By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
The 2025 Wood County Fair entertainment includes many of the traditional grandstand acts; however, after two years of offering a country music concert, next year’s lineup will not include a musical act.
During Thursday’s Wood County Fair Board meeting, entertainment committee chair David Nietz presented the grandstand entertainment schedule for July 27-Aug. 3, 2025.
The harness horse races will kick off the lineup on Sunday afternoon and Monday evening at the fair. The Junior Fair Parade finds its traditional slot on Sunday evening in front of the grandstand after a trip around the fairgrounds.
Drag racing is planned for Tuesday, July 29, with the cheerleading competition on Wednesday, July 30, and the calf scramble, which includes chickens and lambs, is on Thursday, July 31.
The Monster Trucks return this year on Friday night Aug. 1, along with another component not yet finalized. “It is all going to blend together,” Nietz said.
The fair tractor pulls are Saturday’s grandstand attraction and Sunday, the fair’s final night on Aug. 3, features the demolition derby. “Sunday will be a little different than in recent years. We are not doing combines; they have kind of run their course,” Nietz said. “We’ve been lucky for the 22 years we’ve been doing it. The days of the combine demo are over.”
The demo derby show will include Power Wheels and lawnmowers, handled by the agricultural society, followed by the cars, trucks and minivans, operated by Ruff Demo Derby Promotions.
The Stingrays and Sharks Exhibition, which Nietz said was a huge hit this year, will return for 2025. A similar exhibit with sea lions has been added this year. In an effort to reduce costs, those two special exhibits will not be on the grounds until Tuesday, July 29, and remain until Sunday, Aug. 3, he said. Those exhibits will be set up south of the covered grandstands.
Fair Director Jessica Nagel said demonstrations will be scheduled daily at 1 p.m. in the Home and Garden Building and at 11 a.m. in the Fine Arts Building “Those will be staggered throughout the day so there is something going on on the grounds that are free activities for people to use as educational opportunities,” she said.
Changes proposed for Champion Barn
The board is seeking public input regarding a proposed change to the use of what is now the Champion Livestock Barn. They have discussed moving the fair’s grand and reserve champion animals out of the Champion Barn and returning them to their home barn, said Second Vice President Tony Violi. The idea is to “possibly move other livestock into that building to make room in other buildings, basically restructuring all of the livestock.”
One option discussed is to “move the rabbits into the exhibitor barn, make the rabbit/poultry barn all poultry which would eliminate a tent, and some of the rabbit shows would be in the sheep show arena,” he said. Nothing is finalized.
Jim Blackford questioned if additional pens would need to be purchased with the new configurations. Wood County Junior Fair Coordinator Julie Hannan said the grand and reserve champion pens would be set up differently. ”When we set up the barns, we’ll make space within the barns for the grand and reserve champion animals,” she said. “The junior fair would take that on, making sure they are decorated differently with sponsorship banners, so we shouldn’t need anything new for the pens.”
The board and the livestock committee are looking to get a pulse from the public or any of the original supporters of the Championship Barn if they have concerns with the proposed change. The topic may be part of the overall Livestock Rules Meeting scheduled on Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. in the Pratt Pavilion. The meeting is open to the public.
Junior Fair Livestock Sale and Expo
Fair Director Conni Grames reported American Leak Detection and Bates Recycling were the two top buyers at the Junior Fair Livestock Sale and Expo live sale in August, according to reports from Breeders World.
Eric Norden and American Leak Detection were the top two buyers for the “add-on” sales, and Elliott Farms was top buyer for the feeder calf sale, paying out more than was paid for the overall sale. “That’s how important he is to us,” she said.
Members of the livestock sale committee which revamped and organized the sale event for the past three years are uncertain if they want to continue, said President Paul Perry. Because there is not a lot of time, the fair board decided to return to the previous sales committee set up, with chairs of each of the market livestock committees serving on the sales committee. The group will meet to determine what the sale looks like for the coming year.
Guns and Purses fundraiser
The Fields to Firearms Fundraiser, featuring a guns and purses raffle event, will be held on Jan. 25 in the Pratt Pavilion at the fairgrounds. The doors open at 5:30 p.m., with dinner by Deet’s BBQ at 6 p.m. and the raffle at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $50 per person (must be 21 or older), which covers the meal and the chance to win one of five featured guns and purses. They hope to sell 350 tickets for the event.
Tickets purchased by Dec. 15 qualify the ticketholder for a chance to win a sixth featured gun. Fifteen additional guns will be raffled off in separate raffles throughout the evening. A variety of donated items and gift baskets will also be raffled during the event.
For event tickets or more information, stop by the fair office or call 419-352-0441. Funds raised will benefit the Wood County Agricultural Society.
In other business:
- Nagel reported the 2025 Fair Book will be overhauled and some of the sections reordered to provide a more seamless presentation.
- The board approved up to $5,000 to upgrade the computers in the fair office with backup and firewalls.
- DeeAnn Corken said she and her sister Dawn Anderson talked to the Bowling Green Rotary Club about the Farm to Market exhibit planned for the 2025 fair. Sponsorship packets for the new exhibit will be sent to area businesses and individuals.
- The Catch a Pig Sale will be held Dec. 7. Weigh-in is from 8 to 9:30, the show starts at 10 a.m., and the auction begins after the show at 12:30 p.m.
- The fair board agreed to participate in a food drive for the second year with the Northwest Ohio Tractor Pullers Association.
