News

Changes to Mo. State Fair camper check-in

Missouri State Fair officials are changing early campground check-in procedures to speed up the process.  State Fair Director Mark Wolfe tells Brownfield that on August 1^st campers can enter the east side of the fairgrounds from the Centennial Gate on Highway 65 and drive through to the west side.

“At that point our folks will be out there; we’ll provide them all the paperwork so they can get that filled out,” Wolfe told Brownfield Ag News.  “We’re going to have portable credit card machines, or they can pay with cash; and then once we get paperwork, we’ll get their payment done, and then if the weather continues to be hot we’re probably going to start early moving them across and into the campground.”

Wolfe says there are normally about 400 campers who come to claim a space about a week before the fair opens.  Last year, 1,200 campers showed up.

“We were scrambling on our end to get them onto the fairgrounds and into a lineup to get them off the surrounding city streets and things,” said Wolfe.  “It became a real challenge; it was extremely hot, kind of like the weather we’re having here in July, and we just really struggled to get them maneuvered, get them signed in, get their paperwork and their payment and get them over there and get them set up.”

With the unexpected high number of early arrivals, Wolfe says last year’s check-in took twelve hours.  The Missouri State Fair opens August tenth in Sedalia.

AUDIO: Mark Wolfe (8 min. MP3)