The winner of The Tribune’s Jackson County Fair photo contest for Monday of the 2022 fair was Aaron Black of Brownstown. He captured this photo of the Jackson County Fairgrounds in Brownstown using a drone.
Submitted photo
Olivia Darlage shows her grand champion steer in the livestock auction at the 2022 Jackson County Fair.
Tribune file photo
2022 Jackson County Fair Queen Abby Stuckwisch, right, congratulates Brocker Bottorff for winning the Jackson County 4-H Supreme Showman competition in Show Arena 1 during the 2022 fair.
Tribune file photo
The winner of The Tribune’s Jackson County Fair photo contest for Thursday of the 2022 fair was Janelle Deck of Brownstown. She captured this photo of Willow Deck of Brownstown enjoying a ride on Kiddie Day at the fair.
Submitted photo
The winner of The Tribune’s Jackson County Fair photo contest for Wednesday of the 2022 fair was Teanna Dotts of Brownstown. She captured this photo of two Saanen goats that her daughter was showing for 4-H.
Submitted photo
A sow and her babies are shown at the 2022 Jackson County Fair in Brownstown.
Submitted photo
Ryan Doty captured this photo of the midway at the Jackson County Fair in Brownstown.
Submitted photo
The winner of The Tribune’s Jackson County Fair photo contest for Tuesday at the 2022 fair was Sharon Markel of Brownstown. She captured this photo of Kinsley Markel and Kinley Beard, both of Brownstown, and Kynlea Matern of North Vernon on a ride on the midway.
Submitted photo
One attraction for kids at the Jackson County Fair is watching baby ducks frolic in the water in the FFA Young MacDonald’s Farm building.
Tribune file photo
The winner of The Tribune’s Jackson County Fair photo contest for Sunday at the 2022 fair was Amanda Easton of Seymour. She captured this photo of her daughter, Brighton Easton, eating ice cream from the Farm Bureau Building at the fair in Brownstown.
Submitted photo
Paisley Rotert tries to get her frog to jump during the Frog Frenzy at the 2022 Jackson County Fair in Brownstown.
Tribune file photo
A variety of makes and models of tractors were on display behind the Antique Building at the 2022 Jackson County Fair in Brownstown.
Tribune file photo
Scarecrows were among the items on display in the Horticulture Building at the 2022 Jackson County Fair in Brownstown.
Tribune file photo
An old Ford Mustang was prominently featured at the entrance of the Antique Building at the 2022 Jackson County Fair in Brownstown.
Tribune file photo
Local band Less Like Me performs on the Antique Building stage during the 2022 Jackson County Fair in Brownstown.
Tribune file photo
This Ferris wheel outside the Family Arts Building at the 2022 Jackson County Fair was designed and constructed by Brownstown Central High School ag mechanics students.
Tribune file photo
If you like animals, there are cows, goats, rabbits, poultry, horses, sheep, pigs and more in the livestock barns.
If you like walking through the exhibit buildings, there are plenty of businesses and organizations set up and vendors selling a variety of products.
If you like to see what 4-H’ers and others in the community have created, there are all kinds of projects on display in multiple buildings.
If you like rides and games, a top-notch carnival company offers activities for all ages and abilities.
If you like being entertained, the grandstand features a queen pageant, a demolition derby, auto races, a tractor pull and more.
If you like eating, local churches and organizations serve up different types of food.
If you like to people watch, you can bring a chair to lawn chair row and take in the crowd.
Where can you experience all of this every year on the last week of July? The Jackson County Fair in Brownstown, of course.
“It’s whatever their preference is. There’s such a large variety. … Really, they need to check it all out,” said Matt Boknecht, president of the Jackson County Fair Association.
“That’s what makes our fair so good,” he said. “You can show up and you can spend a ton of money if you want or you can show up, free parking, there’s free entertainment at the pavilion and Antique Building stage, you can get on the lawn chair row and just people watch. There’s just something for everybody, I feel like.”
The 2023 fair is coming up July 23 to 29 at the fairgrounds on the far east side of the county seat. It’s the largest event in Jackson County.
Not much changes on the schedule each year, but Boknecht highlighted three of the biggest differences people will notice this year.
One is the grandstand events.
“The two big changes are Monday night, we’re going to have a rodeo, and on Friday night, we’re going to have a monster truck show,” Boknecht said. “I think both are going to be big, but I think Friday night is going to be huge.”
So why make this change?
“It seems like we’re always struggling with either a Monday or Wednesday night,” he said. “We’ve juggled the tractor pull back and forth. We took the tractor pull back to the traditional Wednesday night, and then so that left Monday night open. … We wanted to try to do something big, try to keep the grandstand full every night, and we’ve heard the rodeo has been a big hit at other places, and then same with the monster trucks.”
Filling the Friday grandstand event was a harder decision, Boknecht said.
“It has always been the tradition to have the Friday night singer, and for whatever reason, it’s just not really the concert atmosphere. … We just can’t ever get a crowd,” he said. “Now granted, we don’t try to get the big, big names. There’s just not enough money there to be giving it away, so we tried to get something to come in, and we really think the monster trucks will be a big hit.”
He said someone had recommended more racing during the fair, but the constant roar of the race cars drowns out the fairgrounds that night. With monster trucks and the tractor pull, they are on the gas and then off, so it’s not a constant roar.
Boknecht said the changes made this year offer something unique locally.
“Otherwise, you’re going to Louisville, Indianapolis or further to go to a rodeo, and the same with the monster truck show,” he said. “I think it will be good entertainment for everybody and bring a lot of people in and hopefully a different variety of fun.”
Another big change this year is St. John’s Sauers Lutheran Church tearing down its old food stand and building a new one.
“It has a different shape, and I’m sure it will have a different feel to it and all that, but that’ll be exciting, something different,” Boknecht said.
Also, the horse arena on the west end of the fairgrounds has a new roof. Boknecht said new roofs have been put on other buildings over the years, and it was the horse arena’s turn.
“You see that going by from the road (State Road 250), and it was getting kind of rusty and nasty, and it just looks so much better as you drive by from the road now,” he said. “It’s just those little things go a long way.”
The new roof was made possible through a donation.
“What’s great about our county fair and what makes ours so good, I think, compared to other county fairs, people in the community and businesses, they’ll just step up,” Boknecht said. “We had somebody call and say, ‘Hey, can we donate a roof for that? I drive by it all the time.’ We were like, ‘Absolutely.’ A lot of times, we don’t have to seek people out. People come to us.”
The Jackson County 4-H program is a big part of the fair each year. Local students in grades 3 through 12 are spotlighted with their variety of projects that can be seen in the 4-H Building, show arenas and livestock barns.
“The kids get so involved, there are a lot of adults that really help and guide and participate and a lot of the businesses get involved,” Boknecht said.
“When we have our (livestock) auction on Saturday, it’s unbelievable how many businesses show up and bid on the animals and really drive the price up,” he said. “Just the whole community really supports the 4-H program, and that definitely makes the fair. That’s what it’s really all about is the kids, and everybody really supports them.”
He also admires the work of the volunteers who man the local food stands around the fairgrounds to raise money for their church or organization.
The church he attends, Brownstown Christian Church, took over one of the stands a few years ago, and he said one of the members told him while it’s good to make money for the church, the camaraderie of everyone working together is what really makes the experience special.
“That’s so true,” Boknecht said. “It has really brought our church together. I’ve talked to other people at their church stands and stuff, and that’s true. It really brings the community together, everybody together at that organization. Whether it’s the church stand or the pork producers, any of that, you see everybody working together. … That’s the neatest part, and I don’t know if everybody sees that that just shows up at the fair.”
The fair also brings together businesses, organizations, industries and others in the community, and fairgoers enjoy learning about them, interacting with them, signing up for prizes and receiving giveaways.
“It’s the whole variety,” Boknecht said. “I think everything is represented from Jackson County at the fair.”
Being a Jackson County native, Boknecht is honored to serve as president of the fair board for the first time in his 10-plus years of service, and he is looking forward to another great Jackson County Fair.
“I think what I’m most excited about is the changes in the grandstand. I think that’s going to be really good,” he said. “It all depends on what the good Lord will give us on the weather, but if we have good weather, I think the fairgrounds could be full every night.”