By SHELLEY TERRY - Staff Writer - sterry@starbeacon.com
BURTON — A sharp-shooting cowboy show on horseback, camel rides for children, partly sunny skies and a breeze were all big hits Monday at The Great Geauga County Fairgrounds.
The state’s oldest fair, the Geauga County Fair, featured 13,000 exhibits, more than 2,000 animals — all on 151 acres.
“Family entertainment is what we strive for,” said Paul Harris, secretary of the fair board. “Friday was our biggest (attendance) day. We had monster trucks that day.”
But Harris said he doesn’t believe it was the monster trucks that brought 59,975 people through the fair’s gates Friday.
“You can’t beat good weather,” he said. “Everyone wanted to celebrate the last weekend of summer.”
A total of 237,000 people visited the five-day fair this year, according to the Geauga Fair Board’s unofficial records. That number includes an estimate of Monday’s crowd.
Even so, every other day, topped last year’s numbers. Harris gave Mother Nature the credit.
Sarah Stroop, an interpreter with Lake Metroparks Farmpark exhibit, agreed.
“It’s so nice outside,” she said. “The children love to pet our kid goats, sheep and calf.”
Carly Kwait, 13, of Shaker Heights, waited to ride one of two camels at the fair.
“I think it will be fun,” she said.
A huge part of the popularity of the fair is the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Area on the southeastern end of the fairgrounds, where youngsters can fish in a stocked pond. On Monday, fair-goers watched water retrieval demonstrations.
Geoffrey and Florence Isom of Cleveland brought their 2-year-old grandson, Ethan, to the fair as part of a family tradition.
Ethan donned a cowboy hat as his mother, Army Sgt. Michelle Goynes, lifted him on a pony and walked beside him.
His proud grandparents snapped photos, waved and oohed and ahhed at their grandson.
“When we first started coming (to the fair) our boys rode the pony rides,” Geoffrey Isom said. “We have so many wonderful memories of the fair.”
Florence Isom said, “We love the country and the fair.”
