Sarah Komar
Special to the Citizen
As COVID-19 cases spike across Missouri, the Platte County Fair Association will present an abridged, socially distanced version of the longest running county fair west of the Mississippi River.
The 157th Platte County Fair, which will run July 24-26, will feature horse and livestock shows and 4-H exhibits from local members of the youth organization, according to a Monday press release from the Platte County Fair Association (PCFA). To provide for social distancing at the event, there will be no carnival, grandstand events or concessions. Admission will be free.
PCFA President Rick Hill said he and the fair’s other organizers are grateful that COVID-related restrictions on gatherings in Missouri were lifted early enough to allow them to plan and host the event this year. Gov. Mike Parson lifted all statewide social distancing orders June 16, leaving policy implementation to local governments.
“We’re excited,” Hill said. “We feel like we buckled down, came together as a group, came together and made a good decision, were able to put all the pieces together. And we’re having this — even though it is a modified fair — it still is the Platte County Fair.”
This theme of the scaled-down event, “Returning to our Roots,” is a nod to the first Platte County Fair, a three-day gathering in 1863 that most likely consisted of horse and livestock shows and a community picnic.
The fair has been presented each year since, including during droughts, floods, depressions and wars, and can now retain its title as the oldest continuously operating fair west of the Mississippi River, Hill said.
“We took that into the decision,” Hill said. “You know, during the Great Depression, the grasshopper fiasco that the county went through years ago, and two World Wars, our forefathers carried on the fair. We thought it was important for us to do that.”
Hill said the PCFA and its organizing partners at the Platte County Livestock Booster Club and the Platte County 4-H Clubs faced months of uncertainty about the fate of the 2020 fair. The board, which usually meets monthly, was unable to meet for two months in the spring due to COVID-related lockdowns.
In collaboration with the Platte County Health Department, the organizers decided in late June that a spaced-out event with limited activities and other safety precautions was the best option to keep the fair running while keeping participants and attendees safe, Hill said.
While the fair will not feature temperature checks or mandatory masking in all areas, organizers are encouraging all involved to practice social distancing in accordance with CDC guidelines, according to the press release. Masks will also be required in the Mack Myers Building, where 4-H exhibits will be displayed for daily public viewing.
Additionally, livestock show participants will be spaced out across the entirety of the fairgrounds, and organizers will call competitors individually to the Livestock Pavilion or Shackelford Arena to present their animals, Hill said. The fair’s competitions will include a sheep and goat show, a poultry show, a rooster crowing contest, a swine show, a horse show, and a cattle show.
Hill said that despite the limited scale of this year’s fair, he is enthusiastic about the upcoming event and is honored to be a part of continuing its long-running legacy.
“We basically did this so, one, we could continue the 157th annual Platte County Fair growing,” Hill said, “and so that our children in front of us who are the future fairgoers and stockholders will have something to look forward to.”