Annual summer celebration is a huge hit

HARTINGTON – Cedar County Fair Board President Greg Heine doesn't care if he's beginning to sound a bit like a broken record.

As he has for the past several years, now, Heine declared the recently concluded five-day Cedar County Fair as a total success.

Despite a Friday afternoon downpour that dumped nearly three inches of rain onto the fairgrounds and could have spelled disaster, the Cedar County Fair went off well.

'Friday night was a struggle to get the concert done and that hurt us,' he said. 'We had to scramble with that rain. I was worried and thinking we were done and would have to cancel Friday's show. An hour before the concert I still thought we'd have to cancel. We just got lucky, though.'

The Drew Baldridge and Dillon Carmichael concert was delayed an hour to give organizers a chance to get the stage and the rest of the fairgrounds ready after the storm went through.

Fair Board members brought in extra gravel and wood chips to help folks and vehicles navigate through the area after the storm.

The three-day CedarStock event may have gotten off to a rocky start because of the storm, but Saturday's concert exceeded all expectations as a new attendance record was set for the Fair with nearly 4,200 people turning out to hear Justin Moore sing his country music hits.

The old attendance record was set two years ago when Walker Hayes performed here.

Moore and his band were able to perform thanks to a new, enlarged stage. The new stage was 100 feet long, and 40 feet wide and took eight people 12 hours to build, Heine said.

Moving the stage back helped to accommodate a bigger crowd, Heine said. That allowed more people to stand in front of the stage, and it also allowed for more people to bring in lawn chairs to watch the show, he said.

Sound engineers also said having the stage pushed back helped provide better sound, he said.

Sunday night's Chase Mathew and Chayce Beckham concert also drew a good crowd.

The PRCA rodeo was also a big hit. 'It was a great event, great weather, and a capacity crowd once again,' he said. 'All the bleachers were full and it was standing room only. '

A new parking area was also opened up to accommodate the large crowds. Just before the start of this year's Fair, Fair Board members finished installing a walking bridge to get to the new parking area.

'The new bridge was a nice addition,' Heine said. 'We definitely needed it Saturday night for parking.'

Heine said he had a good feeling about this year's Fair right from the start, after watching another record crowd converge on the fairgrounds for the free hamburger feed. Over 500 burgers were served that night, he said.

'All in all, it was a pretty good year,' he said. 'Now, we've got to get to work to make next year even better.'