'I just don’t want to give up.' No Monroe County fair again this year. Will it return?
For the fourth consecutive year, there will be no Monroe County Fair.
Robert Colby, a Monroe County legislator who has a long history with the Monroe County Fair Association and serves as its treasurer, confirmed the news Wednesday through a spokesperson.
Like most other large events, the fair was canceled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Citing public health concerns, organizers called it off again in 2021.
The fair did not return in 2022, although no reason was given.
That November, the association’s president, Sharlene Reeves, died.
The fair is not happening this year because there isn’t enough staff to pull it off, the spokesperson said, although it is possible the event will return in the future.
The Monroe County Fair dates to 1823, making it one of the oldest in New York state.
It operated at various sites until 1947, when the fair association bought a 60-acre tract at East Henrietta and Calkins roads in Henrietta. The parcel, where the Dome Arena went up in 1972, was the fair’s home through 2012.
In 2013, as the fair association prepared to sell the property, the event was relocated to Northampton Park, which straddles the line between Ogden and Sweden.
That greatly scaled-down version centered on agriculture and did not include carnival rides or a midway.
Yet the move proved controversial; neighbors filed a lawsuit saying it was done without public input or a proper environmental assessment.
The fair remained at Northampton Park through 2016 and in 2017 was relocated to the Rush Riverside Refuge on East River Road in Rush. That year, town officials signed a 10-year lease agreement to allow the fair to use 10 acres of the property for the event, which like the one in Northampton Park was farm-focused.
It was last staged there in 2019.
Rush Supervisor Gerald Kusse said he has tried to get answers about the fair’s status at the site to no avail.
“Ever since (Reeves’) passing, it’s been very difficult to get information about what’s going on,” he said. “I’m all for the fair on our property, and I’m all for the fair expanding in the future, but I don’t know what the future of the fair is.”
Fran Tepper, who from 1992 to 2012 was executive director of the fair association and chronicled the experience in the 2021 memoir “Fair Lady,” said she hopes to see the event revived.
Whatever Happened To: The (old) Monroe County Fair?
"Keeping the fair a true community celebration of youth, agriculture and business was my passion for the 20 years that I managed it," she said, "and I hope that the fair association will reach out to the community to find people who want to see the fair continue to be an annual snapshot of our community."
The largest county fair in the state is the Erie County Fair, which runs from Aug. 9 to 20 at the Erie County Fairgrounds, 5600 McKinley Parkway, Hamburg. Admission is $17 to $20; free for children 12 and younger. For more, go to ecfair.org.
The New York State Fair runs from Aug. 23 to Sept. 4 at the New York State Fairgrounds, which is off Thruway exit 39 in Geddes, just outside Syracuse. Daily admission (online only) is $6 for adults; free for people 12 and younger and 65 and older. For more, go to nysfair.ny.gov.
Kusse said residents have told him that because of the event's prolonged absence from Rush, the Monroe County Fair sign should be removed from the East River Road site. "But I’m an optimist at heart," he said, "and I really think the Monroe County Fair would be a good asset to the county and to all the people in the county. I just don’t want to give up."
Reporter Marcia Greenwood covers general assignments. Send story tips to mgreenwo@rocheste.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @MarciaGreenwood.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: The Monroe County Fair won't happen again in 2023. Will it return?
