Ashland County Fair kicks off 175th year ahead of weeklong celebration in September

ASHLAND — Martin Wesner has been involved with county fair life since he was a child.

Wesner, serving his 11th year as president of the Ashland County Fair Board, participated in 4-H as a child, raised children who were involved with 4-H and was first elected to the board in 2005.

The Ashland County Fair, celebrating its 175th year in 2026, doesn’t take place until the end of September. But the fairgrounds were full of the kind of fair/family activity Wesner loves on Saturday morning.

A special celebration took place to mark the anniversary (1851 to 2026) ahead of the weeklong fair, set for Sept. 20-26.

“We wanted to have an isolated, family-friendly event here at the fair (to mark the 175th anniversary),” Wesner said.

There was no charge to join in the fun Saturday, which opened with a parade down Claremont Avenue. Local 4-H groups set up a variety of booths with games for children and backseat-driver and cornhole competitions took place at the grandstand.

The Fun Center Chordsmen provided 40-minutes worth of barbershop and a cappella tunes and an Abraham Lincoln impersonator shared a speech in the entertainment pavilion, among other activities.

A hog roast and shredded chicken dinner took place inside Mozelle Hall.

In fact, it was the last meal that will be served from the hall, which opened in 1955 as an arts and crafts building before becoming a roller skating rink. Mozelle Hall will be torn down after the end of this year’s fair week.

“We wanted people to be able to go through Mozelle Hall again, because after the fair this year, it’s going to be torn down,” Wesner said. “There’s a lot of history with Mozelle Hall from being a rollercade. Whether they came to the fair or not, people knew where the rollercade was at.

“It was a lot of fun for families growing up for a long time.”

A groundbreaking ceremony for the future of the site is set for Sept. 26 at 4 p.m. on the final day of the fair. In 2024, a financial campaign was launched to begin fundraising efforts for a new, 35,000 square-foot Civic Center.

Fair officials have said the new building will be capable of accommodating all sorts of events, including weddings, trade shows, agricultural-specific trainings and events, farmers markets and more.

“The new building will be climate controlled, which is something that Mozelle Hall really isn’t. It has some heat, but it’s noisy and it’s still very cold in there in the winter,” Wesner said.

“It’s just time to do something with it. The community support for that has been great.”

The fair board president said there’s still work to be done to reach the funding goal of roughly $6 million, the baseline set in 2024 when the campaign began.

“We still have a little ways to go to get to where we really want it to be, to be able to pay for everything, but the project’s going to go on after the fair (this year),” he said. “Simonson (Construction Services) is going to get started and by next year we’ll have a new building.”

Additional improvements have been made around the fairgrounds ahead of this year’s fair, Wesner said, including paving and concrete work, roof projects, restroom updates on the ground’s west end and lots of painting.

Prep work is now in its final stages with the county fair just over a month away.

“Everybody’s busy and all 30 board members have some job to do or purpose to be here and everyone does a wonderful job. Everybody has their own little niche that they do well here at the fair,” Wesner said.

“We couldn’t do it without all the volunteers, all the 4-H and open class volunteers. Everyone is wonderful.”

Below are photos from Saturday morning’s parade down Claremont Avenue and a variety of afternoon activities around the fairgrounds, all celebrating the 175th anniversary of the Ashland County Fair. (Credit: Hayden Gray)