One Fair Gets Cautious

Organizers at the Elkhart County Fair in Indiana may have learned a lesson from last year’s tragic stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair.

Fair emergency director Phil Wogoman said he evacuated the grandstands at the Goshen fairgrounds July 26 ahead of a severe thunderstorm in part because winds toppled the State Fair stage last August. The grandstand was to host the Lucas Oil PPL Tractor Pulls.

Wogoman said most of the fair’s emergency procedures were in place before the State Fair stage collapse, which killed seven people awaiting a Sugarland concert.

“I’d rather have people in their cars getting out of here … and nobody gets hurt, than we delay,” Wogoman told WSBT-TV.

The Elkhart County Fair now uses a private meteorological service to monitor weather. The service was a recommendation by a company that investigated the State Fair collapse.