| Fulton County Fair | |
| Status: | Active |
| Genre: | County fair |
| Begins: | Friday before Labor Day |
| Ends: | Thursday after Labor Day |
| Frequency: | Annually |
| Venue: | Fulton County Fairgrounds |
| Location: | Wauseon, Ohio |
| Coordinates: | 41.597°N -84.1505°W |
| Country: | United States |
| Attendance: | 298,346/week (2015 record) |
| Capacity: | 60,792/day (2003 record) |
| Leader Name: | Ed Miller, President |
| Organized: | Fulton County Fair Board |
The Fulton County Fair is located in Dover Township, Fulton County on Ohio State Route 108, just north the Ohio Turnpike Exit 34 near Wauseon. It is the second largest[1] county fair in Ohio.
The first Fulton County Fair took place in 1858. But there were no fairs from 1917 to 1918, 1942 to 1945 nor 2020.
Weekly fair attendance broke 100,000 in 1972,[2] and in 2014, the 157th fair, attendance was 298,346.[3]
Daily attendance during busy days can more than double the county's population of about 40,000 to over 100,000 people.[4] In 2019, the fair shattered its previous attendance record of 298,346 by hosting 340,594 attendees. That makes the Fulton County Fair Ohio's third-largest fair behind the Ohio State Fair, and the Canfield Fair.
Featured on the fairgrounds is the Fulton County 9-11 Memorial, which displays a 3600-pound steel I-beam[5] from Ground Zero. The beam arrived in 2011[6] and the same year, design of the memorial began.[7] Work began in 2013[8] and is now complete.
Traditional events that the fairgrounds hosts annually[9] include an MCC auction to fund humanitarian relief by the Mennonite church,[10] the National Threshers Association Renunion,[11] the Crosley Car Owners Club National Meet,[12] the Antique Motorcycle Club of America Show & Race [13] and Midwest Geobash one of the largest annual gatherings of Geocachers worldwide. [14]
Fair Week traditionally begins in Fulton County on Labor Day weekend, and features popular music celebrities, tractor pulling, a demolition derby, harness racing, 4-H exhibits, livestock shows, show barns with pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, horses, llamas, chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys, and carnival games on the midway.
As of 2024, the fair officials are as follows:[15]
| • President | Ron Rice | ||
| • Vice President | Scott Smallman | ||
| • Treasurer | Kelly Bentley | ||
| • Treasurer | Steve Richer | ||