As of 2022, the Charles-Mix County Fair Board has reorganized in order to bring back the Charles-Mix County Fair that was always held in conjunction with the Charles-Mix County 4-H Achievement Days. The first Charles-Mix County Fair since its dissipation was held last year in 2023. The board organized a quilt display and a sausage gravy and biscuits breakfast during the 4-H achievement days. This year the board has expanded the community events at the fair boasting events both Thursday and Friday during the 4-H Achievement Days. Thursday morning at 9 a.m. Joey Koupal will provide a horseshoe and trimming clinic to all wishing to attend. Thursday will also feature a BBQ, an all-age watermelon feed, and live music that will run in conjunction with viewing the 4-H exhibits. On Friday morning the fair board will have a free-will donation breakfast of sausage biscuits and gravy. Members of the Charles-Mix County Fair Board include Alice Koupal, President; Mike Dangel, Vice-President; Jason Gant, Secretary/Treasurer; Bev Steinmark, Josh Bultje, Colin Soukup, Jo Cee Johnston, Lesley Rygaard, and Rhonda Pederson.

The main purpose of the board in past years before the revival of the fair was to take care of the grounds and buildings. The current fair board has expanded their purpose to include the planning and operating of the fair; promoting the fair in order to get more county involvement; and providing opportunities for education, competition and activities to name a few of their growing purposes. The last Charles-Mix County Fair Board was held in 2019 before the board revival in 2022. It was decided in 2022 that a fair board was needed in order to help make decisions and revive the county fair. As of a couple of months ago, the Charles-Mix County Fair Board began the process of putting together this year’s fair activities. The Charles-Mix County Fair is put on in conjunction with the county’s 4-H achievement days in order to enhance and add to the event, and in no way take away from it.

The fair board is hoping that by rejuvenating the fair that more local people will want to exhibit and show the local communities their talents and creativity. That is especially why the board wanted to have an open class, so anyone and everyone can display, not just members of the 4-H club. The Charles-Mix County Fair like the 4-H Achievement Days are open to everyone to come and see the exhibits as well as non-4-H members are more than welcome to enter their exhibits in the open class. This can include but is not limited to bead work, quilting, fancy work, photography, art, canning, woodwork, baking and crafting to name a few. With one exception there will be no livestock open class at this year’s event. The board is hoping that by next year they will be better prepared to add livestock to their open class roster.

If an open class of livestock can be established at next year’s county fair, it is also hoped that an auctioning event will follow suite. Much like it had been done in the past with the 4-H club, Alice would like to see that tradition restart. At the end of the day when all the livestock exhibits had been judged, the barn full of animals would be auctioned off. Local community members would pay a premium for the well taken care of and nurtured livestock with all of the auction proceeds going back to the person that raised and showed the animal. This event also taught a good life skill. It showed participants to look at the costs of raising the animals versus the price they sold for, which was part of what was required in 4-H when the project books were completed at the end of the season.

When asked how the Charles-Mix County 4-H Achievement Days and the Charles-Mix County Fair differed, fair board President, Alice Koupal, said that the achievement days are only open to 4-H members while the fair is open to anyone wanting to enter an exhibit. The fair’s open class encompasses all the same classes as the 4-H achievement days, but is open to far more categories than just those that are available for 4-H. The fair’s open class exhibits will be judged the same as the 4-H exhibits are judged. Each exhibit is judged solely on its own merits, not against other exhibits. As of right now the exhibits that are judged will also receive ribbons. The fair awards ribbons slightly different than 4-H with the top ribbon being blue, followed by red and then white. As of right now there are no monetary awards given, but it is hoped that in the future the board will be able to give out premiums in addition to ribbons.

Koupal is very passionate about the Charles-Mix County Fair. She remembers as a child going to the fair in Lake Andes in the mid to late 50s and how much fun it was as well as how many exhibits there were to look at. Alice said that before the fair grounds were created, the exhibits used to be set up in the gymnasium of the Lake Andes High School. The gym would be completely full of exhibits with the animal exhibits being housed in the back of the building. Alice was never in 4-H, because at the time it was only thought of as a thing that farmers and farm kids participated in. However, her own children were very active in 4-H throughout their childhood, exposing Alice to the vast possibilities of exhibits that could be participated in. She came to find out that much like FFA is today, 4-H has a plethora of events that are not all farm related that can teach valuable skills to today’s youth. Alice’s favorite part of the fair is the kids. She enjoys watching them interact with others and loves to listen to what they have to say when it comes to their exhibits. This is especially important to her as she is one of the fair’s judges.

The Charles-Mix County Fair will be held August 6th, 8th and 9th at the Charles-Mix County 4-H Center in Lake Andes. Anyone wishing to enter an exhibit or exhibits into the fair should arrive at the 4-H Center on August 6th by 7 p.m. with their paperwork filled out. There will be a bake sale at 6 p.m. as well on August 6th with all proceeds going back to the 4-H program. The BBQ featuring live music provided by the Lake View Colony Girls will begin at 5 p.m. and go through 7:30 p.m. New this year, there will be food trucks Donut Department and Hungry Dog Food Truck on Thursday from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the county fair. For any questions about the fair, please call the Charles-Mix County extension office at 605-487-7666.