Fair officials preparing for the 4H fair attendance

 

GOSHEN, Ind -- The attendance for the Elkhart County 4-H fair expected to be record-breaking after being shut down in 2020.

Over the years, the 4-H fair has averaged 250,000 attendees per year.

This year, due to not having a fair in 2020 and based on data from other county fairs around Indiana, fair officials believe the number of attendance can be higher than ever.

"We don’t really put numbers on what we hope to hit but I think by what I’ve heard from our vendors that have been to other events, from other fairs. What we’re seeing, we would hope to exceed that amount this year." said 4-H fair board president Trent Hostetler

With the large amount of attendees, the concern of spreading covid-19 rises.

There will be no limits on attendance due to the county covid-19 numbers being in the blue, which means people are not getting sick from covid-19.

"Our understanding is we are the code once we open up because we can’t go back and limit tickets once we’ve sold them." said Hostetler

Unlike most events, the 4-H fair will have every event available just as they were in years prior to the pandemic.

To add safety measures to the event, fair officials made sure hand sanitizer and wash stations are at all of the vendor, game, and ride stations in order to keep the risk to a minimum.

"Well all of our fairs were cancelled for the season because of the COVID and so, this is our livelihood. We travel fair to fair and make a living." said food vendor Todd Hawkins

The fair is set to begin on Friday July 23rd and run until July 31st. 

Tickets are being sold in person and online at https://www.4hfair.org/.