102nd PC Fair draws 4,020, up from last year and 100th events

The attendance at this year's Phillips County Fair in Dodson reached exactly 4,000 this year, up from 2016's total of 3,634 total fairgoers and nearly equaling the 100th Annual event held two years ago when the Centennial fair reached a total of 4,020 total attendees.

This year's Phillips County Fair concert featured LoCash and the total head-count at the LoCash concert was 1,029 while the 2016 concert, featuring Sawyer Brown, had an attendance of 1,677.

Saturday featured AMX racing in the afternoon and a total of 293 people were in attendance, one less than the 2016 AMX event which saw 294 attendees.

"AMX draws a consistent crowd," said Phillips County Fair Board Member Eric Wilke. "And it probably drew 291 the year before that. It is as steady as steady can be."

The nighttime attraction for the grandstand was the demolition derby which had a total attendance of 761, topping 2016's total of 745.

"The Derby is pretty consistent over the years as well," Wilke added.

Sunday's grandstand events featured a new format of rodeo (the Ranch Rodeo) as well as Indian Relay Races and Wilke said he received many positive comments about both.

"The Ranch Rodeo seems to be more interactive because everyone in the stands has someone out there they know and they are cheering them on," Wilke said. "It's not like an eight-second ride where you cheer for a few seconds and it is done. The Ranch Rodeo just seemed more personable."

The Indian Horse Relays seemed to receive the most buzz heading into fair week and the event seemed to live up to the positivity surrounding it. The Ranch Rodeo and Indian Relays were on the same ticket on Sunday afternoon and all told, a total of 1,598 people swarmed the stands, nearly reaching capacity.

"People always ask how many people those stands can hold," Wilke said. "I would say not many more than that."

Last year's total for the rodeo was 734 so this year's combined events more than doubled last year's attendance.

"That is probably one of the biggest grandstand crowds that was non-concert in a long time," Wilke said.

A total of 10 teams competed at the relays this year, but a total of 21 inquired if they could compete. Wilke said that discussions about bringing the relay races back next year will happen soon and there is a possibility that more teams and days will be added for the event.

"There was a bit of a learning curve this year, but we are talking with them and we are hoping to have races over two-days," Wilke said.

Wilke said that the pre-sale of carnival ride tickets was down a little bit in 2017, but said that the overall ridership was on par with the last two years.