Weather, new building, packed grandstand make for a perfect fair

 RED OAK – During the 2014 Montgomery County Fair’s opening ceremonies, president Kerry Confer spoke for the entire fair board when he stated “the past year was one we won’t soon forget.”

In retrospect, the same will be said about the fair itself, which couldn’t have been much better.

An abundance of excitement surrounding the new livestock pavilion combined with perfect weather led to big crowds throughout the Fair, culminating with capacity crowds at both Friday night’s Bull Buckoff and Saturday’s Demolition Derby.

After raising more than $300,000 in donations, the fair board decided to waive the admission fee to the annual bull riding event, resulting in the record standing-room only crowd.

The crowd then stayed after the competition, enjoying a live band and the beer garden. This year, Friday night’s beer sales easily topped $1,000, more than three times of what was sold in the garden’s inaugural year in 2013.

“Last year, I was a little disappointed with the attendance, especially on Friday night,” Confer said. “But this year, it met and exceeded all my hopes.” 

Confer said it was important for the fair board to thank the community that had been so generous in supporting the building project.

“It wasn’t that long ago when (treasurer) Roger Vial and I walked across the fairgounds and we talked about the crazy idea of replacing three animal barns with one. I guess it wasn’t that crazy of an idea after all Roger,” Confer said. “The last two weeks have pretty much been a blur. It’s been a challenge, but the new building has come together well. There has been tremendous support for this project from the community and we want to thank them.” The community continued to show its support of the fair during Sunday’s livestock auction, in which more than $130,000 was raised through the sale of the 4-H members’ winning livestock. Of that amount, $49,423 was generated through merchant’s premiums. 

Also during the opening ceremonies, Paul Perkins and Curtis Woods were inducted into the Montgomery County 4-H Hall of Fame, while Wanda Johnson was named a member of the Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame.

Mikayla Dolch was  then crowned fair queen from a field of eight candidates. Heidi Vanderholm and Tatum Allensworth were first and second runner-up, respectively.

Dolch first joined 4-H nine years ago and has shown horses and dogs.

“I’m very proud to represent all the wonderful people of Montgomery County who make this such a wonderful fair,” Dolch said. “I want to showcase what the Montgomery County Fair has to offer.”

Looking back on his third and final fair as president, Confer said he couldn’t have asked for a better week. 

“The Good Lord blessed us with some beautiful weather and the new building worked out well,” Confer said. “I think it went great.”