Buckeye Agricultural Museum hosts annual dinner

Nearly 100 people were in attendance Feb. 19 at the annual dinner meeting of the Buckeye Agricultural Museum & Education Center.

Members, guests and visiting dignitaries heard reports from board members on a variety of topics concerning the museum’s operations, acquisitions made during the past year, financial status and plans for the year ahead.

President Ron Grosjean told the crowd 2025 had been a standout year for the museum, with the single best week coming in early September during the Wayne County Fair when the famous Budweiser Clydesdales were stabled on the museum’s property for 10 days. Grosjean said the iconic horse team attracted large numbers of visitors, many of whom were exposed to the agricultural museum for the first time and came in to take a tour.

“This was very good exposure for us,” said Grosjean, who has served as president of the Friends of Wayne County Fair — which operates the 22,000-square-foot state-level museum — since its inception in 2012.

Grosjean said the museum is planning a special event to take place early this fall in honor of the America 250 celebration. He said the event would coordinate with Ohio’s celebration of food and agriculture in October.

Director Dr. Richard Mairs reported the museum’s annual rib and music festival held in early June at the fairgrounds netted proceeds of about $16,000 while Director Mike Buchholz said the museum’s annual golf outing in June brought in another $9,000.

Grosjean said the parking concession at the museum during the Wayne County Fair had brought in about $15,000, which was less than previous years because a large section of the lot was taken up by the tent housing the Clydesdales. He said a donation from the Wayne County Fair helped make up some of the financial shortfall.

Bonnie Schaaf, director and museum secretary, talked about the leasing and use of museum facilities by various groups, and Allyson Brown reported on fourth grade field trips the museum hosted last October.

Paul Locher, a director and curator, talked about some of the significant exhibit acquisitions made by the museum during 2025. Among the items he cited were a horse-drawn rural milk delivery wagon, a 12-foot ax-hewn feed trough made about 1800 and an apple pulper used by a Wayne County family for generations to speed the making of apple butter.

Locher also talked about the museum’s largest acquisition of the year, a corn crib built in the 1870s, which was moved to the museum late last fall from a farm in Northern Wayne County. The corn crib, now transformed into an exhibit gallery, was shown for the first time at the meeting.

In addition, Locher talked about the museum’s plans for the coming year to create 12 new digital video kiosks throughout the facility. The screens will show craftspeople in period attire demonstrating projects such as weaving on a loom, wheelwrighting, rope making, cow and hog butchering, wooden water pipe boring, broom making and more. Locher said the museum plans to have all the digital presentations operating in time for this year’s Wayne County Fair.

The Buckeye Agricultural Museum & Education Center is currently open by appointment for both large- and small-group tours. It is open daily throughout the Wayne County Fair.