County fair doubles its attendance

It was the new events that shined during the 2004 Presque Isle County Fair, conducted this past weekend in Millersburg. It’s a good reason why attendance was more than doubled from 800 in 2003 to 2,000. From the first-ever county fair queen’s pageant, won by Vanessa Paquin of Rogers City (see related story and photos elsewhere in this issue) last Thursday, to the tractor raffle Sunday afternoon, first-year ideas were a hit.

“The queen’s pageant drew in a lot of people,” said Ron Sorgenfrei, fair board vice chairman. The $19,000 tractor was won by Mark Stevens of Gaylord, who picked it up Tuesday. “The tractor raffle was phenomenal,” said Sorgenfrei. Tickets first went on sale back in March and when it came time to draw the winning ticket, they were sold out.

The expenses of purchasing the tractor were cleared and a profit of $15,000 was secured, which will benefit the future of the fair and mean another tractor will more than likely be raffled during next year’s fair. Dan Bisson of Rogers City won the second place prize of $500 cash. THIS YEAR marked the first time the fair hosted a carnival, and Schmidt Amusements covered their costs and made a donation to the fair, which was then given back to Schmidt Amusements, as a token of the fair board’s appreciation. It also was a way for the board to encourage the Standish-based company to return next year. Schmidt Amusements was expected to get back with fair officials in October when they make out their schedule for the year, to see if they’ll return in 2005. Paul believes it wasn’t just the carnival that brought people to Millersburg. “I think it was a little bit of everything,” Paul said. Another new event was the horse speed show on Sunday and “it drew a lot of people” as well, said Paul. Ashley Roseberry, MSU 4-H agent, was pleased with the turnout at the auction. Bidders were treated to a pre-auction meal and then the sale began.

“THE SUPPORT at the auction was actually pretty good,” said Roseberry. “We had 45 bidders show up and ended up with 23 separate buyers. They stayed through the rain, so we really want to thank them.&

#8221; Plans are already underway for next year’s fair, with possible improvements to the grounds occurring before the snow flies. “We have some plans to put up a couple of buildings,” said Paul. “We’re hoping to at least get one more building up.” An area for camping, with electrical hook-up but no water, is also in the works. Plans for the campground were posted on a wall in the pole barn over the weekend. During this year’s fair, there were people who expressed an interest in joining the board and starting a couple of events. Ideas include a car show and a tractor pull.

Discussion will continue as to how to improve attendance further, but finding the right dates to conduct the event has been a challenge. “Some people from Onaway compete in both the Cheboygan and the Montmorency County fairs,” said Paul. “That’s why we have that week picked out.” Now that the fair is over, Millersburg hosts the annual Labor Day Homecoming. Organizers of the two events have had informal, very preliminary discussions about the possibility of combining the fair and the homecoming. Sorgenfrei said the 2004 fair went “very well,” but they are looking for people with ideas to make it better.