Clark County Agricultural Society Executive Director Dean Blair said that he wasn’t worried about the negative attention on the city affecting the event, saying that he thinks the crowd sizes will be “pretty solid.”
He added that they tend to have pretty good security at the antique shows, and said that the main limiter for crowds is the weather, which this year is expected to be warm and dry.
“We need a little rain, but not right now,” he joked.
Chris Johnson, who came from Pickerington to help run a bourbon chicken stand at the Extravaganza echoed Blair’s hopeful attitude.
When asked if he was deterred by the rumors and threats levied at Springfield, he said that he wasn’t.
“You can’t believe everything you hear,” he said. He said that he thinks that some things may be true but that you can’t know.
Ultimately, he said that he hoped that it also didn’t keep away visitors, saying that this is the biggest show of the year for their stand, and this was the seventh or eighth time they had attended.
The Extravaganza draws close to 2,000 vendors and 20,000 customers to the Clark County Fairgrounds, according to the organizers, though co-owner Jon Jenkins said that the hateful messages being spread about the city had an impact on presale tickets.
Springfield has dealt with immigration issues as around 12 to 15 thousand Haitian immigrants moved to the city. The situation rose to national attention after debunked claims that Haitians were killing and eating people’s pets went viral on social media, amplified by top Republican politicians like former President Donald Trump.
The Extravaganza will be held at the Clark County Fairgrounds at 4401 South Charleston Pike, Springfield. The event’s hours are:
- Friday, Sept. 20 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Saturday, Sept. 21 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Sunday, Sept. 22 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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