Douglas County Fair

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Omababe
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Re: Crossroads - Redevelopment Plan

Post by Omababe »

Brad wrote:Rural county fairs are great. What ever this currently Douglas County fair is, is just lame.
The old Douglas County Fair was probably my first exposure, ever, to rural culture. I remember taking in such things as the authentic handicrafts, the small animals, poultry, and such. Most surprising, I admit, were the smells of the animal exhibits. Waterloo was a genuine small town, then isolated from Big City Omaha.

Of course there were the rides and the local bands, and I remember a comedy act one night.

A few years later I was tapped to do some volunteer work at a booth there, of a political nature (RCAR, now RCRC). This was still out at Waterloo, and it was an educational experience, very much rubbing in the difference in attitudes between the late 1970 red and blue factions. Yes, I felt outnumbered out there. :)

It was never the same after it left Waterloo! More like, as was said, a traveling carnival.

Now the Sarpy fair is still far more authentic!
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nebugeater
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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OK, so I just looked at the web site for the ALL NEW Douglas County Fair

Now it is even more depressing.

http://www.douglascountyfair.org/

Carnival - Nope, doesn't look like it.

Animals - Very limited selection of small animals will be exhibited

Petting Zoo - Yep Score 1

Mention of a High School Rodeo on the schedule but that is a different date and location

I am guessing that the few photos they used will not be representative of what you see if you go.




If you click over to the link make sure you read the OUR HISTORY. Apparently that is very limited too.
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GetUrban
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Re: Douglas County Fair

Post by GetUrban »

Brad wrote:I agree with nebugeater. Merge with sarpy and get it over with. Rural county fairs are great. What ever this currently Douglas County fair is, is just lame.
Might as well go ahead and merge the two counties (and their governments) while you're at it. Then Omaha could start annexing areas in Sarpy County. :yes:
He said "They are some big, ugly red brick buildings"
...and then they were gone.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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FYI, I moved the posts out of the Crossroads thread.
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Omababe
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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nebugeater wrote:Carnival - Nope, doesn't look like it.
As in no rides? No midway? What the ...? :(
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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Omababe wrote:
nebugeater wrote:Carnival - Nope, doesn't look like it.
As in no rides? No midway? What the ...? :(

That is the way I read it. Never seen a country fair advertisement or site that doesn't mention the carnival. The site doesn't. As a consolation there will be a bounce house or two.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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So we drove by the "Douglas County Fair" tonight with the outdoor concert... It was 10pm on the nose when we drove by. There was my be 50 people there tops... Probably closer to 30 or 40, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt. To put it in perspective, the Applebee's next door had more people than the concert at the fair. The Olive Garden across the street had more people than the fair. We went bowling tonight at Mockingbird Lanes, next door there was a bar called "Perry's Place" that had an outdoor concert with way more people than the fair!

What a joke. Please someone finished of this lame duck and merge it with the Sarpy County Fair and get it over with. Seeing this tonight was just sad.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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Brad wrote:There was my be 50 people there tops...
HoA Park had more people catching Pokemon lol
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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Read the story in the Sat OWH. I will link it later when I can.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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nebugeater wrote:Read the story in the Sat OWH. I will link it later when I can.
Hansen: The Douglas County Fair at a crossroads

http://www.omaha.com/columnists/hansen/ ... 0af86.html
I wander confused through the carcass of the Crossroads Mall, trying to find the Douglas County Fair.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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By Matthew Hansen / World-Herald columnist wrote:The fair officials hope to find a permanent home in the next several years, maybe a plot of land or, more likely, a large building they can remodel into a full-time fair headquarters. They hope to gradually turn the fair into an event that fits the present-day Omaha metro area. So no farming exhibition, but maybe an urban gardening competition. (In fact, there is a produce competition this year.) No livestock show, but maybe a small animal showcase. Maybe a talent show. Maybe a horse show. And, yes, maybe the return of the Ferris wheel and the traditional fair midway.
Sort of begs the question of what a county fair should be/become especially when a county no longer has an agrarian base... What can an urban county exhibit? New Archetectural designs, Traditional Neighborhood Development models, New Urbanism, models of Alternative Transportation, Bicycle and Walking trails...
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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Coyote wrote:
By Matthew Hansen / World-Herald columnist wrote:The fair officials hope to find a permanent home in the next several years, maybe a plot of land or, more likely, a large building they can remodel into a full-time fair headquarters. They hope to gradually turn the fair into an event that fits the present-day Omaha metro area. So no farming exhibition, but maybe an urban gardening competition. (In fact, there is a produce competition this year.) No livestock show, but maybe a small animal showcase. Maybe a talent show. Maybe a horse show. And, yes, maybe the return of the Ferris wheel and the traditional fair midway.
Sort of begs the question of what a county fair should be/become especially when a county no longer has an agrarian base... What can an urban county exhibit? New Archetectural designs, Traditional Neighborhood Development models, New Urbanism, models of Alternative Transportation, Bicycle and Walking trails...

Propaganda instead of competitions? Harlan IA has a county fair with a big photography contest that ranges from kids to adults and beginners to advanced amateurs to pros. We could have this, maybe a bike race, car show, with the Omaha Gun Club opening, maybe an Appleseed shoot for all ages and ability levels. We could have it coordinate with Maha Music and maybe a beer show. Really go nuts for a few days.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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bigredmed wrote:
Coyote wrote:
By Matthew Hansen / World-Herald columnist wrote:The fair officials hope to find a permanent home in the next several years, maybe a plot of land or, more likely, a large building they can remodel into a full-time fair headquarters. They hope to gradually turn the fair into an event that fits the present-day Omaha metro area. So no farming exhibition, but maybe an urban gardening competition. (In fact, there is a produce competition this year.) No livestock show, but maybe a small animal showcase. Maybe a talent show. Maybe a horse show. And, yes, maybe the return of the Ferris wheel and the traditional fair midway.
Sort of begs the question of what a county fair should be/become especially when a county no longer has an agrarian base... What can an urban county exhibit? New Archetectural designs, Traditional Neighborhood Development models, New Urbanism, models of Alternative Transportation, Bicycle and Walking trails...

Propaganda instead of competitions? Harlan IA has a county fair with a big photography contest that ranges from kids to adults and beginners to advanced amateurs to pros. We could have this, maybe a bike race, car show, with the Omaha Gun Club opening, maybe an Appleseed shoot for all ages and ability levels. We could have it coordinate with Maha Music and maybe a beer show. Really go nuts for a few days.

Douglas County "Burning Man" Fair. Yeah, let's get nuts!
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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bigredmed wrote:We could have it coordinate with Maha Music and maybe a beer show. Really go nuts for a few days.
If it coordinated with Maha it would bring the Fair back to Aksarben and could use the Baxter for a multitude of events, an Omaha Homebrewers contest, a BBQ competition, an Omaha dog show... If they want a building of their own, they could purchase the land south of the Baxter which I believe the City owns... Plenty of free parking, centrally located, room for a Ferris Wheel...
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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Being south of Baxter would be like a circle of life thing. The fair was on land along the Elkhorn and now it would be along the bank of the Papio.

I like the idea of stuff happening around town. A long weekend of 4H, local contests and events, putting Maha, a brewers and wine event, maybe a baloon glow, and a BBQ contest in the Bax/Stimson park would blow people's minds.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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I miss the fair in Waterloo (dating me a bit)... the last time it actually felt like a county fair. I get my county fair fix from Sarpy County now.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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Looking again south of the Baxter... MUD owns a lot of land, that if they could move that plant that could open up a nice sizable area for a fairground.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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Brad wrote:So we drove by the "Douglas County Fair" tonight with the outdoor concert... It was 10pm on the nose when we drove by. There was my be 50 people there tops... Probably closer to 30 or 40, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt. .
Two things hurt attendance to the concert which featured a very popular local band.

First, the weather was oppressively hot/humid, especially on a concrete parking lot. Second, the same band played 7 days earlier in front of a few thousand at the nearby Stinson Park.

The rest of the fair though also doesn't make any sense to me.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

Post by Jason4225 »

While reading the article in the OWH I was thinking, why couldn't this move down to the riverfront? Build a permanent building if they wanted to, put a ferris wheel up, have a beer garden, concerts. You could draw people from Council Bluffs and it would give the fair a lot better exposure.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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Looks like the Douglas CO Fair is on the move again. This time they are landing at Village Pointe per what is reported in the OWH

http://www.omaha.com/news/plus/douglas- ... 0Omaha.com

July 12 - 15 are the dates. There will be a secondary location for some animal exhibits. No carnival rides
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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They should work out a deal with Junk Stock... would almost be back to their original location. Village Pointe will be really lame.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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nebugeater wrote: Tue May 22, 2018 7:36 pm Looks like the Douglas CO Fair is on the move again. This time they are landing at Village Pointe per what is reported in the OWH

http://www.omaha.com/news/plus/douglas- ... 0Omaha.com

July 12 - 15 are the dates. There will be a secondary location for some animal exhibits. No carnival rides
That's going to make one big cluster**** in that area, moreso than it already is in those parking lots. Phew.
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nebugeater
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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MadMartin8 wrote: Wed May 23, 2018 3:58 am
nebugeater wrote: Tue May 22, 2018 7:36 pm Looks like the Douglas CO Fair is on the move again. This time they are landing at Village Pointe per what is reported in the OWH

http://www.omaha.com/news/plus/douglas- ... 0Omaha.com

July 12 - 15 are the dates. There will be a secondary location for some animal exhibits. No carnival rides
That's going to make one big cluster**** in that area, moreso than it already is in those parking lots. Phew.
Probably not as much as you might think. I am betting attendance will be VERY LOW.

One day does double up with the farmers market though.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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nebugeater wrote: Wed May 23, 2018 6:05 am
MadMartin8 wrote: Wed May 23, 2018 3:58 am
nebugeater wrote: Tue May 22, 2018 7:36 pm Looks like the Douglas CO Fair is on the move again. This time they are landing at Village Pointe per what is reported in the OWH

http://www.omaha.com/news/plus/douglas- ... 0Omaha.com

July 12 - 15 are the dates. There will be a secondary location for some animal exhibits. No carnival rides
That's going to make one big cluster**** in that area, moreso than it already is in those parking lots. Phew.
Probably not as much as you might think. I am betting attendance will be VERY LOW.

One day does double up with the farmers market though.

True, but if you've ever dodged SUVs in that parking lot before, you know that anything that adds to traffic in that place is a bad thing.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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I was near VP yesterday about the time of the scheduled opening ceremony. Took the opportunity to drive through the area and about 6:45 there were MAYBE 50 people at the event / stage area where the ceremony was. Driving done the center street of the mall it looks like there are two store fronts on the side of the old Apple store that are set up for exhibits based on signage I stand by there will be little impact on mall congestion.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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MadMartin8 wrote: Wed May 23, 2018 3:58 am
nebugeater wrote: Tue May 22, 2018 7:36 pm Looks like the Douglas CO Fair is on the move again. This time they are landing at Village Pointe per what is reported in the OWH

http://www.omaha.com/news/plus/douglas- ... 0Omaha.com

July 12 - 15 are the dates. There will be a secondary location for some animal exhibits. No carnival rides
That's going to make one big cluster**** in that area, moreso than it already is in those parking lots. Phew.
Not sure with this event going on but usually the best lot to park in so the one to the west of Scheels..... I had a lot of experience parking there. 8)
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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The fair didn't drive any extra traffic at Village Pointe, but Gunderson's was hosting a scavenger hunt (which is actually breaking mall policy) for a chance to win a $10,000 ring.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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I wish the Douglas Co fair would just give up the ghost and let the 4H people in Omaha get merged with Sarpy Co and call it quits.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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bigredmed1 wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:10 pm I wish the Douglas Co fair would just give up the ghost and let the 4H people in Omaha get merged with Sarpy Co and call it quits.
90 % of the 4-H part of the fair already is at the Sarpy Co fair for Douglas Co and has been for some time.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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nebugeater wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:14 pm
bigredmed1 wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:10 pm I wish the Douglas Co fair would just give up the ghost and let the 4H people in Omaha get merged with Sarpy Co and call it quits.
90 % of the 4-H part of the fair already is at the Sarpy Co fair for Douglas Co and has been for some time.
Then let’s just end the rest.
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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bigredmed1 wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 9:52 pmThen let’s just end the rest.
So? Remind me. Why exactly did they move it out of the permanent facility in Waterloo some {mumble} years ago?
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Re: Douglas County Fair

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Omababe wrote: Sat Jul 14, 2018 5:21 am
bigredmed1 wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 9:52 pmThen let’s just end the rest.
So? Remind me. Why exactly did they move it out of the permanent facility in Waterloo some {mumble} years ago?
No clue,wasn’t here when they did that. It was old and the seed company wanted space which did bring a few jobs to Waterloo. The river was right next to the parking lot and I remain shocked that they never had anyone fall into the Elkhorn.
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