The 174th annual Lake County Fair kicks off Friday with new vendors, concerts, a few booth location changes, and a moving performance during the first weekend, officials said.
The fair will have a lot of new food booths, including a chocolate covered strawberry booth, and a few new vendor booths, said Dawn Casey, the fair board secretary.
The fairground’s conservation building has been repaired and updated in the last year, Casey said, and fair officials are excited to debut the new building at this year’s fair.
The family arts and crafts building will be closed this year amid a restoration project, Casey said, but the family arts and crafts department will be open in the industrial building. The flower show will also be held in the industrial building, she said.
“That’s a huge change for us this year. As far as I can recall, family arts has always been in the same building. It was a huge project to move it all to a separate building this year,” Casey said. “The inside vendors that were previously in that building are now moved into the previous flower show building and the previous rabbit show building.”
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Lake County Fair Board president Dave Monix said in a statement that officials are excited to welcome back the fine arts department after its absence last year.
“We welcome everyone to the fair and look forward to another successful year,” Monix said. “We can’t wait to see the incredible talent and creativity on display and hope you’ll join us in celebrating another fantastic fair.”
The industrial building will have 12 vendors inside, including Dan’s Bird Houses, Bonesteel’s Flag Pole, B’s Marketplace and Emma’s Beauty Boutique. The old art building will have Duneland Labradoodles and the Conservation Building will have Games2u NWI, which includes inflatable courses, a rock climbing wall and mini golf, according to the fair website.
New this year, for the first weekend of the fair, a strolling piano — a performer riding around a moving piano playing and singing — will be moving throughout the fair, Casey said.
“We’re very excited to have him,” Casey said.
Returning this year will be the animal tents and 4-H animal shows, Casey said. The 4-H horse and pony show will be held Aug. 10 and Aug. 11, she said.
“We’re a very agricultural focused fair. We pride ourselves in our agricultural history, having 4-H out here and having all of our open shows for animals” Casey said. “We pride ourselves a lot in supporting agriculture, farming and education. I think that sets us apart from other fairs.”
The fair board looks forward to the 175th annual fair next year, Casey said. The first Lake County Fair was held Oct. 28, 1852 for one day at the county courthouse, she said.
The Lake County Fair has grown since then to span multiple days and located at the fairgrounds, Casey said. This year, the fair will be held from Aug. 7 through August 16.
On Friday, opening day, the Grandstand stage will have performances by Eliminator, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and TNT Chicago, from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monster Trucks will be at the Grandstand Aug. 8 at 7 p.m., Aug. 9 at 5 p.m. and Aug. 10 at 7 p.m., according to the schedule.
Micro wrestling takes over the Grandstand stage at 7 p.m. Aug. 11, followed by D&D Pro Rodeo Aug. 12 and Aug. 13 at 7 p.m., according to the schedule.
The All American Lumberjack Show will be held at the Grandstand Aug. 14 at 7 p.m., followed by the Demolition Derby Aug. 15 and Aug. 16 at 5 p.m., according to the schedule.
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“We have events for any age, everybody in the family,” Casey said. “We’ve got something for everybody out here of any age, any person of any walk of life. Everyone is welcome.”
For more information, visit https://www.lakecofaircp.com/.