Cedar County Fair was a record breaker
HARTINGTON — There’s one word that comes to Greg Heine’s mind about the 2022 Cedar County Fair: record-breaking.
For the first time ever, the fair featured a sell-out crowd for one of its grandstand shows, as the Walker Hayes concert packed them in Saturday night.
There was some concern for awhile about how the concert would come out, as nearly a quarter of an inch of rain fell in the Hartington area late Saturday afternoon and early Saturday evening.
The rain didn’t turn out to be an issue, though.
Organizers knew well ahead of time that the show would be a sell-out, so they worked hard to accommodate the large crowd.
“Lots of things went into it,” said Heine, fair board president. “As a fair board, we kicked it up a notch to make sure there was enough parking, enough room and everything was going to be done in a safe manner. I’m really, really happy with how well the fair board worked together, and everything lined up for Saturday night with many changes at the last minute.”
Almost 4,000 people took in the Walker Hayes show, but other entertainment throughout the week saw large crowds as well, such as the rodeo, and Little Texas and Dylan Scott concerts.
Even the annual free hamburger feed was a feeding frenzy, Heine said.
Fair board member Russ Flamig said about 450 people went through the food line at Wednesday’s fair-opening event.
“That broke records, too, with how many burgers were served and cooked,” Heine said.
Heine said a successful fair is a testament to countywide support.
“I’m very impressed with everyone that comes out in the county to make it work. It was unreal and really great when everyone pulls together and works together,” he said.
With this year’s fair in the rearview mirror, one would think the fair board would take a much-deserved break.
But that’s not the case at all, Heine said.
“It’s full steam ahead basically,” he said. “We’ll be working on getting artists lined up for next year. We’ve got a meeting this week with a lot of things to line up.”
