26,400 out-of-town visitors for all events, surpassing the benchmark of 13,400; 2,000 overnight visitors, besting the benchmark of 1,000; and 1,200 hotel room nights, eclipsing the benchmark of 600.
Total direct spending related to the fairgrounds in 2024 was $15.9 million, almost doubling the benchmark of $8.3 million.
For fair week itself, the study found that 96,000 people went through the turnstiles during the 2024 Mercer County Fair, far exceeding the benchmark of 52,400. Total direct spending at the fair in 2024 was $9.5 million, compared to a benchmark of $5.2 million. The study found that $3.8 million was spent at the fair, $2.9 million outside the fair and $2.7 million in operations.
The total local economic impact of the 2024 fair was $21.1 million.
The 175-foot-by-400-foot Grand Event Center will house 4-H shows, concerts, expos and other events. The event center will open in the second half of 2026.
Work is well underway on the multimillion-dollar Grand Event Center, which is designed to host livestock shows, concerts and much more. It will be connected via covered walkway to Market Hall, a 14,474-square-foot, multipurpose venue that can host special events for up to 1,000 people. Market Hall was completed in April 2024.
The combined venue, according to the committee behind the plan, will be able to seat nearly 6,000 people.
"Maybe we can steal some events away from Indianapolis and Columbus or Fort Wayne, and get them here in Mercer County," Buschur said. "I do have the strong belief that if we can get an event here once, they'll schedule to be on a repeating cycle because of just the hospitality of your common, everyday Mercer County citizen and then everything to offer with our restaurants, local establishments."
The 175-foot-by-400-foot Grand Event Center sits on the northwest side of the fairgrounds. Fair officials are nearing the completion of Phase 1 - the exterior shell, foundation and critical infrastructure to render the event center operational, according to Ryan Fennig, an event center commitee member and past fair board president.
However, in order to close out Phase 1 and optimize the event center for the 2026 Mercer County Fair and year-round events, several pieces of equipment still need to be funded, purchased and/or installed: bleachers, stalls, pens, gates, sound system and Wi-Fi, a telehandler, fans, skid loader/tractor, announcer stand, wash bays, and rails.
"We are hoping to get an event in there before the (2026) fair, but if not, the fair would be the opening preview to that, having our livestock in there for the 4-H, and then we would open it up to having other events year-round," said fairgrounds facility and development manager Becca Rindler.
The total cost of the remaining items is estimated at nearly $600,000.
"Finishing these items is especially important because Phase One needs to be complete for the 2026 Fair," Fennig said in a statement provided to The Daily Standard. "Our equine and cattle exhibitors will begin moving into this new facility, and we want them to experience the safest, most functional, and most efficient space possible."
Branston Pohlman, Fort Recovery, and Cheese Curd were awarded a third-place in Cheese Curd's age class and a fifth-place for his showmanship performance at the Mercer County Fair in 2024.
What's more, the Mercer County 4-H program continues to grow each year.
"We are simply outgrowing our current facilities," Fennig said. "This new event center finally gives our equine program what it has long needed - a true indoor arena. It also provides our cattle exhibitors with more stalling, improved flow, and a significantly larger and safer show arena."
The upgrades, Fennig insisted, directly support the youth who invest their time and passion into livestock and agricultural education.
Succeeding project phases to enhance comfort, convenience and the overall experience for exhibitors, guests and the public will be undertaken as funding allows. Phase 2 is restrooms and concessions and Phase 3 is additional stalling and expanded wash racks.
Fair officials are looking to the public - businesses, organizations, individuals - for financial contributions to bring the project to fruition.
"Right now, all of the building projects that we have done have been all donations," Muhlenkamp said. "Any projects that we do are pretty much either fundraised in some sort of aspect or have been community-supported."
Mercer County Commissioner Brian Miller said the Grand Event Center will be a wonderful asset for Mercer County.
"There's nothing close to this anywhere in the region, so it's just going to be phenomenal, the events it's going to draw and what it's going to do for our fair, just continuing to build here in Mercer County," he said. "The part that's amazing is how supportive our people are of the fairgrounds and the community and that these are donations to get us to this point."
Mercer County Fairgrounds staff sign a contract with ACI executive director Lori Tilton in December. The 71st Airstream Club International Rally will be held at the fairgrounds in 2028.
One organization has already committed to hosting a massive rally at the fairgrounds because of the the Grand Event Center.
The 71st Airstream Club International Rally will be held at the Mercer County Fairgrounds June 24-29, 2028, an event expected to draw 2,500 people and scores of iconic "silver bullet" Airstream travel trailers, and create a $2 million windfall for the local economy.
"Ya'll will know we're there. You will know we are there. It's going to be a silver city," ACI executive director Lori Tilton enthused. "(Campers) will go out and they love to visit and support local, whether it's breweries or restaurants or niche little unique shops."
Perhaps just as important, improvements being made at the fairgrounds to accommodate the rally will enhance its overall camping capabilities and national profile, which in turn may attract other big-name events down the road, including a potential annual ACI rally on a smaller scale.
