Union County fair backs off of beer sales; suds prevails in Auglaize, Mercer

Union County fairgoers will have to rely on soda and fresh-squeezed lemonade to quench their thirst after officials canceled their plans for a beer garden.

The fair board voted unanimously Monday night to overturn its previous vote to install a beer garden at the fairgrounds in Marysville. The fair starts Monday.

The board had said the fair would feature a beer garden for the first time in 162 years. But community members and public officials complained as soon as the idea was announced. That outcry led the fair board to abandon the beer garden.

The county sheriff, prosecutor and commissioners, as well as the Marysville police chief and city council, signed a resolution opposing the sale of beer at the fair. John Gore, Marysville City Council President, said the decision was made basically because the fair is an event for the kids and there's ``another time and place for that.''

``I only had one person come to tell me that the city needed to stay out of it, and I can't even count the number of folks who said they were glad to see the city take a stand,'' he said.

  Allowing beer sales at county fairs and fairground events is not unprecedented across the Lima region.

  Fred Piehl, manager of the Auglaize County Fair, said beer has been part of that fair as long as anyone can remember without any problems.

  "We have two designated areas where we do it. We have a fenced-in entertainment area as well as in the grandstand," Piehl told The Lima News in April. "We do that so we can control it. We haven't had any problems with it."

    It's not just the fair that allows beer sales at the fairgrounds in Wapakoneta, Piehl said. All events at the Auglaize County Fairgrounds are allowed to sell beer, as long as they have received permission from fairgrounds officials and have all necessary permits, he said.

    "We try to keep a very close reign on it," Piehl said. "The sheriff's office works very well with us on security issues. We've gotten along very well."

   The Mercer County Banner Fair is adding beer this year. Fair officials hope tapping the sales of alcohol will encourage attendance and revenues to flow as freely as the beer this summer.

    This week members of the fair board joined the list of fairs that sell alcohol. The decision marks the first time beer will be sold at the fair in Celina and only the third time beer's sold at the fairgrounds.

    "We considered all the pros and cons of it," Mercer fair board President Steve Seitz said. "The pros were the extra people we could get into the fair as well as the financial side of it. Our biggest concern was how to control and prevent underage drinking. That was a very important factor."

   In recent years, beer has not been a part of the Allen County Fair, Manager Jay Begg said.

    "We do allow it at offseason events at the fairgrounds," Begg said. "During the fair, the policy has been not to allow alcohol."

    Begg said the trend in recent years for some fairs has been to explore alcohol sales as a means to improve attendance and gross receipts. The issue has not been a major issue of consideration for Allen County Fair Board members, he said.