REO Speedwagon returns to County Fair

Something that’s new at the Sheboygan County Fair this year is really a return to something old, with big-name entertainment on the grandstand.

The 1970s rock band REO Speedwagon will be performing Sunday, Sept. 6, at 7 p.m. on the grandstand. It will mark the first time in a number of years that a big-name music act has performed on the grandstand during the fair.

The fair will run from Thursday, Sept. 3, through Monday, Sept. 7, at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds on Fairview Drive.

REO Speedwagon, formed at the University of Illinois in 1967, charted two number one songs, “Keep On Loving You” and “Can't Fight This Feeling,” both power ballads, during the 1970s and continues to record and tour today, combining their classic hits with new material.

The return to a big-name national music act, which the fair has eschewed for a number of years, “was to try to appease the people who have asked for that,” fair manager Lois Roehl explained.

“REO Speedwagon was an affordable buy for us. We’re going to see if we can come out on the positive side.”

As is always the case at the fair, there will be plenty of music of all kinds throughout the grounds during the five days of the fair. Music is presented at five different venues — the Leinie Lodge near Gate 1, the Music Station near the Dairy Barn, the Coliseum on Agricultral Avenue, the M&R Pavilion on Livestock Avenue, and the newest venue, the All About Music Tent just east of the Buchholz Beef Barn.

The All About Music Tent will feature a daylong praise celebration Sunday, hosted by WSTM Radio and featuring the Onion River Band, the Plymouth Alliance Church Band, A.R.C. Praise Band, a magic act, Morning Star and On Earth.

Monday will be German Day in the tent, with Junge Kameraden and the Dorf Kapelle Band.

Saturday night the tent hosts the Mark Shurilla Band, featuring several celebrity impersonators including four-year-old Johnny Cash impersonator Valor Yost from Howards Grove.

DJs Rich and Jeanne Freeze will be playing music from their vast library every day at the Music Station.

The Rockerfellers will perform at the Leinie Lodge Thursday night.

Friday’s music will include Friar’s Trio, Copper Box, Oil Can Harry, Jerry Voelker and The Jolly Gents, the Jerry Schneider Band, Dirty Boogie and Keith Abler.

On Saturday, fairgoers can choose from New Life, Big Butt and the Brewmasters, Orv Konop and the OK Band, and the Pink Flamingos.

Other music Sunday includes Big Butt and the Brew Masters, Tim Castle & Young Southern, the John Roehl Orchestra and Doo-Wop Daddies.

Also back on Sunday this year is Bucky Badger and the University of Wisconsin marching band, with a noon parade and Fifth Quarter musical production.

On Labor Day Monday, the music will include Charissa & the Auburn Sky Band and Vic Ferrari.

Roehl noted that the fair association budgets over $80,000 for free entertainment for fairgoers, part of fitting into the fair’s slogan of “Affordable Family Entertainment.”

“Hopefully, people will see that taking the family out to the fair is an important thing to do,” Roehl commented.

The grandstand will be busy every night of the fair, with a farm tractor pull and smokers at 7 p.m. Thursday, the Badger state tractor pull Friday at 7 p.m., a free garden tractor pull at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and a demolition derby at 1 p.m. Monday.

Children can take in the Granpa Cratchet show, the Scheer Lumberjack Show or the Great Wild West Revue any day during the fair. Granpa Cratchet will be outside the 4-H building, while the lumberjack show is on Welcome Street near Gate 5 and the Wild West Revue is just to the west of the lumberjack show.

There is also the carnival everyday, with wristband specials Thursday and Monday and family day specials Friday and Saturday.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a fair without animals, 4-H competitions and many other exhibits, along with commercial exhibitors and more.

Roehl said the number of 4-H exhibits at the Sheboygan County Fair continues to be well above the statewide average for county fairs.

While there has been a slight dip in the number of animal exhibitors, to be expected with the current slow economy, Roehl said the number of adult exhibitors is up from past years.

“We want to continue to change our fair book to reflect new things that are popular, like scrapbooking and stamping,” Roehl said. “It’s fun to see husbands and wives compete against each, and neighborhoods come up with competitions amongst themselves,” for the adult exhibits.

Daily admission is $5 for adults, $2 for children age 10 to 14 and free for children under 10. A season pass, good for all five days, is $25 with parking and $15 without parking. Parking is $3 a day.

Shuttle bus service to the Fairgrounds park will be provided Friday from the K-mart parking lot and Saturday, Sunday and Monday from the Plymouth High School parking lot.