County fair prepares to open for 108th year

By Trevor Sochocki, Anna Muckenfuss

Click here for updates on this story

    SAGINAW COUNTY, Michigan (WNEM) — The Saginaw County fair has big plans for its 108th year after scaling back last year due to COVID-19.

“So this year from our vendors that have been moving in today and setting up, the fairs that they have been able to experience and be a part of…their numbers have been increased greatly,” said Rachael Wirostek, the fair’s executive director.

Wirostek has been executive director of the fair for about a year and a half.

“it’s absolutely so heart…whelming, warming, everything about it to have all of our friends and family come back together to do what we love,” Wirostek said.

With the delta variant looming, the fair will be sanitizing high touch areas and following CDC guidelines.

“If you’re fully vaccinated, you know, it’s a little, you have that little bit of reassurance, but if you’re not, we do ask that people wear a mask you know anything to keep themselves safe and also the ones that are that have done those precautions,” Wirostek said.

For the thousands of people that come to the fair this weekend, one of the opportunities is to pet rabbits like little George.

There’s plenty else too, from riding the Ferris Wheel, to enjoying the mounted shooting in the horse arena and chowing down at the food trucks.

“And it takes an army to make that tradition happen,” Wirostek said.

2019 saw 26,000 attendees, and hundreds of volunteers are preparing for at least that number this year.

The fair starts Tuesday and runs through Saturday.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.