On Nov. 18, Oneida County Fair officials met with members of the public to discuss ways to make the fair self-sustainable in the future.
“It went really well,” said Nancy Gehrig, fair coordinator.

Gehrig estimated around 40 to 50 people from the community came to give their input on the fair.

In addition, Bob Williams, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection’s fair coordinator, was in attendance.
Williams is in charge of coordinating and evalutaing county fairs across the state.

Recently, Williams gave an evaluations of the Oneida County Fair, copies of which were distributed at the meeting Tuesday.

“We got an extremely great evaluation from him,” Gehrig said.

The goal of the forum was to gather information to incorporate into a five-year sustainability plan, and Gehrig said she was happy with the input.

Topics of discussion included infrastructure and location of the fair, among other things.

“The input from the community was great,” Gehrig said. “There were a lot of great, great ideas. I feel like if we implement some of these we can bring back a real old-style fair.”

Gehrig referenced the history of the old fairground near Coon Street.

“People always say that fair was great. Hopefully someday we can get back to that,” Gehrig said.

Though hopeful about their progress so far, fair officials said they will need more support from the community to make their dream of a sustainable fair a reality.