Another Niverville Olde Tyme Country Fair has come and gone, leaving area residents with the warm glow of fond memories, not to mention a few thrills. Fair organizer Dustin Krahn confirms that overall, the event went really well. The weather, too, did its part to make the event successful—for the most part. It seems like Friday night wouldn’t be the same without at least a sprinkle of rain to cause fairgoers to head for the nearest shelter.
“We had a little bit of rain on Friday, but not enough to put a damper on things, and people found good use of the new tent area that we set up [next to the beer gardens],” says Krahn. “The only thing that was cancelled was one of the motocross shows, because the street was still too wet and slippery. Other than that, the weather was nice and the wind levels were low enough to allow the bikers to perform as scheduled, which isn’t always the case.”
A big question every year is how many came through the gate. This year, due to the addition of a youth price level, the answer is: “It’s complicated.” The fair doesn’t have the resources to track how many people at each price level show up at the gate and pay cash, instead relying on estimates based on the total revenue.
“It’s somewhat tricky to say with certainty,” Krahn notes. “Using the same percentage split between youth and adult tickets as with the online sales, we would have seen roughly 3,700 people on Friday and just under 6,000 on Saturday. My best guess is that these numbers could be off. Friday could easily have heavier kids attendance, raising the number, and Saturday could have less, lowering it. But those are just assumptions.”
One way or another, thousands of people wandered the street over the course of the weekend.
Of course, the relatively tranquil sights of a crowded Main Street sometimes mask some drama behind the scenes. Despite the organizers’ best laid plans, one thing or another is bound to go wrong—and this year that “one thing” very nearly turned out to be catastrophic. Though no one outside Command & Control would have noticed anything amiss.
“Interestingly, the biggest potential snag for the weekend could have been the generator,” Krahn says. “Although it would have been unnoticed by everyone, right as the Saturday evening concerts started, the massive generator that powers everything starting giving us warning messages. Essentially, it was still making power, but the alternator was starting to fail and wasn’t making enough power to keep the generator running… so we scrambled to find our local electrical gurus.”
All’s well that ends well. After an hour or so, a workaround was found and everyone’s panic subsided.
“Having that unit fail would have been a really, really bad thing!” Krahn muses.
Changes and Volunteerism
To the casual fairgoer, this year’s fair may have felt familiar. But those who have been following the news over the course of the last year know that this year’s Old Tyme Country Fair was always going to see some significant changes. Not to mention a decreased budget.
These cost-saving measures were meant to make the fair more sustainable into the future, so that an ill-timed rainout or two didn’t threaten to kill the whole thing for good.
“We’ve already had a follow-up meeting and the consensus is that most of the changes went really well,” Krahn says. “Aside for a few surprises, things ran on budget and on time.”
One of the more noticeable changes was the relocation of the main stage from the south side of the street to the north side, and the addition of a large tent next to the beer gardens. This extra tent housed performances from local artists over the course of the weekend.
“We had quite a bit of positive feedback about the stage location and the new ‘beer tent,’ as it seems to have been coined,” he adds. “From an organization perspective, this layout worked really well. There are some obvious downsides to stage location—for example, the extreme flanks of the bleachers don’t offer the best view, and it’s more difficult to spread the sound down the street—but we will be weighing the pros and cons, and seeing if any possible solutions exist once we begin planning again.”
Krahn is confident that the beer tent, and its bevy of local entertainers, will make a return in 2019.
Passing the Torch
Another bit of drama plaguing the fair in recent years has been the steady decline in the number of volunteers. The fair committee kicked up their recruitment efforts into high gear leading up to this summer’s event.
“There are always gaps and shortages in the end, but we did manage to fill most of the important slots,” Krahn points out. “It often seems recruiting volunteers early is the challenge, but when the need becomes real it’s great to see people stepping up!”
That said, there’s still some work to do. Many long-term volunteers are in the process of retiring, with more and more stepping back each year. Krahn says that the fair needs to figure out how to engage the younger generation and encourage them to take the reins.
Krahn says that he’s encouraged about this year’s changes, and that they bode well for the future. That said, focusing on finances and developing a more stable approach to planning the fair is only one piece of the puzzle.
“From my perspective, the next couple of years will probably dictate the future of our fair,” says Krahn. “I see us being at a crossroads of sorts, where the original founders of the fair and the original army of volunteers that has run it for the last 23 years are now trying to pass the torch. It’s up to us whether we want to step up and continue with it or let it fizzle out. So we hope the next generation wants to jump in and get involved so that we can keep it going.”
So many people need to be thanked for this year’s success. Specifically, Krahn would like to recognize the community, the sponsors, and the countless volunteers who did pitch in.
“It all adds up to make a successful event, and we really have no way of thanking them enough! We encourage everyone and anyone to join us, send feedback, or pitch in with fun ideas.”
Special Thanks
Although it would be impractical to name every person who contributes to the Olde Tyme Country Fair, the organizing committee came to appreciate one particular volunteer this year.
After 23 years, Elaine Krahn stepped down from her role as entertainment and main stage coordinator. And it would be an understatement to say that her absence was felt by everyone behind the scenes.
“I may be slightly biased, because she is my mom, but the committee and I think we can speak for the community as a whole in saying a huge thank you to her for all the hard work she has poured into the fair,” Krahn says. “She has been a major contributor to the fair since it began in 1996, and it certainly wouldn’t be where it is today without all of her work. I’m sure she will laugh or grin when she reads this, because we all learned firsthand this year how insanely big her job was! From my perspective, it was nice to see her on the street, visiting and enjoying the fair that she helped build. I don’t think I have ever seen her more than 100 feet away from the command centre before, so it was great to see her out on the street enjoying herself. Hopefully we did it justice for her!”
