-Farm News file photo by Karen Schwaller
Kids from around the area will soon be showing livestock at the Clay County Fair, Sept. 7-15, in Spencer in spite of the historic flooding that occurred there this summer.

SPENCER — The Clay County Fair in Spencer will host its nine-day run Sept. 7-15, with the theme, “Clay County Fair: See It, Believe It.”

The Clay County Fair typically sees 300,000 people or more annually.

Fair Manager Jerome Hertel, in his second year in the manager’s seat, said the theme is appropriate for the kind of year Spencer residents have endured, following historic flooding that ravaged Spencer homes, businesses and farm land this past June.

Hertel said it left Spencer people wondering what would become of their lives, and throngs in outlying areas wondering if there would be a fair.

“This theme is quite appropriate with all of the flooding that happened,” said Hertel.

-Farm News photo by Karen Schwaller
The Clay County Fair board offered the area across the street to the north of the fairgrounds, as an area for flooded home and business refuse to be taken. This photo shows the appliance pile that formed in the aftermath of the flood, with the top of a refuse pile visible behind it.

“We heard people wondering if the fair was going to happen, but we were fortunate that the fairgrounds didn’t suffer any damage at all.”

Fairgrounds transformation

Hertel said since the fairgrounds remained unscathed, it became a headquarters for disaster relief, with offices and spaces for FEMA, American Red Cross to set up a shelter for displaced persons, Iowa Department of Transportation, Iowa Department of Public Safety to set up their emergency 911 call center, and other disaster relief entities to set up — including temporary housing in the north parking lot. It also offered (across the street to the north of the fairgrounds) an area for flooded home and business refuse to be taken, so people could start rebuilding their lives.

The piles appeared epic in proportion.

The fairgrounds had been hosting the national Red Power Round-Up Show on the grounds and in all the vendor buildings the weekend of the flood, and Hertel said they needed to clear that show out as soon as they could in order to open up their facilities to become a disaster relief headquarters instead — all in those few weeks before the fair was to come to life.

Hertel said while it was difficult to see all of that happening, it gave the Clay County Fair a chance to give back to the community, especially after the way Spencer residents and others supported the fair financially in 2020, when COVID complications canceled that year’s gala.

But with all of those government flood relief entities using the fairgrounds and its buildings for various purposes, it also left people wondering if this year’s fair could happen.

Hertel and the fair board said it could, and it would, happen.

“Our board met and tried to determine how long we could make these buildings and grounds available to these people before we had to ask them to move out, and we came up with timelines and deadlines, and worked with the city on the debris pile in the north lot,” Hertel said.

The debris piles needed to be gone by Aug. 15 in order to give time for the fair to set up.

Hertel said this year’s fair is especially important.

“It’s important to bring people together because throughout this whole disaster recovery event, it’s been a matter of people coming together and working together,” he said.

“People will have hopefully had a chance to catch their breath and come together at the fair, and maybe for one day they can forget about everything else and just try to enjoy themselves. There is strength in numbers.”

What’s new?

So what has changed for the 2024 fair?

The Clay County Cattlemen have completely remodeled their Branding Iron restaurant to better accommodate worker volunteers and diners alike. The Farmer’s Bank Stage in the southwest area of the grounds will be moved across the street, and the antique tractors will be featured in the area where that stage was previously.

Hertel said the Stables barn has a new deck area, and the Tasting Room Barn has also been remodeled and updated. A new deck has also been added to the grandstand stage.

Hertel said he is pleased with this year’s grandstand musical entertainment line-up, which includes acts like Justin Moore, Trace Adkins, Kansas, Blues Traveler, Third Eye Blind, and Lonestar, which came on board in mid-August to replace previously-booked “The Mavericks,” who canceled due to health reasons.

Hertel said anyone who purchased tickets for “The Mavericks” show can either use those tickets at the “Lonestar” show, or have them refunded via instructions on the fair’s website, www.claycountyfair.com.

Other grandstand events include the Battle of the Blue Ribbon — ASCS & Tri-State Late Models on Sept. 10; IMCA Blue Ribbon Showdown on Sept. 11, and the Outlaw Truck & Tractor Pull rounding out the grandstand events on the last day of the fair, Sept. 15.

Hertel said he’s looking forward to the first day of the fair the most.

“It’s the most exciting day because it’s fun to see it go up and get running,” he said. “Even with this year’s flood challenges our community has experienced, we hope people will still have a little money to at least come to the fair and get away for that time.”

The Clay County Fair is home to 160 acres of business vendors, free shows and strolling acts, fair food, amusement park/carnival attractions, top-notch entertainment, educational opportunities, competitions that interest women and men, including the $1,500 cinnamon roll contest; livestock and horse shows and competitions, and the largest ag equipment display of any county fair in the world.

Hertel said this year especially, fairgoers need to “See It, Believe It” if they wondered if recently flooded Spencer could make good on their reputation as the “World’s Greatest County Fair.”

Relief opportunities for fairgoers

Hertel said the fair board was glad the fairgrounds could become a place that would be able to serve the community the way it did in the weeks following the “great” Spencer flood.

“We will continue to do things to help our community in our time of need, including after the fair has ended,” said Hertel.

He said 70 percent of Spencer homes received some sort of significant damage — from a little water in the basement, to basements filled from floor to ceiling, and additional river water on the main floor.

Hertel said the fair will offer places on-grounds for fairgoers to donate to flood relief if they wish. They can also donate through the fair’s website, www.claycountyfair.com. All funds will go toward flood relief efforts in Spencer, via the Clay County Community Foundation and the Spencer Chamber of Commerce, which is also accepting flood relief funds.