This year will be the second year of the Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island. In it's first year in Grand Island the fair drew 310,000 atendees. This year Executive Director Joe McDermott says the Nebraska State Fair will be “even better” than last year and larger crowds are expected.
McDermott and Shaun Schleif, marketing director, say they expect even more people to attend and improvements have been made over the past year to better accommodate everyone.
“We accomplished most of what we wanted to last year,” McDermott said. “In a short period of time, we constructed 550,000 square feet of facilities, completed a $14 million project. So as far as major construction, we are done for now. We’ve spent this past year making improvements where needed.”
The Kidz Zone on the North side of the fairgrounds has been vastly improved..
“Last year, a lot of that area was just dirt and with the wind, it turned into a dust zone,” McDermott said. “We’ve taken care of that with grass and trees. There’s shade now and we’ve added better signage.
“As a whole, the fairgrounds have much better landscaping, which we obviously couldn’t get done last year,” he continued. “The landscaping will be a work in progress, but a lot has been done.”
McDermott said another area of improvement is the campground. “Last year, there were 50 pads. This year, there’s 130 and hopefully we’ll be able to add another 70 next year. We want to make fairgoers’ stays more enjoyable.”
One point of focus has been Older Nebraskans Day.
“When the fair was in Lincoln, the attendance on Older Nebraskans Day was typically between 2,500 and 3,000 people,” McDermott said. “We absolutely did not expect 10,000 people like we saw last year. We were able to get 7,000 people into the event center to see the Mel Tillis concert, but yes, we had to shut out about 3,000. This year, we feel we’ve rectified that situation.”
He says Crystal Gayle will perform two concerts that day, one at 11 a.m. and another at 3 p.m. “So we have the concert capacity for 14,000 this year and shouldn’t have any problems.”
Older Nebraskans Day was historically held on the Tuesday before Labor Day, but it should be noted that it will now be on Wednesday, Aug. 31.
While free concerts are still part of the fair’s attractions, tickets must be purchased for Larry the Cable Guy and Willie Nelson. Tickets may be purchased from Ticketmaster.
Another attraction requiring a paid ticket is the draft horse show, slated for opening weekend. McDermott said in order to pay for the state-of-the-art facility and provide appropriate premiums to participants, the decision was made to have a minimal charge.
“This is one event we hope to keep building,” McDermott said. “Last year’s crowds were larger than ever before.”
Attractions have been added on the east side of the fairgrounds, in the vicinity of the Thompson Arena, and there will be more commercial vendors in that area than last year.
Schleif said they also expect more livestock exhibitors than last year, “now that people have seen and used the incredible facilities. We’ve heard so many comments about how nice the facilities are . . . they are really top notch.”
Transportation inside the fairgrounds will be improved, “so it will be easier for people to get around to wherever they want to go.”
They expect nearly 700 volunteers from Central Nebraska will be assisting visitors, as they did last year, “which made everyone’s experience much more enjoyable,” McDermott said. “The whole community welcomed the fair to Grand Island, embraced it, and it showed.”
Fairgoers were asked to fill out surveys last year — “the numbers showed that 91 percent said they planned to return this year,” Schleif said. “And a similar percentage said they would highly recommend the fair to their family and friends.”
“And we are very excited that for the first time, we are set up electronically so anyone can buy tickets, Midway passes, etc., on our website at statefair.org,” McDermott said. “Just go on the website and pretty much anything you want to find out about the fair is there. Every piece of information is available on your own home computer — take a look and make your plans to visit the state fair this year.”
http://www.statefair.org/
2011 Concerts
Friday, Aug. 26: The Band Perry http://www.thebandperry.com/
Sunday, Aug. 28: Larry the Cable Guy http://www.larrythecableguy.com/
Wednesday, Aug. 31: Crystal Gayle http://www.crystalgayle.com/
Thursday, Sept. 1: Jeremy Camp http://jeremycamp.com/
Friday, Sept. 2: LeAnn Rimes http://www.leannrimesworld.com/
Sunday, Sept. 4: Willie Nelson http://www.willienelson.com/
Monday, Sept. 5: Cheap Trick http://www.cheaptrick.com/
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