14A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • July 15, 2015
Polk County News
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer file
One of several changes to the entertainment schedule at the 2015 Polk County Fair will
be moving the youth livestock auction to earlier in the afternoon on Saturday.
Entertainment changes
in store for county fair
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
Recycle for a better future
POLK COUNTY — After
along absence, a rodeo is
back in the lineup for the
2015 Polk County Fair.
Wild West Events, based
out of Creswell, will be
bringing in a group of pro-
fessional cowboys and cow-
girls to compete in bareback
and saddle bronc riding,
barrel racing, bull riding and
mutton busting. The last
time the fair had a full rodeo
was in the late 1990s. After
that, the fair hosted a youth
rodeo for about 10 years.
“But even that got to the
point where it was really ex-
pensive to put on,” said Tina
Andersen, fair manager.
Andersen said Wild West
Events is sponsoring some of
the cost of the show to help
the fair afford to put it on
this year. The rodeo will be
opening night of the fair and
is free with fair admission.
That is just one of quite a
few changes to the enter-
tainment lineup in store for
the 2015 version of the fair.
The most noticeable
change will be the absence
of a traditional carnival. In
recent years, the fair has
worked to improve atten-
dance at the carnival with
disappointing results. This
year, Andersen wasn’t able to
bring in a carnival.
“We are small, and Tina
really, really, really tried to
get a carnival, but carnivals
don’t like us because we are
so small,” said Anna Scharf,
fair board chairwoman.
Andersen said Hood River
County holds its fair at a
similar-sized venue, but at-
tendance rates are much
higher, so revenue is better
for the carnival company.
She said at Polk County, a
carnival may make $18,000
to $20,000, but in Hood
River, it could make several
times that amount.
In its place will be a col-
lection of games, slides, ob-
stacle courses and fun
demonstrations put on by
local organizations.
“Tina’s worked really hard
to find a solution and every-
body needs to come out and
see her awesome solution,”
Scharf said.
MADJEK Industries out of
Salem will bring “zorb balls”
(think giant hamster balls in
a pool of water), a Finding
Nemo bouncy castle, a tram-
poline, shark slide and rat
race obstacle course.
Those activities in the
“kids’ area” of the fair re-
quire tickets — one to
three — at a cost $1 each or
25 for $20.
Also, the Polk County
Sheriff ’s Office will be
demonstrating equipment
and Southwest Polk Rural
Fire Protection District’s
Rickreall station will host a
firefighting-themed obstacle
course for the youngsters.
Another new attraction is
American Thunder’s mon-
ster truck. Andersen said the
truck will be on display in
the arena on Saturday start-
ing at 5 p.m. and will offer
free rides.
In one final change, the
popular youth livestock auc-
tion has been moved to 3
p.m. on Saturday, allowing
fairgoers to take in both the
auction and the headliner
show, Carrie Cunningham,
in the evening.