Good news for city kids as Youth Day makes return to Boonville-Oneida County Fair
Youth Day – a program where city kids, many from low-income families, are given the opportunity to attend the Boonville-Oneida County Fair – is returning this year.
The return is possible thanks to $20,000 from Oneida County. The Oneida County Board of Legislators passed the funding at its Wednesday, July 12 meeting.
The funding will provide teenagers and children with free admission to the fair, ride bracelets and food vouchers, organizers said.
“Who better than inner-city children to come to the country?” said Robert Grems a representative of the fair.
Grems and others spoke about the Boonville-Oneida County Fair prior to the recent Oneida County Board of Legislators meeting.
Boonville-Oneida County Fair 2023
The Boonville-Oneida County Fair returns for its 135th year on Tuesday, July 25 and runs through Sunday, July 30.
American country music star Chris Cagle will perform at the grandstand on Saturday, July 29.
Other annual events, such as the tractor and truck pulls and the demolition derby also are returning this year, officials said.
A full list of events can be found at the fair’s website, https://boonvillefair.com/.
Youth Day history
Grems said Youth Day started in 1996, when fair officials would give schools plain white envelopes and paper where students would write down their information and be sent free tickets to the fair.
That first year saw 333 children attend the fair, Grems said. That number had grown to 1,200 kids by the time the program ended in the early 2000s.
Fair officials did not give a reason as to why the program initially ended.
Youth Day this year is slated for Tuesday, July 25.
Grems said there already are 160 children committed to the program thus far.
“We know the program will grow,” Grems said, noting the growth during the first go around.
Grems said the children will receive $15 food vouchers, have three hours of carnival rides and a chance to learn about the fair and the country thanks to Cornell Cooperative Extension.
McDonalds also has donated $1,000 to help bus the children to the fair, Grems said.
Oneida County Legislator Steven R. Boucher, R-6, who represents Boonville, spoke highly of the program being reintroduced this year.
“This is going to be a great opportunity,” Boucher said during a Ways and Means meeting prior to the Board of Legislators meeting.
Oneida County Legislator George Joseph, R-10, the board’s majority leader, also spoke about the reintroduction of the program during Ways and Means.
Joseph said the county’s funding of the program was “just to get the ball rolling” and suggested the fair look into corporate donors to fund the program in the future.
The county may also look at funding the program in the future during budget negotiations, depending on how it goes this year, Joseph said.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Boonville-Oneida County Fair: Youth Day returns
