Hot Air Affair seeks Fair Bd. partnership

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The Van Wert County Fair Board met Saturday in a special meeting held to obtain comment on fair operation from local residents.

What the board got was a request for a partnership with a group trying to rejuvenate the once-popular Hot Air Affair.

Although several people spoke in favor of bringing back what was once a huge event featuring up to 50 hot air balloons and bringing thousands of people to the city, the main spokesman for the group was Jerry Mazur, the man who spearheaded the also-popular Festival of Flight formerly held at the Van Wert County Regional Airport.

Mazur said it was his opinion that the Hot Air Affair’s popularity may have also led to its demise. “It seems to me, and this is my perspective on this thing, the Hot Air Affair was growing so rapidly that, possibly, the fair board viewed it as an encroachment into their profitability, with regards to the fair, which was following two weeks after the Hot Air Affair,” he noted. “They (the Hot Air Affair) had rides … it was like a fair … it was a huge event and incorporated some of the events that you do for the fair.”

Mazur said he felt a partnership between the fair and Hot Air Affair would have saved both the balloon event and also enhanced the fair’s popularity.

“Why didn’t the fair board partner with that group of people?” he asked rhetorically, adding, “I think that we have an opportunity to revisit history and learn from that and move forward by joining forces and having a really big event that causes some revenue to come across the gate.”

The proposed date for the Hot Air Affair, Mazur said, would be the week following the fair.

Unlike the original event, which was sponsored by the Van Wert Jaycees, Mazur said those seeking to rejuvenate the Hot Air Affair don’t comprise a formal organization with non-profit status and fundraising capabilities.

“There’s no roots, no association,” he told fair board members.

Instead, Mazur said those trying to resurrect the event would like to partner with the fair board, allowing the group involved to get sponsorships to provide some of the funding, while the fair board would provide infrastructure and some funding.

Mazur said he wasn’t sure at this point how much the partnership would cost the fair board, but noted bringing in hot-air balloons and other costs of the event could be in the neighborhood of $35,000. He also said he would like to use the fair’s existing infrastructure to bring in revenues, while also publicizing the event on the fair’s website.

Fair board members listened to Mazur’s proposal, but provided no assurances that any funding or partnership would be forthcoming — especially since the fair board is also hard up for cash. Mazur plans to speak again with fair board members on Wednesday, prior to the board’s regular February meeting.

Also Saturday, some local dairy association members sought some help from the fair board to repair the milk house and dairy barn, which both have structural problems, with the biggest challenge replacing a portion of the roof on the milk house.

“Something has to be done with the milk house before it falls in,” Jill McCoy said. “Obviously, we don’t want to redo the whole building.”

That group — and the fair board – got an offer for help from an unexpected source: local Boy Scouts, with a representative saying local Boy Scouts would be happy to work on projects if materials were provided.

The Scouts’ help comes on the heels of work already being done on the fairgrounds by Building Trades students at Vantage Career Center, who are involved in some projects at the fairgrounds.

More information on these and other matters could be discussed at Wednesday’s fair board meeting.