Now that the gates have closed and the last of the visitors have filed out, the Nevada County Fairgrounds crew can take a brief moment to reflect back on this year’s “Carnival Lights and Treat Street Delights,” five day run of the 2024 Nevada County Fair. “It was another great year with a ton of great exhibits between livestock, entertainment, the carnival..
.everything came together nicely,” said Andrew Trygg, Chief Executive Officer of Nevada County Fairgrounds. Trygg added that as of Monday afternoon, fair staff were still tabulating total numbers in regards to attendance, as well as the total amounts raised during the Ag Mechanics and livestock auctions.
“A great number of people are working on tabulating all those numbers,” said Trygg. For the second year, attendees of the fair found their ride and carnival tickets in kiosks, which were largely self-serve with attendants available to answer questions. “They started (that system) last year this is the second year of cashless for Butler Amusements,” Trygg reported.
“Last year it was a shock but this year it seemed to be well received. They are able to put out more kiosks, then lines move quicker and process is simpler.” Trygg said that there were no notable incidences during this year’s fair, and that any trouble was quickly mitigated.
“There were law enforcement concerns on Saturday evening that were addressed. We’re happy to work with the Sheriff’s Office and have their support in keeping people safe,” he said. “I think overall it was really good,” continued Trygg.
“I greeted people at the gates and one of the common questions was, ‘where are you from?’ A lot of them were not from Nevada County because we have beautiful grounds and things their local fair might not offer.” The events, which included a country-western performance from singer RaeLynn and a host of special arena events like the All-Star Monster Trucks and Bulls & Broncs rodeo, were well attended and brought smiles to the faces of many, Trygg said. “We had a lot of fun with the RaeLynn concert,” he said.
“She was really personable and did a meet and greet so that was neat; just a nice little country concert. Bulls & Broncs played to a nearly a sold out crowd—lots of riders stayed on for more than eight seconds. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with motor sports those were really successful events and Sunday was two at a time rough truck racing.
That’s what we love seeing.” Some folks get nervous each year in regards to traffic surrounding the fairgrounds. Trygg said that there were no major traffic events this year, and at the most busy of times vehicles were moved along without incident.
“It was pretty good but I would credit it to our team and the parking team,” said Trygg. “We had made some improvements to Gate 4 and it came to life. All five days we were able to get cars in from McCourtney Road and we were able to get everyone in at a nice pace.
There were certainly moments but that’s somewhat to be expected when a bunch of cars show up at once. The team did a great job.” One hiccup, Trygg said, was the inability to operate one of the fair’s newest ride attractions, the Freefall.
Keeping hope alive that they would be able to get the ride up and running, fair staff kept the feature on the carnival grounds. Alas, the reparations were not able to be completed by Sunday’s conclusion. “It just experienced motor failure,” said Trygg of the Freefall.
“We checked in with Butler and were getting parts and unfortunately that wasn’t the fix. Basically the entire time it was having issues and we were trying to get it back online.” “Thanks to the community for coming out and thanks for participating, whether you entered livestock or a still exhibit,” said Trygg.
“We broke previous karaoke records. We put on this party for everybody to come to and we are glad that they did. I think it’s all about the community support to the nonprofits and the small businesses and also reuniting with people you may not have seen for quite some time.
Now, we’re immediately turning our page to the Draft Horse Classic.” The 2024 Draft Horse Classic & Harvest Fair will take place September 19-22, 2024 and is one of the premier draft horse shows in the western United States. Admission is free with tickets to the arena shows available.
For more information please visit www.nevadacountyfair.com/p/draft-horse-classic .
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