GREENVILLE — To mark the opening of the 160th Darke County Fair, city and county officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony Friday morning.
“It’s important to have the ribbon cutting ceremony because that’s the start of the fair,” said Brian Rismiller, Darke County Agricultural Society president. “It’s starts the whole week off. The whole thing about having a fair, the activities that we have, it helps develop the youth and that’s why we’re here, to carry on the tradition.”
Darke County Jr. Fair Queen Molly Hunt kicked off the ceremony by singing the national anthem while Pastor and former county commissioner Terry Haworth gave the opening prayer.
“It’s 160 years, that’s a long time,” Haworth said. “With all those years there’s a lot of experiences and a lot of memories.”
Haworth asked those who attended the ribbon cutting ceremony to recall some of their fair memories while sharing some of his own memories growing up and attending the fair throughout the years with his family.
“The past produces memories, the present produces opportunities and the future produces hopes and dreams and the fair today is greater than it was 10 years ago, 50, even 160 and it will be greater in the future as we continue to move forward in this county,” he said.
The opening ceremony was followed by the traditional breakfast at the Fairlawn Steak House where Michael Vartorella, Department of Agriculture chief inspector and director of fair operations, presented the Darke County Agricultural Society with a $50,000 grant check for a recent paving project.
“We have to keep our fairgrounds in good working condition, we have to teach our FFA and our 4-H, we have to keep them interested,” Vartorella said. “I want this to happen every year so we have to keep this up and keep great support here.”