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March 28, 2024 1:22 pm
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Clark County Fair Benefits From Week Of Perfect Weather

By STEPHANIE BUNKER

Moapa Valley Progress

Near perfect weather and an extra day brought the second highest attendance year ever to the Clark County Fair. PHOTO BY VERNON ROBISON/Moapa Valley Progress.
Near perfect weather and an extra day brought the second highest attendance year ever to the Clark County Fair. PHOTO BY VERNON ROBISON/Moapa Valley Progress.

The Clark County Fair & Rodeo benefitted from perfect weather during the 5 days of the event. The beautiful, mild days drew crowds out to Logandale from all across the region for some country fair fun.
“There is one thing that contributes to those (attendance) numbers and that’s good weather,” said CC Fair Director Todd Robison.

The highest attendance to the Fair on record took place back in 2008. But this year’s Fair came very close to those numbers with a total of 82,796 people coming through the gates. That was only 800 short of breaking the 2008 record.
Despite the high numbers Robison called this year’s event an average fair.

A youngster gets some expert advice in catching a fish at the Nevada Department of Wildlife exhibit at the Clark County Fair. PHOTO BY VERNON ROBISON/Moapa Valley Progress.
A youngster gets some expert advice in catching a fish at the Nevada Department of Wildlife exhibit at the Clark County Fair. PHOTO BY VERNON ROBISON/Moapa Valley Progress.

“There is a saying in fair business: It’s just an average fair,” Robison said. “You average the good years in with the bad years.”

Robison explained that last year’s numbers were down, due to I-15 construction between Las Vegas and Logandale to the south, and the Cliven Bundy affair to the north. This year’s strong attendance will help balance last year’s poor attendance, he said.
“Because CC Fair Inc. is a 501C3 corporation it’s not financially backed by anyone but ourselves, so we need a savings to fall back on,” Robison said.

Saturday was the biggest day out of the five days of this year’s fair. With so many people that come to the fair on one day, Robison said he has had to learn the patterns and tricks of keeping everything flowing.
“We are bursting at the seams at the fairgrounds and not a lot of room to grow,” said Robison, “Over the years we have learned to deal with the impact.”

Savannah Neel assists entertainer Loop Rawlins in doing rope tricks at the Clark County Fair grounds act. PHOTO BY VERNON ROBISON/Moapa Valley Progress.
Savannah Neel assists entertainer Loop Rawlins in doing rope tricks at the Clark County Fair grounds act. PHOTO BY VERNON ROBISON/Moapa Valley Progress.

He explained there are 3 waves throughout the day. The morning and afternoon people that go away before the evening crowd hits. There are also people that go in the morning and stay all day,
“It would be a lot more difficult to handle if everyone did that,” he said.

The pre-sale tickets help ease the burden of long lines and help the flow of traffic.
“We rely heavily on presale tickets; they make up about 40% of the sales,” said Robison.
He mentioned that the presale also saves people money and they don’t have to stand in line and become more frustrated.

Another aspect of the CC Fair this year was that no one got seriously hurt and there were very little disturbances. “People’s safety is a concern to us and we talk about it all the time,” said Robison, “It was a quiet and calm fair and there was much good weather offered.”

The Clark County Fair & Rodeo tried something new this year and opened the Fair one day early. They also added another rodeo event, the Wrangler Champions Challenge, on Sunday evening.
“I didn’t have high expectations for the 1st year of having 5 days of Fair, I thought the attendance would be stolen on Thursday or Friday, but I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people who came,” Robison said.

Sheer delight at the bungee jump. PHOTO BY VERNON ROBISON/Moapa Valley Progress.
Sheer delight at the bungee jump. PHOTO BY VERNON ROBISON/Moapa Valley Progress.

He also mentioned that the Wednesday night rodeo had a good attendance for it being held in the middle of the week.

Robison plans on keeping the 5 days of fair and rodeo for next year and possibly tweaking the Wednesday start time earlier. But there are things to consider. He said that he doesn’t want local kids to miss any more school than they already do. Opening earlier may also put more pressure on setting up the carnival and other booths.

“It was quite a feat for the carnival and their 30 trucks to leave Yuma Arizona at 11:30 Sunday night and come here and get 8 acres of carnival set up by Wednesday afternoon,” he said.

Robison noted that the Clark County Fair is driven by volunteers in and out of the community.
“The amount of volunteers it takes to put on the Fair is incredible,” Robison said. “The dedication and patience that goes on speaks volumes about the people here.”

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