Fair Manager John Morrison thrilled with the attendance numbers and the safe, family-fun atmosphere at this year’s Clark County Fair

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

The top priorities for the Clark County Fair are to provide a safe, entertaining venue for the many visitors who rally to Ridgefield every year.

But as the fair manager/CEO, John Morrison also has to look at the numbers to truly judge the fair’s success.

John Morrison is very pleased with 2024, and he is already looking forward to 2025.

Attendance was up in 2024 from the 2023 event, and the fair brought in more money for food than in any previous year.

Morrison sat down with Clark County Today for a state of the fair assessment.

“There were no major incidents. It was safe. No injuries. People had a good time. It was family oriented,” Morrison said. “All in all, I’m pleased with how it came together.”

There were some hot days early in the 10-day run of the fair, and by Day 6 or 7, Morrison acknowledged he was worried that attendance was going to be down this year.

“The last weekend, the numbers just went through the roof,” he said, including 36,000 people on the final Saturday.

Another big crown on the final Sunday brought the total to 267,800 people, about 11,000 more people than last year.

The number crunchers have had an interesting past five fair seasons. There was no fair in 2020 and 2021 due to the response to the pandemic. So when the fair returned in 2022, fairgoers flocked to the fairgrounds. The fair hosted close to 285,000 people that year. 

Morrison noted that organizers should not expect that number every year. The COVID bump, he said, led to so many people who had missed the fair. The number did dropp into the 250’s last year, then bounced up by nearly 11,000 people this year.

Crowds of 255,000 to 270,000 just might be the new norm for the fair. That’s a great thing, of course, for vendors. But it also brings some concerns.

Morrison noted that the grandstands had to be closed three times over the final weekend due to excess crowds trying to see the Tuff Trucks and the Monster Trucks.

“The numbers were so good it was almost bad,” Morrison acknowledged.

He loved that the fair was in demand, but he was disappointed that many had a negative experience. The grandstands hold only so many people and the standing room only area is only so big. Morrison noted that while it looked like a few more people could have been allowed into the standing area, keep in mind that there also needs to be room for first responders should an emergency occur.

Attendance remains the best indicator of a fair’s success, but there were other areas that Morrison pointed to showcase a strong year. Yes, food prices continue to go up so that comes into play, but Morrison noted that food sales were at an all-time high this year. Beer and wine sales were also up 19 percent. 

The carnival also had its best year, even better than the post-COVID year, he said. 

“It rocked along pretty well,” Morrison said of Butler Amusements.

The carnival often is the final thing to shut down at the fair. There were still young people arriving at the fair at 8, 9 p.m. that final night, to enjoy the rides one last time. Officially, the fair closes at 10 p.m. on the final Sunday of its run. Morrison asked the carnival officials to turn off the lights on the rides at 11:05 p.m.

“The feedback was positive this year,” Morrison said of most of the critiques he and his staff received. “You’re always going to get recommendations from people telling you how to do better. I appreciate it.”

The three concerts on the first three nights of the fair had huge responses. A general admission ticket to the fair allows for one to sit in the grandstands for the concerts. Those who want to get closer can buy VIP reserved tickets at an extra cost, or pay to get into a VIP standing room area right next to the stage. Morrison said those “extras” were sold out for two of the three concerts.

The main attraction of this year’s fair, Dino Encounters, was a huge success.

“It was full just about every time I went in there,” Morrison said.

The fair also had a new app this year. It had 4,200 downloads, giving fairgoers push notifications for events or assistance in finding their favorite food booths. The fair’s entire schedule was there on one’s phone.

“It’s probably only going to get better moving forward,” Morrison said.

Staff members might be catching their breath now that the 2024 fair has ended, but they also are already starting to work on the 2025 Clark County Fair. By the way, that will be an early start. The 2025 edition begins on Aug. 1.

Morrison said he intends to keep three concerts on the grandstand schedule. Currently, there are three concerts, two rodeo days, and then five days of motorsports. Tuff Trucks and Monster Trucks always draw huge crowds. Morrison acknowledged that there could be a change in schedule with the motosports, but nothing has been finalized.

He also must be cognizant that one change can lead to unintended consequences.

“Fairs do well with small changes. The bigger the change, the more you’ve got to think: what did that tip over somewhere else on the grounds?” Morrison explained.

Managing the large crowds at the grandstands will also be looked at before 2025.

“What can we do to make that better?” he asked. “Do I need to create more space for people to stand in?”

But again, there are so many people, and so many cars parked, that there is pretty much no space to expand. If one of the fairgrounds is expaned, another will get smaller.

“Every square inch of this thing is taken up by something that makes the fair what it should be for the public,” Morrison said. “If you move one, it’s a domino or a chess piece and something has to get out of the way.”

Traffic is another factor that will need to be improved. On opening day this year, traffic was backed up on Interstate 5 to the I-5, I-205 split.

“We are a one-way in, one-way out fairgrounds,” he said, noting that similar to concerts at the nearby amphitheater, traffic problems will happen when 15,000 people want to get to the same spot at the same time.

The fair will be working with first responders, city, and county officials on the best ways to alleviate the problem.

Expect a similar attraction in the Feature Area next year as this year’s Dino Encounters. No, not the same thing. Morrison said the fair has never had back-to-back main attractions. People want new experiences. But he did love that there was a place for younger children, say 5 to 10 years of age, to have a place to shine. 

Older children are often at the carnival or in the food court. Adults love going to the vendors. He said parents and younger children need a place to thrive, as well. 

Morrison and staff will be attending trade shows and fair conventions to get a better idea of what they want to see in Clark County next year. They also have already received a list of hundreds of acts who will be available for the concerts.

The state of the fair is strong, Morrison said.

And the way to keep it strong is to keep working.

With that said, Morrison and staff say thank you Clark County Fair 2024. Now let’s move on to the Clark County Fair 2025.