By RICK A. RICHARDS
Indiana Correspondent

VALPARAISO, Ind. — Lonnie Steele literally gets chills on opening day of the Porter County Fair. As general manager of the annual fair for the past 13 years, and as a part of the management team of fair volunteers for 23 years, Steele sees the fair as a major event for Porter County youth and their families.

“The fair is built around 4-H and family,” said Steele. “I was from a low-income farm family and the only true vacation time we had when I was a kid was the five days of the county fair.”

Steele described fair week as “the biggest treat in the world.”
He said that when he exhibited livestock in his 10 years as a 4-H member, he got so excited that chills ran up and down his spine – just like today. “I’m not exaggerating,” he said. “It goes right down my back.”

While he doesn’t think competition among 4-Hers is as fierce today as it was when he was a kid, Steele still recalls what his father told him: If you can’t win, make it fun for those who do. “In other words, me and my brother were supposed to make it as difficult for someone to win as possible. They had to earn it.”

Steele said he loves being involved with a youth program like 4-H. He is a former teacher, coach and principal at nearby Washington Township High School. He’s also a high school sports official.
“I love being around kids,” he said.

This year will be the 160th anniversary of the Porter County Fair, although Steele pointed out it’s not the 160th fair. “We lost two or three fairs during the war years, but this is the 160th anniversary of our first fair.”

The fair, which will run from July 22 to Aug. 1, will be highlighted by the visit of country music star Jason Aldean on July 25. Steele said he expects all 7,500 seats to the event to be sold well before the fair opens.

The 2010 fair also marks the 26th time it will be at the 84-acre fairgrounds about three miles south of Valparaiso on Indiana 49.
“Here we are talking about this being the new fairgrounds, and yet we’ve been here for 25 years,” said Steele. The new grounds are a vast improvement over the cramped fairgrounds that used to be on the north side of Valparaiso, crammed into an area that was less than a quarter of the size of the current fairgrounds.

When the new grounds opened a quarter of a century ago, they were among the most modern in the state. But now, said Steele, “The buildings we built 24 and 25 years ago were agricultural pole buildings, and 25 years is about the life of those buildings.”

So for the past couple of years, Steele has overseen some major rehabilitation, although he admits a lot of it is overlooked. New roofs have been put on exhibit buildings and new poles have been installed where needed in the buildings.

“We’ve also put in new concrete floors in some barns in order for us to use them for a wider variety of activities,” said Steele.

All of that is being done, he said, with an eye toward making sure the fairgrounds remain viable for another 20 or 25 years.

There is no debate now over whether the move to a more rural location outside of Valparaiso 25 years was a good idea. “We had a pretty good reaction from people who complained that no one would go to a fair that far out in the country. “But we also used to think a crowd of 25,000-30,000 was a heck of a crowd. Now, we’re disappointed if we don’t have 150,000.”

Last year, said Steele, the fair drew 154,000 people. And with decent weather and the entertainment lineup on tap this year, Steele is hoping to attract 170,000 people this year. It will be a challenge, admitted Steele. “People are a bit reluctant to part with their money in this economy, so they’re being more selective in their entertainment choices.”

To help fair goers, the Porter County Fair last year lowered its admission price from $7 to $5. That price will continue this year. “And if you come before 1 p.m., you can get in for free,” said Steele. “We will have more free entertainment than any other county fair in the Midwest. I assure you that you will be entertained for the day for not any more than the price of admission.”

For Steele, putting on a county fair is a year-round endeavor. He and his wife, Carol, travel around the country visiting county and state fairs and major exhibitions. He figures that over the past 10 years, he has visited more than 7,500 fairs and exhibitions.
“Absolutely I take pride in the fact that we steal from the best,” said Steele, laughing.

“Fairs have different personalities. Right here in this corner of the state, Lake County, Porter County, and La Porte County fairs are side by side, but each is unique. I love to go to the La Porte County Fair and the Lake County Fair,” said Steele. “They are all different and I want them to be different.”

He has visited state fairs in Kentucky, Florida and Minnesota. Later this summer, he will travel west to visit fairs in Oregon and Washington. “Each fair you can pick up something new.”

For instance, after visiting the Minnesota State Fair, he saw the emphasis on recycling and he wanted to bring that attitude to Porter County. “There was a ‘greening’ of the fair up there. They recycle darn near everything they use and I figured if they could do it at the Minnesota State Fair, we could, too,” said Steele.”

Although it was extra work, volunteers separated cardboard and plastic and sent all leftover food to compost. “We actually cut our cost of taking trash to the dump,” said Steele.

And he shares that information with officials from four other fairs – Lake, La Porte, St. Joseph and Elkhart counties. “We meet four times a years and share ideas. We visit each other’s fairs and out of that has come an organization where we travel to other fairs to get ideas. This year, we’re going to the finest county fair in the Midwest, the Clay County Fair in Spencer, Iowa.”

In addition to the five northern tier counties, Steele said the group extended an invitation to all other county fairs in Indiana and anywhere from 60-75 people are expected to make the trip to Iowa.

A county fair can be a busy place, but Steele doesn’t want visitors to feel rushed. For that reason, the Porter County Fair this year is creating what Steele calls a “Central Park,” with picnic tables, umbrellas and park benches where people can sit down and relax and enjoy something to eat.

“That’s one of the things I enjoy most about the fair,” said Steele. “I sat down on a bench with my wife to relax for 15 minutes and 3 1/2 hours later, we got up after interacting with all these people that stopped by to chat. It was one of my enjoyable times at the fair.”