GRACYN MELSTROM, RIGHT, won grand champion market steer Friday at the Iron County Fair with “Henry,” while Gracie Peterson took reserve champion with “Hardee.” While the 17-year-old Peterson has had much success in the competition in the past — the family’s Peterson Farm in Mansfield Township raises beef cattle — this was the first year that Melstrom, 13, of Iron River, has shown a steer at the fair. Her family wanted to thank Derrick Suheski for letting them keep “Henry” at their farm. (Betsy Bloom/Daily News photo)

A set of pajamas with polka-dotted pants, a bumblebee-print shirt and pair of shorts.

This was the 4-H project 12-year-old Marissa Pifke intended to make and show at the 2020 Iron County Fair, until it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I never got to finish them, and I was going to work on them at home. But I never got to it,” Pifke said.

Carol Callovi, one of the 4-H club leaders of Young Pacesetters — the 4-H group Pifke belongs to — said many who sewed in preparation for the 2020 Iron County Fair didn’t complete their work once it was called off, or hold those projects for a year. Something made to wear last year, she explained, likely wouldn’t fit them this year.

From March 2020 until mid-July of this year, kids in the Young Pacesetters 4-H club weren’t allowed to meet face-to-face, Callovi said — a challenge for a program where kids do hands-on projects and get guidance from adult mentors. Michigan 4-H is a part of Michigan State University Extension, so Callovi said the club needed to wait until MSU gave them the OK to meet in person.

“We had to have a 4-H county board meeting before the kids could meet face-to-face and that just happened,” Callovi said.

The 4-H year starts on Sept. 1, and since the club just got approval to meet in person again, Callovi said it didn’t make sense to complete all the paperwork, sign up the kids for the program and then do that all over again in September.

So projects 4-H youth normally work on for an entire year — projects that typically would have taken up half of the Harold Bernhardt Blue Exhibition Building at the Iron County Fair this week — were thin for a second summer.

Though most area counties in Michigan and Wisconsin intend to have a fair this year after being shut down in 2020, many aspects continue to be affected by the coronavirus still circulating.

But leaders of local county fairs are hopeful, if cautious, about reaching some level of normalcy, despite the continuing pandemic and growing threat of the highly contagious delta variant.

Iron County Fair

Fair-goers in Iron River saw more hand sanitizing stations at this year’s Iron County Fair, which opened Thursday and continues through Sunday.

Outside of this health measure, though, the fair mostly went back to normal operations, said Carrie Nelson, the Iron County Fair manager.

She predicts the event will attract about the same number of people as before the pandemic.

“This summer (people) really seem to want to travel and they want to attend events,” Nelson said. “After a year of not being able to, a lot of people have the need to get out.”

A few parts of the Iron County Fair still took place in 2020, including the raffle and a virtual version of the market livestock auction.

However, Nelson said it wasn’t “nearly as successful” as in previous years.

Not having the demolition derby last summer cost

them as well, Nelson said, as that event generates a large portion of the money made at the fair.

With a blend of traditional and new events lined up this year, Nelson said she and others involved with the fair were excited to open the gates again.

While 4-H youth were not able to present through the club, Nelson said they could compete in “open class,” which typically includes any adults and youth outside of 4-H who have something they’d like to display.

Marinette County Fair

Though Marinette County opted to go forward with its 2020 fair, organizers had to make adjustments for the pandemic, said Jessica Markiewicz, fair board treasurer.

They required masks and brought in additional safety measures. The normal carnival and midway became a hybrid operation, with several vendors joining up to provide for the few fairs that took place in 2020.

They also had to cancel the horse pull, a regular grandstand arena event, because the horses could not stay in training due to lack of competitions available, Markiewicz said.

But despite the obstacles and adjustments, the 2020 fair proved relatively successful, with attendance down but not as much as feared.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” Markiewicz said. “Surprisingly, people did turn out.”

This year, a regular carnival and the horse pull both will be back at the fair, set for Aug. 26-29 at the fairgrounds in Wausaukee, Wis.

“We should have good attendance,” Markiewicz predicted.

Florence County Fair

During the weekend the Florence County Fair would have taken place in 2020, organizers chose to look back on their past, said Jessica Klumpp, fair executive director.

They shared photos and videos from previous fairs on the Florence County Fair’s Facebook and other social media, even as the 2020 fair, along with all in-person events, were cancelled.

While fair leaders used that time last summer to complete building and grounds projects, that came at a cost because no money came in from the fair, Klumpp said.

This year’s Florence County Fair will be back from Aug. 27-29 but as a “mini-fair,” Klumpp said, because of the many unknowns that continue to linger with the COVID-19 pandemic and the delta variant.

“We were trying to plan months ago, but you don’t know what’s going to happen next week,” Klumpp said. “We looked at what we can offer safely outside and tried to cut expenses where we could, while still offering some of those favorite activities.”

Those with exhibits this summer will need to schedule an appointment for bringing them to the fairgrounds, as only a limited number of people will be allowed in the exhibit building at the same time.

Youth in 4-H will be able to enter any projects they worked on in the past two years, Klumpp said.

This year’s fair will also include several new events, such as a farmers market/art show on Saturday, Aug. 28, and kid’s games such as egg toss and water balloon activities where individuals can socially distance.

A lot of signage will be on the fairgrounds, encouraging people to wash their hands and wear masks if not vaccinated, Klumpp said.

Organizers are trying to keep fair events as safe as possible.

“Everything is outside, with the exception of the exhibits,” Klumpp said.

Dickinson County Fair

Dickinson County Fair Board Chairman John Degenaer said he and others involved with the Sept. 2-6 fair in Norway expect attendance to be up, even exceeding the years before the pandemic.

“We’re looking at a larger crowd because people are wanting to get out,” Degenaer said.

Last year, the Dickinson County Fair had the youth livestock competition and auction — so 4-H members were able to present their animals — the horse pull and a drive-thru for selling fair food.

Degenaer said while these events were “very successful,” they still lost about $300,000 from not having the complete fair.

Degenaer said he hopes this year’s fair will be the same as it was before the pandemic, with traditional events such as truck and tractor pulls, a country music concert, the carnival and go-karts.

Pandemic safety measures will still be in place, though, with “a lot more hand sanitizer stations around” and seating areas for people to eat “instead of walking around with their food,” Degenaer said.

“We want everybody to come and enjoy the fair and be safe,” Degenaer said. “Hopefully we get through this thing without any outbursts of COVID. That would be the greatest thing in the world.”

Silver lining after year of cancellations

Even though she didn’t get to present her handmade pajamas at last year’s Iron County Fair, three-year 4-H club member Marissa Pifke said she’d enter a project in open class at this year’s fair.

“Me and my mom started working on a fairy house out of cardboard,” she said of her new project.

After two summers of 4-H not being able to present as a club at the fair, keeping 4-H “visible and viable for the fair” is extremely important, said Carol Callovi, one of Pifke’s 4-H leaders.

For this reason, a group of adults will run a 4-H food booth with a limited menu and shorter hours at this summer’s Iron County Fair, and they’ll set up another booth with their club signs and old pictures.

Given how the pandemic has affected 4-H and other fair vendors and participants, a longing continues for what was before 2020.

When asked if she would join 4-H again in the fall, given the pandemic setbacks of the past two years, Pifke didn’t hesitate.

“Yes,” she said.

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Ta’Leah Van Sistine is a creative writing and journalism major at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire who wrote several articles for The Daily News while spending this summer in Iron Mountain.