The Muscatine County Fair is halfway to its $2 million fundraising goal following another successful year.
This year’s annual Muscatine County Fair meeting began with dinner and comments from Fair President Steve Alt, and wrapped up with an announcement of a major gift from the Deahr Family for $20,000.
The Deahr Family donation was announced at the end of the event and the fair plans to have a full press release next week to recognize the contribution and highlight the Deahr Family.
More than 100 attended the Oct. 22 meeting in the activity center, to hear fair director Kelsey Meyers share financials of the 2024 year.
“Despite significant headwinds, this was an outstanding year. It's been a tough year for farmers, the market is down, and many businesses are breaking even at best. Even in these tough conditions, we were still able to turn a profit which gets reinvested into growing the fair. This shows that the best practices we have put in place - including operational improvements and stringent fiscal oversight - are working. I am very proud of the fair board. Without the many, many volunteer hours they pour into this organization, this would not be possible. We are optimistic and expect a big year in 2025,” Meyers said.
She said overall ag enrollment numbers are up.
“This is a huge win for the rural economy. Much of this is due to skyrocketing enrollment in the Muscatine FFA organization. They are expanding their ag learning center and we expect those numbers to grow. This is beneficial for expanding the reach of the fair to all areas of the county. We want the fair to be a high priority for the entire county.
“We also saw an increase in open class exhibits. This is very important. It shows that people are getting involved in the fair instead of just visiting the fair. The more a fair goer does at the fair, the more likely they are to come back and the more their loyalty grows. Many fairs are seeing a dip in their open class exhibits, so this is a huge win for us.”
“We have a new stage! “said Meyers, “If you came to the concert last summer, you probably noticed. It was a huge improvement and will allow us to pursue more entertainment acts. This is an example of how we are reinvesting our gains at the end of the year to continue moving the fair forward.”
Another distinguished attendee was Rich Dwyer from Kent Corporation. The Kent Foundation has given almost $1 million dollars to the fair in the past decade, which has been pivotal for moving the fair forward. Dwyer spoke on the importance of community support.
“At Kent Corporation, we feel it is imperative to support community initiatives that make Muscatine County better,” said Dwyer. “It actually all starts here. Our business started by serving the rural community with feed for livestock. The Kent family will always give back to their customers. We actually require all vice presidents to live in Muscatine County so they can be involved in the community we serve and started in.”
As the event came to a close, Lisa Wertzbaugher, fundraising committee member, gave an update on the project and plans to break ground on the new events center in March 2025. She recognized the building and grounds committee, led by Tim Nichols, that has put in hundreds of hours on the project. She also recognized Sue Grings, who is the lead designer for the structure. At the end of her update, she announced the new gift of $20,000 from the Deahr Family. She said the gift puts the fair at a total fundraised of $976,000 of the $2,000,000 goal.
“Thank you to the Deahr Family. This is an outstanding gift from a member of the community that gives to many organizations. The Deahr Family has helped the fair in many ways over the years and this puts us almost halfway to our goal.” Said Wertzbaugher “Thank you for the gift and for giving us an opportunity to wrap up the annual meeting with a celebration.”
“Thank you doesn’t begin to go far enough for the financial and county-wide support we have received for the Event Center Project.” Said Kelsey Meyers. “Kicking off a project this size is ambitious to say the least. I am extremely grateful and proud of the county-wide support.”
For anyone wanting to donate to the project or sponsor an area of the project, please reach out to Kelsey Meyers at the Muscatine County Fair Office at 319-627-2414 or at muscatinecountyfair@gmail.com