August 23, 2025 • 11 mins
On this edition of ACF 411, Russ is joined by Fair Director Troy Elwer to recap the 175th Allen County Fair!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And welcome to our final edition of ACF four one
one from the twenty twenty five to one and seventy
fifth Allen County Fair, and we are the official podcast
of the Allen County Fair powered by Nutrient. My name
is Ross Seker. I'm your host and joining me for
this final podcast of the twenty twenty five Fair the
man himself, the fair manager, Troy Elward. Troy, welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
That's one heck of an introduction, you know. I think
that's the nicest way that you've ever introduced me.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I think you're right. So, Troy, we're a day nine
of nine the Allen County Fair wraps up in just
a little bit. We have a free concert in the
grand stand with Mry concert Band, followed by some fireworks.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yes, with it being the one hundred and seventy fifth anniversary,
we really focused on when building our entertainment lineup it
being a celebratory year, wanting to give back to the community,
have some more free events in the in the grand stands,
and then go out with a bang, pun and ten.
We haven't done fireworks for quite some time, so we've
got a pretty solid lineup that they're going to go
(01:06):
off actually at about nine thirty tonight, so there's going
to be a little gap between when the concert band's
done and when the fireworks are go off. But they
want to make sure that it's dark enough so that
it turns out to be a great show.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Very neat, very neat. So well, you hit one out
of the park with Lauren Deagel. Let's talk about that.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Man. You are so right. I tell you what I've
done other interviews, etc. In relation to the Lauren Dagel
concert leading up to going on sale, and to be
honest with you, the whole board felt a little bit
timid and nervous about dipping into that genre because it's
something brand new for us really. I mean, we have
the Gospel ten out here and it's always very successful,
(01:45):
but bringing a big name Christian contemporary artist into the
grand stands of something new for us, and it paid
off very well. We could not be more grateful for
the overwhelming community support that we got on that show.
There's a little over seven thousand people in the venue
and the feedback on that concert has just been fantastic
so far.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
So I do like the weather that you ordered for
the back half of the fair a little warm and
hot for the first half of the fair. That did
that impact attendance at all.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I tell you what, Actually, our first weekend Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
even though it was hot every day, our numbers were
up in comparison to last year's fair. Monday and Tuesday
we're down a little bit, and I think a lot
of that's due to the heat, and also folks are
going back to school getting back into those routines, so
the whole nine yards. But then Wednesday, Thursday, and then
(02:34):
last night Friday, we're all nights that we were up again.
So in total we are definitely on pace to surpassirendance
attendance very well when you comparison to twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
So any really good surprises through the week, something that
was like much better than you ever thought it was
going to be, It just like you knocked another one
out that you didn't even expect.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, to be honest with you, we just came fresh
off of the wood carving auction on the Nutrient Plaza
stage and we had a ton of items in that auction.
It probably made it a little bit too long, but
we had some incredible hand painted pieces of art done
(03:18):
by Ethan Jordan, bottles of wine, banners, flowers, and of
course some incredible wood carvings. We haven't crunched the numbers
yet because we're just fresh off the auction, but I
think we may have broke a re record with total
dollars brought in. So I got to thank everyone that
supported that auction.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
So let's talk about the auction for a minute, because
I think the neat thing about the auction is where
the money goes, and it's for scholarships. Let's talk about that.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
It is, yes, so it all goes into the Allen
County Agricultural Society Scholarship Fund. This past year we gave
away ten seven hundred and fifty dollars scholarships and one
new addition called the Success Grant. And I'm sure you
want to know a little bit about what that success
Grant is.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I do, yes.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
So it seems nowadays, which I think it's a good thing,
kids are deciding not to elect to go to college.
Rather they want to enter the workforce or go to
a trade school after they're done with high school. Well,
this success grant is designed to help an individual out
that's going into the trades. So whether that's buying ppe
(04:18):
equipment that they need to wear to be safe at
their job, tools or other items to really kind of
give them a kickstart into that position and help them
with a lot of those startup costs.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
So maybe, you know, as we build this fund up,
maybe in future years there'll be additional types of grants
like that coming out as well.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Absolutely, and our hope is we just actually had a
short little brief meeting before I walked over here, and
without crunching the numbers, I think the scholarships and success
grants that will give out next year are going to
be more than this year. So I'm pretty excited about
what the turnout is going to be for that.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
That's great. So, you know, I know that typically you personally,
you know, you take the rest of the year off
and just kick back and rely. But when do you
start planning the twenty twenty six Fair.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Well, planning for the twenty twenty six Fair already started
in January of twenty twenty five. It starts very early.
People think that's crazy, but I mean it is a
year round effort to make something like this nine days happen. Specifically,
when it comes to that big show that we put
on in the grand stands each year. That's what I
was referring to. We start placing offers in January of
(05:25):
twenty five for August of twenty six, because if there's
an act in our budget that we want, that's about
when you have to start trying to book acts of
that nature.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
So I'm sure you can't give us any secrets, but
any surprises plan for twenty twenty six as you start
the second hundred and seventy five years.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, I don't know if I want to let any
cats out of the bag right now, but we have
some pretty cool projects that haven't lifted off the ground yet.
But we've really focused on the last couple of years
investing back into the property, investing in our facilities, making
them more accessible and inclusive to all. I know. I
think we talked about this in the podcast before the
(06:06):
fair started, but in the last three years, we've done
over two point three seven million dollars in capital improvement
projects across the property. Seventy five percent of that has
been donated or received through grants in the community. So
I couldn't be more grateful for that support that we're getting.
But we want to continue on with that positive momentum
so that each and every year we're enhancing the experience
(06:28):
for every fair goer that comes through our gates.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
So, I know we joke about this a lot, but
there are other things at the fair grounds other than
the fair so coming. So we've got a couple of
big ones coming up Max's and then I'm thinking Bright Nights.
You want to just talk about both of those events.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Absolutely, So Max will be knocking on our door tomorrow
morning around ten am. As everybody's trying to leave, Max
and his people will already be coming in marking spots.
But if you've never been out to Max's Trader Days,
it is an experience. Everybody thinks when it comes to
a big flea market that it's just a bunch of junk.
Well that could be up for interpretation, but there's a
(07:05):
ton of good stuff out here. We've got guns, we've
got dogs, we've got antiques, we've got clothing, we've got
cool signage across the board. Max and his team do
an incredible job and they're open Friday, Saturday and Sunday,
so it's a three day event.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And then Bright Nights we'll be back for another year.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yes, Mercy Health Bright Nights is our baby that kind
of started in and around COVID and that's really taken
off over the last couple of years. Mercy Health is
obviously the overarching sponsor that really helped us get that
event started, but since I took over as manager, I
wanted to help it grow in terms of number of displays,
size of the event. So we actually started to implement
(07:47):
something pretty cool where businesses or families in the community
can sponsor specific displays on the route or sponsor a
new display to be put on the route. I know
we do custom ones as well. Nutrient donated one last
year and we implemented last year some caroling as well
with went, which went pretty awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
So last year we did caroling I think just on
was it Friday.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Saturdays, Friday, Saturday and Sunday or oh, I don't know
if we did any Sundays.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
But this year I think we talked about I think
we're gonna expand it to every night. We're gonna try
to have carollers out there.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
There was a great demand and I tell you what,
everybody that we had drive through. I think it helped
boost attendance too, because with the different teams that we
had out there or organized groups. You would bring out
mom and dad, grandma and grandpa's siblings. So it definitely
helped drive our attendance up for that event tremendously to
over forty four hundred cars last year.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
And I think, you know, talk about the carollers just
for a second, but when we talk about the carollers
for the Bright Nights, we're not talking about necessarily choirs.
We want anybody that wants to if it's a football team,
it's a girls basketball team, it's a chance for them
to make money because we actually pay the carollers to
come out each night, and so it's like a car wash,
(09:00):
except you're going to come out and have some fun
at Bright Nights, seeing some Christmas carols and walk away
with a little money.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Absolutely, and you got to thank Nutrient for that as well,
for underwriting that and it being kind of a fun
around the holiday's family friendly fundraising opportunity for any group
that wants to become involved. I do want to share
a short story from last year's that's pretty cool. There
was a family that reached out to us and asked
if they could sign up. It was a mom and
(09:27):
dad and a couple of little kids, and they said
they were doing the fundraising opportunity because they wanted to
adopt another child into their family, but they needed the
funds to do so. So literally, we have anyone have
this opportunity open to and what a neat little story
to help them expand their family.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
So, Troy, any any final thoughts as you get ready,
because I know you're pretty busy tonight yet your nap
doesn't start till you know, tomorrow sometime.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
But yeah, I gotta get the cat or the ka
out of storage and fluff my pill a little bit.
I might have you come do that after the podcast.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
But final final thoughts on this final day.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, final thoughts. I have to give out some and
some thank you because this nine days of the Fair
is not possible without the following individuals are our incredible
maintenance staff, office staff, board of directors, superintendents and over
three hundred volunteers are really what brings this fair to
life and makes it possible each year. We're a five
(10:27):
to one C three nonprofit organization, so the fair would
not be a financial success any year if it wasn't
for those individuals that I just talked about, along with
are incredible eighty seven sponsors that we have during the
nine days of the fair, Nutrient, Mercy Health, QP, Rdie Jones, Spallinger, Millwright,
The list goes on and on. This one hundred and
(10:48):
seventy fifth anniversary has definitely been one to remember, and
I just got to thank each and every individual that
that made this experience better than any fair that I've
ever been a part of.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
As manager Troy, I think I speak for a lot
of folks in Allen County and the surrounding area when
I say job well done, my friend.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Thank you so much for us, and thank you for
all that you do for this place and the entire
team over at Nutrient. Thank you, iHeart thank you. An
Decker Marketing. This podcast has been pretty cool implementation into
the fair. I know the kids love it, and I
know they're going to be looking forward to a great
third year at the twenty twenty six Allen County Fair,
which will be August twenty second through the twenty ninth.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah, and I think we only grow the podcast next
year because it's certainly been very popular. And I too
want to thank Alex Wilfar engineer who makes us sound
good and and Decker are videographer who makes us look
good and some days not that easy.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, I was going to say that might be a stretch.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
And we will see everybody at the twenty twenty six
Allen County Fair. Have a great one, everybody,
And welcome to our final edition of ACF four one
one from the twenty twenty five to one and seventy
fifth Allen County Fair, and we are the official podcast
of the Allen County Fair powered by Nutrient. My name
is Ross Seker. I'm your host and joining me for
this final podcast of the twenty twenty five Fair the
man himself, the fair manager, Troy Elward. Troy, welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
That's one heck of an introduction, you know. I think
that's the nicest way that you've ever introduced me.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I think you're right. So, Troy, we're a day nine
of nine the Allen County Fair wraps up in just
a little bit. We have a free concert in the
grand stand with Mry concert Band, followed by some fireworks.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yes, with it being the one hundred and seventy fifth anniversary,
we really focused on when building our entertainment lineup it
being a celebratory year, wanting to give back to the community,
have some more free events in the in the grand stands,
and then go out with a bang, pun and ten.
We haven't done fireworks for quite some time, so we've
got a pretty solid lineup that they're going to go
(01:06):
off actually at about nine thirty tonight, so there's going
to be a little gap between when the concert band's
done and when the fireworks are go off. But they
want to make sure that it's dark enough so that
it turns out to be a great show.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Very neat, very neat. So well, you hit one out
of the park with Lauren Deagel. Let's talk about that.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Man. You are so right. I tell you what I've
done other interviews, etc. In relation to the Lauren Dagel
concert leading up to going on sale, and to be
honest with you, the whole board felt a little bit
timid and nervous about dipping into that genre because it's
something brand new for us really. I mean, we have
the Gospel ten out here and it's always very successful,
(01:45):
but bringing a big name Christian contemporary artist into the
grand stands of something new for us, and it paid
off very well. We could not be more grateful for
the overwhelming community support that we got on that show.
There's a little over seven thousand people in the venue
and the feedback on that concert has just been fantastic
so far.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
So I do like the weather that you ordered for
the back half of the fair a little warm and
hot for the first half of the fair. That did
that impact attendance at all.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I tell you what, Actually, our first weekend Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
even though it was hot every day, our numbers were
up in comparison to last year's fair. Monday and Tuesday
we're down a little bit, and I think a lot
of that's due to the heat, and also folks are
going back to school getting back into those routines, so
the whole nine yards. But then Wednesday, Thursday, and then
(02:34):
last night Friday, we're all nights that we were up again.
So in total we are definitely on pace to surpassirendance
attendance very well when you comparison to twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
So any really good surprises through the week, something that
was like much better than you ever thought it was
going to be, It just like you knocked another one
out that you didn't even expect.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, to be honest with you, we just came fresh
off of the wood carving auction on the Nutrient Plaza
stage and we had a ton of items in that auction.
It probably made it a little bit too long, but
we had some incredible hand painted pieces of art done
(03:18):
by Ethan Jordan, bottles of wine, banners, flowers, and of
course some incredible wood carvings. We haven't crunched the numbers
yet because we're just fresh off the auction, but I
think we may have broke a re record with total
dollars brought in. So I got to thank everyone that
supported that auction.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
So let's talk about the auction for a minute, because
I think the neat thing about the auction is where
the money goes, and it's for scholarships. Let's talk about that.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
It is, yes, so it all goes into the Allen
County Agricultural Society Scholarship Fund. This past year we gave
away ten seven hundred and fifty dollars scholarships and one
new addition called the Success Grant. And I'm sure you
want to know a little bit about what that success
Grant is.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I do, yes.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
So it seems nowadays, which I think it's a good thing,
kids are deciding not to elect to go to college.
Rather they want to enter the workforce or go to
a trade school after they're done with high school. Well,
this success grant is designed to help an individual out
that's going into the trades. So whether that's buying ppe
(04:18):
equipment that they need to wear to be safe at
their job, tools or other items to really kind of
give them a kickstart into that position and help them
with a lot of those startup costs.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
So maybe, you know, as we build this fund up,
maybe in future years there'll be additional types of grants
like that coming out as well.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Absolutely, and our hope is we just actually had a
short little brief meeting before I walked over here, and
without crunching the numbers, I think the scholarships and success
grants that will give out next year are going to
be more than this year. So I'm pretty excited about
what the turnout is going to be for that.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
That's great. So, you know, I know that typically you personally,
you know, you take the rest of the year off
and just kick back and rely. But when do you
start planning the twenty twenty six Fair.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Well, planning for the twenty twenty six Fair already started
in January of twenty twenty five. It starts very early.
People think that's crazy, but I mean it is a
year round effort to make something like this nine days happen. Specifically,
when it comes to that big show that we put
on in the grand stands each year. That's what I
was referring to. We start placing offers in January of
(05:25):
twenty five for August of twenty six, because if there's
an act in our budget that we want, that's about
when you have to start trying to book acts of
that nature.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
So I'm sure you can't give us any secrets, but
any surprises plan for twenty twenty six as you start
the second hundred and seventy five years.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, I don't know if I want to let any
cats out of the bag right now, but we have
some pretty cool projects that haven't lifted off the ground yet.
But we've really focused on the last couple of years
investing back into the property, investing in our facilities, making
them more accessible and inclusive to all. I know. I
think we talked about this in the podcast before the
(06:06):
fair started, but in the last three years, we've done
over two point three seven million dollars in capital improvement
projects across the property. Seventy five percent of that has
been donated or received through grants in the community. So
I couldn't be more grateful for that support that we're getting.
But we want to continue on with that positive momentum
so that each and every year we're enhancing the experience
(06:28):
for every fair goer that comes through our gates.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
So, I know we joke about this a lot, but
there are other things at the fair grounds other than
the fair so coming. So we've got a couple of
big ones coming up Max's and then I'm thinking Bright Nights.
You want to just talk about both of those events.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Absolutely, So Max will be knocking on our door tomorrow
morning around ten am. As everybody's trying to leave, Max
and his people will already be coming in marking spots.
But if you've never been out to Max's Trader Days,
it is an experience. Everybody thinks when it comes to
a big flea market that it's just a bunch of junk.
Well that could be up for interpretation, but there's a
(07:05):
ton of good stuff out here. We've got guns, we've
got dogs, we've got antiques, we've got clothing, we've got
cool signage across the board. Max and his team do
an incredible job and they're open Friday, Saturday and Sunday,
so it's a three day event.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And then Bright Nights we'll be back for another year.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yes, Mercy Health Bright Nights is our baby that kind
of started in and around COVID and that's really taken
off over the last couple of years. Mercy Health is
obviously the overarching sponsor that really helped us get that
event started, but since I took over as manager, I
wanted to help it grow in terms of number of displays,
size of the event. So we actually started to implement
(07:47):
something pretty cool where businesses or families in the community
can sponsor specific displays on the route or sponsor a
new display to be put on the route. I know
we do custom ones as well. Nutrient donated one last
year and we implemented last year some caroling as well
with went, which went pretty awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
So last year we did caroling I think just on
was it Friday.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Saturdays, Friday, Saturday and Sunday or oh, I don't know
if we did any Sundays.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
But this year I think we talked about I think
we're gonna expand it to every night. We're gonna try
to have carollers out there.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
There was a great demand and I tell you what,
everybody that we had drive through. I think it helped
boost attendance too, because with the different teams that we
had out there or organized groups. You would bring out
mom and dad, grandma and grandpa's siblings. So it definitely
helped drive our attendance up for that event tremendously to
over forty four hundred cars last year.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
And I think, you know, talk about the carollers just
for a second, but when we talk about the carollers
for the Bright Nights, we're not talking about necessarily choirs.
We want anybody that wants to if it's a football team,
it's a girls basketball team, it's a chance for them
to make money because we actually pay the carollers to
come out each night, and so it's like a car wash,
(09:00):
except you're going to come out and have some fun
at Bright Nights, seeing some Christmas carols and walk away
with a little money.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Absolutely, and you got to thank Nutrient for that as well,
for underwriting that and it being kind of a fun
around the holiday's family friendly fundraising opportunity for any group
that wants to become involved. I do want to share
a short story from last year's that's pretty cool. There
was a family that reached out to us and asked
if they could sign up. It was a mom and
(09:27):
dad and a couple of little kids, and they said
they were doing the fundraising opportunity because they wanted to
adopt another child into their family, but they needed the
funds to do so. So literally, we have anyone have
this opportunity open to and what a neat little story
to help them expand their family.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
So, Troy, any any final thoughts as you get ready,
because I know you're pretty busy tonight yet your nap
doesn't start till you know, tomorrow sometime.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
But yeah, I gotta get the cat or the ka
out of storage and fluff my pill a little bit.
I might have you come do that after the podcast.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
But final final thoughts on this final day.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, final thoughts. I have to give out some and
some thank you because this nine days of the Fair
is not possible without the following individuals are our incredible
maintenance staff, office staff, board of directors, superintendents and over
three hundred volunteers are really what brings this fair to
life and makes it possible each year. We're a five
(10:27):
to one C three nonprofit organization, so the fair would
not be a financial success any year if it wasn't
for those individuals that I just talked about, along with
are incredible eighty seven sponsors that we have during the
nine days of the fair, Nutrient, Mercy Health, QP, Rdie Jones, Spallinger, Millwright,
The list goes on and on. This one hundred and
(10:48):
seventy fifth anniversary has definitely been one to remember, and
I just got to thank each and every individual that
that made this experience better than any fair that I've
ever been a part of.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
As manager Troy, I think I speak for a lot
of folks in Allen County and the surrounding area when
I say job well done, my friend.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Thank you so much for us, and thank you for
all that you do for this place and the entire
team over at Nutrient. Thank you, iHeart thank you. An
Decker Marketing. This podcast has been pretty cool implementation into
the fair. I know the kids love it, and I
know they're going to be looking forward to a great
third year at the twenty twenty six Allen County Fair,
which will be August twenty second through the twenty ninth.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah, and I think we only grow the podcast next
year because it's certainly been very popular. And I too
want to thank Alex Wilfar engineer who makes us sound
good and and Decker are videographer who makes us look
good and some days not that easy.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, I was going to say that might be a stretch.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
And we will see everybody at the twenty twenty six
Allen County Fair. Have a great one, everybody,
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