No payoff: Summer without fairs leaves farm kids heartbroken

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Well before the sun rises and then again after school, Arrissa Swails feeds and waters her goats, fancy chickens and three dairy cows. There’s another trip to the barn at night to hustle the chickens into their coop.

It's a daily routine that typically takes the high school senior at least three hours.

This week, she'd be parading her livestock at the Hancock County Fair, hoping to win a grand champion ribbon during her last turn in the show ring. But there is no fair this year for her or anyone else, another tradition wiped away from the 2020 calendar by the coronavirus.

“I bawled my eyes out,” she said about the fair’s first cancellation since World War II. “Honestly, it means everything to me. It’s definitely weird this year without it.”

Not many county or state fairs in the U.S. are continuing on without major changes, about 80% have been called off or drastically scaled down by eliminating carnival rides, concerts and tractor pulls, according to the International Association of Fairs and Expositions. Some are only allowing youth livestock competitions and auctions or opening for “fair food drive-thrus.”

The losses have been monumental — the association estimates the total is nearing $4 billion for fair organizations. And that’s not counting the revenue for ride and concession operators and volunteer organizations that raise money by selling milkshakes and corn dogs.

To make up some of the difference, a group of Republicans and Democrats in Congress are backing legislation introduced in July that would direct $500 million to agricultural fairs across the nation.

But for those who have spent the past year feeding, cleaning and working with their animals in hopes of winning a blue ribbon and maybe some money for college,...