Boring excited about Holmes fair’s growth heading into 2025
Speaking recently at the annual Holmes County 4-H Volunteer Recognition Banquet, Holmes County Senior Fair Board President Roger Boring said the growth experienced across all levels at this year's fair was encouraging momentum for the future.
Roger Boring, Holmes County Senior Fair Board president, is excited about the future of Holmes County’s agriculture movement, the annual fair, and the commitment from the many 4-H programs that energize and feed the ag community in Holmes County.
Speaking recently at the annual Holmes County 4-H Volunteer Recognition Banquet, Boring said what the Holmes County Senior Fair Board took away from this past summer’s fair was encouraging momentum for the future.
“Attendance hit a new record with over 41,000 people attending the 2024 Holmes County Fair,” Boring said. “We saw record daily attendances on several days.”
He said the attendance on Wednesday’s fair day was 8,331 while Friday’s record number was at 7,613, followed up by Saturday’s record-breaking attendance of 7,417.
“The really interesting number is that Monday’s attendance came within 55 people of the four days’ daily record attendance of last year’s fair,” Boring said. “It was just fantastic, and we couldn’t have asked for a better week of attendance.”
Boring went on to talk about some of the other areas of growth the fair has experienced, beginning with the home arts show that has blossomed over the past couple years and has exhibited potential for even more growth.
“Kim Kellogg and his talented team of artisans have really transformed that program,” Boring said. “They’ve injected it with energy and creativity. It’s been incredible to watch it flourish, and we’re all looking forward to what next year’s projects will be.”
Boring said the mainstay of the fair, the junior fair livestock show, continued to see incredible growth in numbers and participation. For a fair that focuses on its youth, the Holmes County Fair certainly pulled that off again this summer.
“The numbers keep rising faster than we even anticipated,” Boring said.
He said in going back to the planning stages of the fair for the ag building, they created cut-outs of all the small ag buildings from the old fairgrounds and placed them all inside the layout of the new building and had room to spare.
That was when Harvest Ridge was being built.
Today, he said what seemed like a monumentally huge ag building couldn’t contain this year’s number of entries, having to add tents to house some of the smaller animals from this year’s fair.
Boring said the fair board is in the midst of another planned addition, that being one to the expo building.
“Thanks to the generous support of private donations and the state grant we received, we’re on the verge of launching the next phase of Harvest Ridge,” Boring said. “Our goal is to add a 100-foot expansion of the expo building that we plan to have completed in time for the 2026 Holmes County Fair.”
He said this new addition will help reduce congestion in the ag building by allowing space for the small animals.
He said the fair board was excited to move in this new direction, and many people have worked very hard to make it a reality.
“We’re close,” Boring said, expressing his gratitude to the members of the Holmes County Senior Fair Board and Holmes County Junior Fair Board for their work. He also thanked the many fair committees and 4-H groups for their support and dedication to the fair and to the county.
He ended by thanking the team at Harvest Ridge for going above and beyond the call of their duties to create an experience worthy of hosting the annual fair.
“They ensure that we have these wonderful facilities in which to gather and celebrate,” Boring said. “It is through their compassion, hard work and determination that we’ve made Harvest Ridge not just a success for the fair and for ag, but a true cornerstone for the future of Holmes County.”