KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Contrary to what you may have read in the Kalamazoo Gazette, there will be a Kalamazoo County Fair at the Kalamazoo Fairgrounds and Expo Center this summer, just as there has always been, and it could be bigger and better again in years to come.
County commissioners and the Fair Board have been working to restore the Kalamazoo County Fair to what it once was, with displays, food booths, rides, a midway, entertainers and other activities, but with attendance and revenues declining in the last few decades, it has been reduced primarily to 4-H displays, animal demonstrations and their annual auction in recent years. That will once again be the story this summer.
Board vice chair pro tem Jeff Heppler says work is under way to bring back a larger fair.
“The county has put in $100,000 to research this, and hopefully get things going so we have a County Fair, hopefully in 2026,” says Heppler.
But, it takes more than a year of planning to put such a big event together.
“I already know we can’t do it this year, that boat sailed in June of last year.”
The Michigan State University Extension staff has been given $15,000 to help plan this year’s fair, and the parks department will also be lending support this summer, according to Parks Director David Rachowicz.
They would like to be able to hold an event that is representative of the most populated county in southwest Michigan, to entice its urban population to come to a fun event and also learn what it takes to raise and grow their food, that’s what a county fair is supposed to do.
I quit going to the K County fair when portable metal detectors became necessary. There’s other fairs close by that are safer. When you can get people to behave (you can’t), then I will consider the K County fair. I have fond memories from here as a child growing up in the 70’s and 80’s. The fair of today is nothing compared to back then.