A Special Supplement to the Austin Daily Herald
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Affordable Fun The 2010 Mower County Fair opens Aug. 10 By Josh Moniz Summer fun will kick off this Tuesday at noon with opening ceremonies of the 126th Mower County Free Fair. This year’s fair will emphasize making the fair more accessible and fun for teenagers. “Usually you go to most fairs and you see the teens just strolling around, looking for something to do. We’re trying to offer more events geared towards them, like the Guitar Hero contest on Friday,” said John Mueller, president of the fair board and Austin police lieutenant. The Guitar Hero contest goes from 9 to 11:30 p.m. at Fair Square. Additionally, teen dances are available on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 9 to 11:30 p.m. at the Fair Square. The fair is also emphasizing free or low cost entertainment in theme with this year’s slogan “Affordable Fun for Everyone.” The majority of the events are free, except for the Grandstand events and the rides at the carnival. However, both the Grandstand and the carnival have discount offers available throughout the week. Grandstand events cost $10 a seat, with children under 5 able to get in for free. This year, the Grand Pass is being offered, which is $36 for six Grandstand event tickets that can be used at any Grandstand events. The Grand Pass is available for purchase at Godfather’s Pizza.
Similarly, the carnival is offering Bracelets Days throughout the length of the fair. The bracelets cost $15 and can be used like unlimited carnival tickets during the specified time of the Bracelet Days. Tuesday will be Teen Night with the bracelets available to teenagers to be used from 8 p.m. to midnight. Wednesday is Kid’s Day and the bracelets can be used from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday the bracelets are available to everyone. The Saturday hours of use of 1 to 5 p.m. and the Sunday hours are 2 to 8 p.m. This year there are several new events available for fair goers to attend, as well as additions to returning events. The first new event is the cowboy mounted Shoot-out, which takes place Friday at 7 p.m. at the Horse Arena. The event involves cowboys racing past balloon targets and target shooting them with percussion rounds. Precession rounds are not live ammunition. The second event is the steer wrestling Jackpot on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Horse Arena. Participants ride alongside steers on their horses before jumping to the steer and wrestling it to the ground. Another new addition to the fair is the showing of a Blackhawk helicopter during the vehicle fair, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Fair Square.
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Herald file photos
Rides twirl at the Merriam’s Midway on the last night of the 2009 Mower County Fair. The Merriam Midway will be back at the fair this year. Below: Dan Morem with the help of Mower County Fair Board President John Mueller, and the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors, cut the ribbon marking the opening of the 2009 Mower County Fair. Each year the Fair Person of the Year helps cut the ribbon to kick off the fair.