The vendors are gone. The animals have been transported off the grounds. The carnival rides are down to their skeletons, as workers disassemble and pack them away for their next stop on the fair circuit.
The 150th annual Clark County Fair wrapped up its final weekend, and on Monday the lengthy cleanup process began. Fair President and CEO John Morrison, who is retiring, said it was the most successful he could remember in his 10-year term at the helm.
“All the indicators I have at this early date are that the fair was at least as successful as any year I’ve been here,” Morrison said, sitting in his office on the fairgrounds as the disassembly carried on outside, joined by incoming fair CEO Mickey Webb.
It takes a few days to work out the financial details of an event of this scale — “what you’ve done, what you’ve received, what you’ve spent,” as Morrison put it — but he’s calculated that the fair saw a total head count between 270,000 and 280,000 people this year. Anecdotally, food court and carnival sales were up from the year prior. He expects to have a detailed financial breakdown by next week, including any unbudgeted expenses that went toward keeping the humans and animals cool during a heat wave.
“It takes a little while to get everything back in from a lot of different sources,” Morrison said.
There were a few minor bumps and bruises, but no major injuries at the fair this year, he said. It feels like a good year to go out on.
But the respite is fleeting. Morrison, who lives in a travel trailer on the fairgrounds for a few weeks in August, will remain at his post until September to help Webb transition into his role as the new CEO. Webb’s been involved with the fair since it started on Aug. 3, learning the ropes behind-the-scenes.
He’s already thinking about next year.
“The first fair of the next 150 starts in 355 days,” Webb said.
With the bedlam of the fair behind them, the two men will also spend the next few weeks discussing what goes on at the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds the rest of the year — when it’s not being overrun by cotton candy and livestock.
The fair, while by far the largest event that takes place on the site, happens over a relatively short period. Running the event center the rest of the year is a whole other side of the job, Morrison said.
But for now, however briefly, Morrison and Webb are giving themselves a moment to celebrate a job well done.
“It was safe, it was fun, and I think we had a close to record number of people,” Morrison said.
