FINDLAY, Ohio — The Hancock County Fair kicks off tomorrow.
Plenty of work was underway Tuesday, finishing off the last-minute setup at the Hancock County Fairgrounds.
With last year's fair canceled due to the pandemic, organizers wanted to make sure fairgoers get a full fair experience this year.
"All your favorite food vendors, the rides are here, the games are here, all of the livestock shows will be going on as you're accustomed to. And then we have our grandstand events lined up for every night," said Jeff Cole, president of the Hancock County Agricultural Society.
The fair board worked closely with Hancock Public Health to make sure everything needed was in place to ensure all events could go on.
While no health mandates or restrictions are officially in place for the fair, officials are relying on fairgoers to acknowledge their personal responsibility.
"When you're in a crowd, you want to make sure you distance, put your mask on when you feel like your too close to people. Choose the outdoors all the time, use the hand sanitizer and take advantage of the hand washing stations," said Hancock Public Health Commissioner Karim Baroudi.
Junior fair members last year were able to show and sell their animals at auction, but missed out on everything else the fair has to offer.
Organizers are happy to be able to give these young county residents a chance to show off what they've been up to all year.
"I was kind of sad because I really wanted to show my lambs, but this year I decided to go to chickens because we thought I should have a new experience," said Trevor Welch.
"The fair is really about coming here and hanging out with their friends and their family for six or seven days, right?" said Cole.
The only major difference for fairgoers this year will be the request to buy digital tickets online before arriving at the fair to limit groups of people at the entrance gates.
"Please do that, get your tickets before you come to the gate. We will be taking cash at every gate, so don't panic. But if you're so inclined, please get your tickets online and have those ready, and we'll scan you in and we may not even have to slow you down. You can walk right in when we scan you," said Cole.
While opening ceremonies will be Wednesday morning for the Hancock County fair, they're actually holding another ceremony Tuesday night, with a ribbon-cutting for the new junior fair youth pavilion.