Wayne County Fair celebrating 175th year in August

Strike up the band, play the fiddle, do-si-do with your partner and bring on the doughnuts. It’s the 175th anniversary of the Wayne County Fair, and the community is invited to the celebration Aug. 17-18.

Planned by past and present fair directors and their spouses, the prefair event will focus on fair favorites. Activities include a Lerch’s Donut eating contest, pedal tractor pull, antique tractor display, mini horse pull, square dance, historical display, and pie and bread baking contests for youth and adults.

“The intent is to bring everyone together for this celebration,” said Tom Stocksdale, fair director. “It’s for the community, and we’re going to have fun.”

Kicking off the festivities Saturday, Aug. 17 will be a parade directors hope will rival the fair’s 150th anniversary parade, featuring 380 units. Estimated to last four hours, the parade will begin at 10 a.m. with lineup at 8 a.m. at the fairgrounds and wind its way to downtown Wooster before heading back to the fairgrounds on Liberty Street.

The parade’s grand marshal will be Ron Grosjean, fair director emeritus. He served on the fair board for 43 years before retiring in 2021. His connection to the fair dates back more than 60 years when he began showing livestock there as a 4-Her.

Stocksdale said Grosjean was selected for his longtime service to the fair and his continued support in retirement.

While Grosjean would rather shy away from the spotlight, he said he’s honored to serve as parade marshal. “It’s going to be a neat experience,” he said.

Also helping lead the parade will be the Ohio State University Alumni Band.

Parade awards will be presented for the following categories: Best Depicting of the Wayne County Fair 175th Celebration, Best Depicting of Wayne County, Best Agri-Business, Best Production Agriculture, Most Historical, Most Patriotic, Most Original, Outstanding Commercial Entry, Outstanding Non-Commercial Service Group and Churches, Outstanding Youth Group, Best Marching Unit, Best Equine-Livestock Unit, Best Depicting of Wayne County Municipalities-Villages, and Best of Show.

Parade entries are due to the Agricultural Society by Aug. 1. Forms are available in the fair office or at waynecountyfairohio.com.

The celebration at the fairgrounds will feature food vendors, contests and entertainment. The lineup includes Sobos, a classic rock band, and Shawshank, a band that plays swing-era music.

The fair’s history will be presented in pictures and memorabilia.

Memorabilia that includes some folding chairs from the former Grange Dining Hall and seats from the grandstand will be sold at an auction on Saturday during the celebration along with one of two quilts made by the Tree City Quilters Guild.

Additionally, the guild is making a second quilt to be offered through a raffle. Each of the two quilts will feature one of the two logos designed for the anniversary.

Other Saturday activities include a chuck wagon cooking class, an antique car show, spinning and weaving demonstrations, fiddling demonstrations, a pie and bread baking contest for youth age 17 and younger, a mini horse pull, and a square dance in the Event Center. Pies from the baking contest will be sold at the square dance. First-day activities will wrap up with fireworks starting at 9:30 p.m. In case of rain, the fireworks will be moved to the same time on Sunday.

A Lerch’s Donut eating contest is sure to draw a crowd on day two of the celebration. Other Sunday events include a return of the chuck wagon cooking class, a Northern Ohio Outlaws Mounted Shooting demonstration, an antique tractor display, a beard and mullet growing contest, a pedal pull, and an adult pie and bread baking contest.

Lerch’s has been producing doughnuts at the fair since 1934. “It’s one of the icons at the fair and around the state,” Stocksdale said.

Two organizers of the anniversary celebration, Tom and Vivian Wolf, also have a long history at the fair. They helped plan the 150th anniversary festivities, and Vivian Wolf, who annually displays her artwork in Buss Hall, designed the fair’s official logo. Their granddaughter Eileen Wolf is the designer of the fair’s two 175th anniversary logos.

Tom Wolf, a fair director for 24 years, started showing livestock at the fair when he was 10 years old.

The couple’s two children, Tim Wolf and Lisa Gress, and their nine grandchildren have all shown Ayrshire cattle in the fair’s 100-year-old Coliseum.

Since 1999 Vivian Wolf has painted the cover for the Wayne County Senior Fair Book. Her covers are on display at the Buckeye Agricultural Museum and Education Center across from the fairgrounds.

The fair is a way of life for the Wolf family, and they look forward to sharing in the community celebration in August as they reminisce about what the fair has meant to them and look ahead to this year’s special edition fair Sept. 7-12.