Carson Bickel, the son of Donald and Jackie Bickel, takes a snooze atop his cow, Mouse, at the 2023 Highland County Fair. Carson won first place in his age group at the open dairy show.
The 2024 Highland County fair will run from Saturday, Sept. 1 through Sunday, Sept. 7 from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. at the Highland County Fairgrounds on John Street in Hillsboro.
“This year is different because it’s a two-price fair,” Highland County Fair Board President Mark Baldwin said. “It is $10 to get in, and rides are an additional cost which the ride company sets.”
The rides at this year’s fair will be provided by the Cincinnati Circus company.
“To my understanding, they are going to do group rates to help out with larger families,” he said. “Ten dollars gets you in for shows and motorsports events all day long.”
Baldwin said another difference at this year’s Highland County Fair is that there will be two nights of demolition derbies. The derbies will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m.
“They’ll hopefully have a chance to repair the cars and come back for a final night,” Baldwin said.
The fair’s AutoCross competition will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 3 at 7 p.m.
“AutoCross is the same as it has been, and it’s always a big draw,” he said.
Baldwin said this year’s fair will include also axe throwing and zip lining.
“Whether you’re a grandpa and grandma or a kid, money isn’t what it used to be, and you can stay local and have some entertainment that will benefit you,” Baldwin said. “A lot of the people who are participating are your neighbors, so we want everybody to come and enjoy what the community has to offer.”
Baldwin said the Motocross event at the fair will be held Monday, Sept. 2 beginning at 11:30 a.m.
“It starts early, and they practice all day long,” he said. “It seems to be a big draw, and a lot of people are into it.”
The Friday night of the fair will include truck and tractor pulls that are sanctioned by the Ohio Modified Tractor/Truck Pulling Association, with the Thursday night truck and tractor pulls also sanctioned by the Ohio State Truck Pullers Association. Both events will begin at 7 p.m.
“They are sanctioned, and we’ve never done that before, so it should help with the machinery, and there will be people who do it more often,” Baldwin said. “There are 94 fairs in the state, so there will be more people here from farther off that go everywhere in the state, and it should be a bigger show.”
Baldwin said the events at this year’s fair are geared to what people have enjoyed in the past.
“As a board, we try to have more of what people like,” he said. “We also have the new Highland District Hospital building that opened last year for people to put their animals in.”
Baldwin said many of the bathrooms at the fairgrounds are being remodeled.
“The majority of the big ones that we use are getting remodeled right now,” he said.
Reach John Hackley at 937-402-2571.
