County fair theme announced; demo derby off schedule

    Members of the Chase County Fair Board drew from a hit song from entertainer Ernest in coming up with its 2022 fair theme.
    Ernest, who will open for country star Scotty McCreery on Saturday, Aug. 13, at the fair, sings a country song fair board members felt is light-hearted and family-friendly.
    “Here’s to the Chase County Fair, Cheers!” is this year’s theme, said Jake Burke, the fair board’s marketing and ticket chairman.
    The idea came from Ernest’s song “Cheers,” featured on his album of the same name.
    Burke said in the past they have often picked the fair theme from a song sung by one of the grandstand entertainers performing that year.
    It worked out perfectly this year, he said.
    “There’s really no science to it. We just pick what feels right,” he said.
    The “Here’s to the Chase County Fair, Cheers!” theme will also be the fair parade theme, Burke said.
    This is one of the years, he said, the fair theme and parade theme match exactly.
    “We’ve had themes that were similar in the past, but this year we did some early planning,” and both themes match up, Burke said.
    Chris Lee of the Imperial Chamber’s parade committee said they will be announcing the parade grand marshals in the coming weeks.
    Tickets for the Scotty McCreery/Ernest show Aug. 13 and 38 Special with special guest Tyler Braden on Aug. 12 are now on sale online at chasecountyfair.com.
    Ticket sales are going well, according to Burke. He said sales this week are “almost double” the sales from their previous best year at this time in July.
    Burke noted people can also purchase mega ride carnival passes and the Aug. 11 tractor pull tickets at the same online address.
Demo derby cancelled
    After their promoter from Kearney cancelled, the Imperial Jaycees were left with no other options but to call off the demolition derby at this year’s Chase County Fair.
    And, it looks like it could be a permanent decision.
    Chris Lee, who’s been a demo derby committee member for the Jaycees, said the promoter couldn’t justify the distance to Imperial for this year’s event.
    “We aren’t the only ones who were cancelled by the promoter,” he said.
    The promoter provides tasks such as inspecting the cars as they come in, reviewing the rules with drivers and are the guys out in the arena with the flags, tasks the local Jaycees cannot do, he said.
    On top of it, Lee said last year’s demo derby drew just six vehicles. Only one pickup showed up for that division, and the driver was given back his registration fee.
    With the cost of fuel right now, Lee said it was also questionable how many would make the trip.
    Lee said it was just not financially feasible to have the derby this year, and unfortunately, it’s probably going to be off the fair schedule for good.
    In 2019, after the derby was moved to Sunday afternoon, 20 cars participated. Then in 2020, the fair was cancelled due to COVID, returning last year with the low turnout.
    Burke said there will be no events on the fair schedule this year for Sunday, Aug. 14.