Eliminate Rule 901-5-11 (A) (2) in the Ohio Administrative Code (https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/rule-901-5-11 which states:

(A) Each society shall submit to the director of agriculture, on or before the tenth day of November of each year, a request for approval of the dates on which the society desires to hold its next annual fair. The director of agriculture shall base his approval or disapproval of each such request upon:

(2) Competition with any fair in any adjoining county for exhibitors or patrons which might arise because of changes from such dates of previous fairs; and

Elimination the rule which can prohibit adjoining counties from having fairs overlap each other will provide county fair boards the liberty of scheduling fairs during times that are most appropriate for their respective counties.  The current rules for fair scheduling do not provide individual counties with the freedom to schedule fairs during optimum times, but rather during limited time frames based upon the scheduling of other fairs.  

By definition, the rule discriminates against counties with more adjoining counties than those which have fewer adjoining counties.  As a result, some fairs have more flexibility than others for scheduling purposes.  This has resulted in multiple conflicts inhibiting youth for fully exploring opportunities to showcase agriculture a local and state level.  

Wood County, for instance, is adjacent to 6 or 7 counties (depending of whether counties are considered adjoining if corners touch) and thus has a narrow window during the summer in which to select the days of their fair.  As a result, Wood County, much like nearly 1/3 of Ohio's counties, have a period of overlap with the Ohio State Fair.  Residents in the affected counties, fair participants and general population alike, are faced with the decision to either fully participate in county level events, state fair events, or some partial combination of the two. 

Another unintended consequence of setting limitations on fair scheduling is centered around high school athletics.  OHSAA allows athletic teams to formally practice beginning on or around August 1st.  In a county like Wood, the result is students are often faced with threats of reduced playing time or being cut during tryouts if they participate in fair activities that conflict with practices.  These difficult choices were actually presented to Wood County Junior Fair participants.  However, students in counties that have fair prior to August would not face such choices. 

Bottom line, elimination of this arcane rule would benefit local communities as the issues described above could be mitigated by thoughtful decision making rather than the current centralization model. As a result, decision making power for when fairs are scheduled would be placed directly where it belongs; squarely on the shoulders of each local fair board.