2023 Franklin County Fair a Masterful Composition

Intermittent rain plagued the opening days of the Franklin County Fair, but the skies cleared late Thursday and fairgoers enjoyed ideal weather conditions all the way through to the close of the fair Sunday night. 

The 2023 Franklin County Fair schedule was so jam packed with something for everyone that it just wasn’t possible to take it all in. The fair had to be taken in bites, and for many that’s why they came, to sample the food, eat homemade ice cream, munch kettle corn, see a few shows, catch an event or two, watch a competition, go on a few rides, greet friends and neighbors and perpetuate the tradition of having good old fashioned fun, one experience at a time.

The fair officially began Wednesday at 10pm with the flag raising ceremony attended by the 2022 Queen and the 2023 court, Fair Board President Jacob Ackerman, Marketing Manager Dawn Collins, and Fair Board members Alan Brown and others, with flag raising performed by two members of the American Legion. Eva Dohlman, granddaughter of parade Grand Marshal Jackie led the assemblage in the signing of the national anthem as a light mist coated the small gathering.

The five 2023 grandstand events, Heuer Rodeo, Joe Nichols, 38 Special, Lauren Alaina and Gunderson Racing delivered entertainment for all ages. Every show felt it was made just for the Franklin County Fair, with performers seeming to connect to the audience to make it that way. 

The Heuer Rodeo got a boost in the number of participants due to some other fairs being closed because of weather and contestants needing to get points in for the season. The rodeo started at 7pm and lasted until approximately 11:10 pm. The riders and crews clad in western garb wearing ubiquitous straw hats, denim, striped and flannel shirts, jeans and boots, some with spurs, lent a distinctly western feel to the spectacle and transported the audience to another time and era. 

Boom Boom the clown provided levity with a couple of skits designed for face palminging chuckling, one complete with fireworks. The announcers did a masterful job of playing off each other and kept up a diatribe that reported, informed, and amused the audience from start to finish.

There was plenty of riding, roping, racing and wrestling to be had for hours on end, though the stands mostly cleared out after the bull riding ended just after 10 pm. A few diehards stayed on until the official closing announcement, a scattering in stands and more up front on the blocks whose signs not to mount were long ignored.

The rain that had mostly held off Wednesday and Thursday morning hit on Thursday afternoon about 4 pm, driving attendees indoors as a really gully washer blew through, stopped, started again, then mostly petered out. The gales couldn’t stop the fair queen coronation however, just push it back a tad. Kierra Dodd, daughter of Aaron and Shayna Dodd of Ackley was crowned Queen with 1st runner up First Runner Up Kaylie Lundt, daughter of Doug and Jodi Lundt of Rockwell, and Rylee Keehn, daughter of Leslie Osborn and Jeromy Keehn, taking Miss Photogenic. 

Fairgoers soon emerged back to their routines through the drizzle, though a National Weather Service warning delayed the opening of the Joe Nichols show as the powers that be assessed the safety of holding the concert. After 7:30pm the event was given the all clear, and fans who had lined up back to Pleasant Hill filed in and took their seats a little late, but not too much. 

As Joe Nichols took the stage just after 8:30 pm there were virtual lakes between the grandstand seats and the platform. That didn’t stop some fans from squishing through the inches deep muck to get close to the stage, though it probably stopped some. Through the hour and twenty minute set fans up front stood firm, with the muddy conditions adding to the experience, but probably keeping fewer from hoisting their friends and loved ones above the crowd as happened on other nights. 

Nichols, a three-time Grammy nominee and American Country Music “Top New Male Vocalist” award winner, got the crowd pumped up through his set with twangy guitar and baritone voice brewing up a country rock fusion blend of songs known by many. One song in particular that got the crowd going was “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off.”

At 9:50 pm Nichols thanked the crowd, held his guitar high, announced he’d sign autographs for merchandise buyers, and left the stage. The crowd, it felt, thought that this was a prelude to an encore, but Nichols did not re-emerge from behind the black curtain and the fans had to accept the fact the show was over. As the stagehands came out to pack it up, the crowd slowly, but merrily, slogged their way back to the stands through the mud by using three paths that followed high points on the pitch. 

Friday was ideal and the crowds really started to drift in and build as good weather held and everyone involved breathed sighs of relief. The crazy calliope of coordinated chaos was turning smoothing on its axis of 4-H, food, midway, contests, AG, shows, exhibits, vendors and people watching. Round and round spun the rides as bingo was played, pork sandwiches a la UBTC were devoured and free watermelon was passed out.  Crowds milled about everywhere as utvs, golf carts and tractors wove through the thongs, bringing more, taking away some, keeping it all running. 

It was against this backdrop that 38 Special took the stage at 8:32pm, with the wetlands in front drained and scraped courtesy of fair board member Landon Mutschler, who spent a number of hours readying the venue. Before the band took the stage though, there was a brief ceremony where the new lighting system was dedicated by the fair board with Kevin Johnson, CAL grad now of Musco lighting present, and a drawing for POP passes by Queen Dodd with help from Little Miss winner Paige Borcherding and Little Princess winner Payton Ault, followed by signing of the national anthem by Katie Hilton, which she rocked in white go go boots.

The mud was mostly gone by Mutschler's efforts, but there were still a few low spots to step gingerly around as the 80’s southern rock band launched into Wild Eyed Southern Boys to open the show. 

The intensity of the set was a little different than the studio album sound, rawer and grittier, with extended guitar riffs and drum solos that the crowd seemed to enjoy. The gathering up front was bigger and older than the day before, with lots of folks who looked like they’d been longtime fans of the band. 

At 10:12 pm the band left the stage having played an approximately 100 minute set which they poured a lot of energy into. As the crowd scattered through the midway some stopped for food and carnival games such as the cork guns and basketball toss, but many just sauntered past to board shuttles to parking. 

Smitty’s Fun Foods, Lemonade, Taco Shack, Nachos/Corn Dogs, Funnel Cakes, Wholly Smoke, Smoke and Chrome BBQ, and Classic Kitchen were some stands that stayed open late serving until there just weren’t hardly any people left. 

Saturday was the biggest day at the fair, with a full schedule of overlapping events starting with livestock shows and judging which brought in Senator Joni Ernst who dropped in for the bucket calf show, which was followed by feeder pig, bottle lamb and goat shows, then livestock judging. 

Grandpa’s farm kicked it off early with tractor and pickup pulls which then ran alongside old time farming demonstrations and horse power threshing. 

Across the way in the Van Wall tent Caleigh Chip, the fair Queen Kierra Dodd, members of the queen’s court, and volunteers Justin Hesnard and Casey Staley readied for Miller’s Pedal Pull contest, with a vintage International pedal car donated in memory of Wendell Miller, 2003 Franklin County Fair Grand Marshal, tractor lover and longtime pedal pull enthusiast. 

The nearly 1:40 minute contest attracted dozens of kids, whose families packed the tent, riveted on the pulling and the seemingly endless stream of pedalers lined up to compete. It had all the feel of say Wimbledon, the PGA or Olympics, or at least it seemed that way. Aspirants battled through four brackets for top honors in each, with Hesnard and Staley setting the loads, marking the distance, and returning the tractor back after each pull. The court then dutifully recorded the distances. 

Siblings and pals on the sidelines called out encouragement, urging each pedaler to give it their all, and then some. Contestants strained for every inch, clenching their teeth, grabbing hard on the wheel and pushing with all their might. Some pulls were close, with pull offs required to determine the champion. 

The action was captivating as the girls gave the boys a run for their money, some really crushing it to cheers from the crowd and taking berths and winners photos next to the queen and her court. The fervor heightened perhaps all the more by the roaring of engines from the truck and tractor pulls on Grandpa’s Farm as a backdrop. 

During the day there was also the cutest baby contest, 4-H awards recognition, gazebo acts, a Ribeye Roundup, cribbage tournament, jaws of life demonstration, goat yoga and a new show playing, Pirates of the Columbian Caribbean, which ran two shows a day weekdays and three on Saturday and Sunday. 

The Pirates show was set in a mock up galleon with tightropes and wheel of death, a rotating apparatus with two circular cages in which performers do synchronized acrobatic ticks. The show was replete with swashbuckling action that featured heroes and villains, daring escapes and damsels in distress, all on high wire and wheel of death walking, set to suspenseful music such as He’s a Pirate from Pirates of The caribbean, The Mariner from WaterWorld and To Victory by Taylor Bates. 

A big draw for many attendees Saturday was the Lauren Alaina show. Alaina is a country singer and 2002 American Idol contestant from Rossville Georgia whose sultry blend of southern rock really got the crowd amped up. Sassy and precocious Alaina worked the crowd like no other act had, drawing them in coquettishly with lots of sashaying and flirty banter accentuating her singing and band members' drum and guitar jams. As far as crowd engagement goes, she was off the charts.  

Many sang along to big Alaina hits such as Road Less Traveled, Getting Over Him and Georgia Peaches, but she rolled out new songs as well. One dedicated fan made a Road less Traveled poster complete with shiny boots that impressed Alaina so much that she took it up on stage, signed the work and handed it back to the thrilled throng of ladies who offered it up. 

Alaina and band played about a 75 minute set, coming back for an encore after first departing the stage. The final number was one where the crowd was urged to get out their cell phones, much safer than the lighters of old, and hold them up in the air. The hundreds of phones held high created quite a spectacle to behold, a final unifying moment and some consolation for the end of her act. 

Throngs emptied from the stadium into the closing, but still open midway, and headed to the food booths and games, boarded shuttles or wandered off into the night. Lines formed at the popular food stands as vendors got a late night sales boost from the departing audience. 

Sunday was another beautiful day at the fair, with a worship service, goat yoga, style and talent shows, bingo, more swashbuckling pirates, and an impressive draft horse competition. Running draft horses is surely a labor of love with harness setups costing up to $5,000 and horses running in the range of $25-$30,000. The contest was impressive with several teams competing to pull up to 10,000lbs, with the Gray’s, Dirksen’s and Hanson’s vying for victory over stubborn loads of cinder blocks and each other's teams. 

You wouldn’t have known it was the last day by the feel of it, with all the grounds abuzz with activity. Jack Jensen Wibholm of Tuesday on the town fame showed up at the gazebo playing country country music. Wibholm in his joking style apologized to the crowd if they didn’t like country, remarking “but that’s all I play!”  His set was really good, just like at Tuesday on the Town, 3 minute numbers done right.

The gazebo at that point was a hub, with lots of people coming and going, heading for the last of the remaining ice cream, hopping over to the Trinity Lutheran Youth Fellowship food stand, filling the bleachers for the chainsaw sculpture auction or drifting in and out of the commercial building and through and past the vendors everywhere selling products and giving out information. Fair Queen Dodd was there, with Kirsten Suntken, 2021 Franklin County Fair Queen, enjoying Wibholm’s crooning and picking. 

The chainsaw sculpture auction started at four and only took an half an hour, but raised $19,350 from the sales of chain sawed art made right there at the fair by Gary Keenan. 

It wasn’t long after that the final grandstand event got rolling, Gunderson Racing. As drivers and cars filled the pits starting at 1:30 pm, engines roared and the smell of exhaust fumes wafted over the crowds. The mayor was there, as were thousands of other enthusiastic fans that took up most of the seating and swelled the beer garden. 

The cars raced around and around the circle track through various classes, engines ripping, some flying over the banks, some losing wheels, panels and bumpers, blowing tires and catching fire and rolling over. There were plenty of Hampton Fire department members and EMS on hand to assist though and nobody got hurt too bad. 

The rip roarin’ action lasted a bit over four and a half hours with fans really getting their money’s worth from Gunderson Racing which had 94 cars and many more drivers competing for seven featured berths.

But the racing and the fair had to end, the conclusion of both of which kind of dovetailed. As race fans filed out of the grandstand, the midway rides were being pulled away on semis, the carny games were all packed, and the midway food booths sat on trucks. Wholly Smoke had sold out of bbq by then, but vendors Cadet Kitchen, Classic Kitchen, Smoke and Chrome and the Footlong stand around the convention center were still selling food to the departing and lingering stragglers for about thirty minutes, until around 10:45 when the customers had all gone.

The fair was over for some, but not for the many volunteers, and some vendors, who dug in to start cleaning up the debris, leaf blowing litter in the grandstand, emptying trash cans, hauling away steaming manure piles and removing port-a-potties. It was amazing how quickly it all wound down after the engines stopped roaring, but it’d been a long week, as by that time the fair had been open about 70 hours, with vastly more hours booked before and after. 

It was an experience to have taken it all in, and after seeing it all unfold so artfully yet so spontaneously couldn’t help but inspire awe, reverence and a feeling of gratitude to everyone who made it all possible, the fans, the fairgoers, the fair board, the volunteers, the groups, the clubs, the congregations, the vendors, the employees of the fair, the midway crews, the farmhands, the farmers and 4-Hers, and the nearly endless list of contributors whose individual acts formed the sweet symphony known as the 2023 Franklin County Fair.