Elkhart county fair opens 4-h fair sign for messages

ELKHART COUNTY, Ind. — A staple to the Elkhart community is pushing through their tough circumstances to help support their local community.

The fair announced they would be officially cancelling the 2020 Fair in May.

Known as the largest county fair in the state of Indiana, the news caused plans and invested time and money that had been in the works for months to fall through.

“We list a lot of our spring events we have a lot of weddings rallies that happen here on the grounds throughout the year. And it’s our bread and butter how we make ends meet from year to year. So loosing those we had to get creative. And come up with some different ways to revenue incoming,” said Miranda Muir, General Manager of Elkhart County 4-H Fair. 

However, the fair staff refused to let that call be the end.

“The fairgrounds is always at the heart of the community,” said Muir. “Whether you go there for the annual fair or you went there for your graduation party in high school it seems in every community that there’s a solid fair grounds and solid group of people working towards the betterment of the fair because the fairgrounds is the hub of the community.”

And to help the community who is so reliant on them, the staff decided they needed to think outside of the box and be creative in order to support the community and bring in revenue for their business.

“We’re trying to be smart about making decisions for our community as well,” said Muir. “What does the community need, what would be important for them to hear, help them through all of this, because if we struggle, they struggle and so the happy idea kind of came to light and we have this nice sign out of U.S 33. So we’re able to just put messages of love and hope and inspiration and just happy birthday, congratulations etc.”

The happy sign initiative allows the public to buy space on the iconic Elkhart County 4-H Fair Grounds sign.

For $20 you can have a personalized 2 line message added to the electronic screen for the whole community to enjoy when passing by.

The message would remain up and active for a full week of viewing and there will be 5 total message on the board at a time so everyone has a chance to view them.

“I think right now we have 3 or 4 or maybe 5 and then we have a list of things that are coming,” said Muir. “Within the weeks we will be getting new ones and changing them. Birthday announcements and congratulation announcements and we have someone coming in from out of town next month and a welcome back home message so it’s been interesting and well received by the community.”

If you are interested in purchasing a message space you can go to 4hfair.org or you can call their office.