{"id":127093,"date":"2020-01-17T14:04:24","date_gmt":"2020-01-17T19:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=127093"},"modified":"2020-01-20T09:07:10","modified_gmt":"2020-01-20T14:07:10","slug":"van-wert-live-fair-bd-announce-concert-for-2020-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2020\/01\/17\/van-wert-live-fair-bd-announce-concert-for-2020-fair\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 fair concert artists announced"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong><em>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A partnership between Niswonger Performing Arts Center and the Van Wert County Agricultural Society (Fair Board) is bringing an exciting Country music entertainment experience to the 2020 Van Wert County Fair as part of the NPAC\u2019s \u201cVan Wert Live\u201d season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Big-Rich-promo-pic-1-2020.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-127097\" width=\"350\" height=\"263\"\/><figcaption><strong>Country duo Big &amp; Rich<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Niswonger Performing Arts Center Executive Director Tafi Stober announced the fair concert on Friday during an event held in the Ohio State University Extension meeting room on the fairgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis concert is in line with the Van Wert Live vision to make Van Wert Ohio\u2019s premier music city,\u201d Stober said during the reveal event. \u201cOur effort is to grow to different venues to be able to reach a different audience, and also to be able to access larger audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEven before we moved to Van Wert, we knew it was known for the arts and entertainment,\u201d Presenting Sponsors Jim and Mary Pope said in a statement read by Stober. \u201cWe are grateful to have the opportunity to partner with others to make this happen. They understand the value of entertainment to our overall health and economic development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fair Board President Mike Poling said on behalf of the Agricultural Society that having a fair concert is \u201ca big win\u201d for the county and he appreciated the opportunity to collaborate with Van Wert Live to bring national talent back to the fair.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe would not be able to do anything like this on our own, and we are just looking forward to hopefully making more events we can collaborate together on,\u201d Poling said. \u201cWe think this is a great step for the community and our patrons, and we look forward to everybody being out here for the Van Wert County Fair in 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Big &amp; Rich (Country duo John Rich and Big Kenny) have had a number of Top 40 Country hits, including the No. 1 hit \u201cLost in This Moment\u201d, as well as \u201cSave a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)\u201d, and the Vietnam War-themed \u201c8th of November\u201d. Big &amp; Rich are first-rate musicians, songwriters, producers, and entertainers. Together, they are one of the most original musical forces ever unleashed on a welcoming world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Albums for the duo, which formed in 2003, including the triple-platinum Horse of a Different Color, Comin\u2019 to Your City, Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace, and Did It for the Party. The two artists have also released several solo albums each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Opening for Big &amp; Rich will be Grand Ole Opry member and Grammy winner Joe Diffie, whose hits include \u201cProp Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die)\u201d, \u201cShips that Don&#8217;t Come In\u201d, \u201cPickup Man\u201d, \u201cJohn Deere Green\u201d, \u201cBigger Than the Beatles\u201d, \u201cThird Rock From the Sun\u201d, \u201cHonky Tonk Attitude\u201d, and \u201cJust a Regular Joe\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tracy Thompson, new NPAC box office director, said the grandstand venue holds about 5,000 people, including 2,500 in the grandstand, and another 2,500 in a special \u201cparty pit\u201d SRO (standing room only) area in front of the concert stage. Beer will also be served during the concert to those 21 and over, but coolers are prohibited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tickets to the general public will go on sale at 8 a.m. Friday, January 31, through the NPAC box office, although Van Wert Agricultural Society and NPAC members can purchase tickets now. Included in an Agricultural Society membership is a free weekly pass for this year\u2019s fair, as well as a special $5 youth pass for youngsters ages 13-17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ticket prices range from $35 for grandstand seats to $75 for special \u201cparty pit\u201d tickets. Also featured will be digital tickets that patrons can print at home without having to come to the box office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor A partnership between Niswonger Performing Arts Center and the Van Wert County Agricultural Society (Fair Board) is bringing an exciting Country music entertainment experience to the 2020 Van Wert County Fair as part of the NPAC\u2019s \u201cVan Wert Live\u201d season. Niswonger Performing Arts Center Executive Director Tafi Stober announced the fair concert [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 11:24:23","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127093\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}