'Clean family fun': St. Clair County Fair returns after one-year hiatus

Farm animals, carnival rides, monster trucks and fried food will descend on Goodells County Park starting Monday for the annual St. Clair County 4-H and Youth Fair. 

"It's just clean family fun," fair president Rob Usakowski said. 

The fair begins at 9 a.m. Monday and runs through Saturday. The fair can be entered through the west entrance, 8345 County Park Drive, or the north entrance, 8231 Lapeer Road, Goodells. 

Admission is $9 per person per day or $25 per day for a vehicle and all its occupants. Fair passes can also be purchased for $60 before Monday or $70 the week of fair; passes admit one vehicle and all its occupants the entire fair week. To purchase passes prior to the fair, visit the fair office at the north entrance from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, or 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday or Saturday. 

The fair will feature livestock demonstrations and kids events during the day and entertainment at night, including a rodeo, monster trucks, a racing derby, demolition derbies and a tractor pull. 

Usakowski said the derbies will have new events this year, including an event where drivers are blindfolded while their passenger directs them, a backward driving event and a tag-team demolition derby. 

The fair will also feature the Skerbeck Family Carnival. The carnival opens at 5 p.m. Monday, and runs from 1-6 p.m. Tuesday, from 1-10 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and from 1-5 p.m. Saturday.

Carnival prices are $1 per ticket or $40 for 50 tickets Monday, rides require from two to six tickets per ride, $1 per ride Tuesday, $25 unlimited rides Wednesday through Friday, or $17 unlimited rides Saturday. Mega Passes can be purchased for $70 before Monday or $80 the week of the fair; passes provide unlimited rides for all six days of the carnival during carnival hours. Tickets can be purchased at the fair office or at skerbeckcarnival.com/.

For a complete schedule, visit stclaircounty4hfair.org/ or call (810) 364-9100.

Usakowski said the fair is an opportunity for residents to experience things they can't find anywhere else. Many people don't normally get an opportunity to see livestock like cows, pigs or chickens up close. Visitors can also purchase an animal to harvest and see where their food comes from. 

Usakowski said this fair carries a special significance after the in-person fair was replaced with a virtual event last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I kind of feel like we had this void in our lives," Usakowski said. "We enjoy doing something and then it wasn’t there.”

4-H students show off projects

For 4-H students, the fair is a chance to show off projects they have been working on for the entire year, Usakowski said.

4-H Light Horse Superintendent Debbie Block said the organization teaches young people responsibility, cooperation, friendship and how to work with others. It builds young people's character, she said. 

Block said the pandemic prevented her six 4-H girls from meeting in person for their horse projects and prevented them from riding together. They made it through the pandemic by spacing out their rides so they weren't in the barn at the same time. 

Market Bird Superintendent Kay Smith said participation in the poultry project, in which kids raise birds to be sold to market at the fair, was down this year. Kids had to order hatchlings before it was known if the in-person fair would happen, so some families opted out of the expense of buying and raising a bird. 

Smith said it gives kids pride to show off their projects and show others what they've learned.

"My kids are all excited because they like to take on that challenge of doing their project and bringing it and showing it in front of a crowd," she said. 

Contact Laura Fitzgerald at (810) 941-7072 or at lfitzgeral@gannett.com.