04/28/2026
Manning Rotary was honored to host Dan Behrens as our guest speaker on April 21st. Dan is now the President of the Carroll County Fair, and has big plans for future growth. The Fair is a work of love. Their theme is "Building our Youth's Future". There are no paid employees. A dozen board members and tons of volunteers put in a massive effort. They know the importance of having opportunities for local kids to gain important life experiences ingrained in participating in a county fair.
C**n Rapids acquired the fair when the Carroll Iowa Fairgrounds was destroyed by a fire in 1921. C**n Rapids legend Roswell Garst donated land and lumber for new fairgrounds to be built in C**n Rapids.
The Carroll County Fair experience hard times in the 1980's because of the depressed farm economy. The County wanted to cut off funding. Necessity being the mother of invention, Figure 8 races began, and race revenue provided the needed money to keep the fair going. Today, it takes $150,000 a year to keep the fair in the black.
Thinking big, Behrens is leading the charge to raise $2.1 million to improve the fair's facilities. This includes a large climate controlled building to accommodate kids that need a temperature controlled environment to display their projects. More sidewalks improving pedestrian traffic and connecting all the buildings are also planned.
One of the cool competitive projects beyond livestock is the recently started Bucket of Junk. Kids that want to participate weld iron into art. The artwork is judged and kept by the family or sold at auction with proceeds going to the creator.
Another popular event directs special needs kids assigned livestock to care for and show, and are supervised by young mentors. The pride and happiness on the special needs kids faces when presenting the livestock and arena-judged tugs at your heart. Relationships with mentors last years beyond the experience.
This years Carroll County Fair runs from July 6th-13th. Dog shows growing in popularity will be on the Wednesday and Thurs 8th-9th.
Ya'll might want to put the Carroll County Fair on your calendar and see what our kids are doing. The music bands are quality, and the Figure 8 races are pure entertainment.
Thanks to Rotarian Brian Irlbeck for inviting Dan to speak.
State Representative Craig Williams is on the docket for tomorrow's Manning Rotary meeting. As always, the public is welcome to attend at noon in the Hospital Conference Room.
