It was every outdoor event planner’s nightmare on Friday at the Franklin County Fair — dangerous and severe thunderstorms right before the evening’s marquee event.
“By 6 o’clock it was lightning and heavy, heavy torrential downpours,” said fair entertainment director Steve DeJoy, reached by phone Sunday morning. “For safety reasons, we closed the fair at 6:30 Friday night.”
As a result, fairgoers lost out on seeing the evening’s monster truck show, and DeJoy estimated the fair is out about $100,000.
The fair’s annual operating budget is about $340,000, he said.
The last time DeJoy could remember the fair being shut down due to weather was in 2015.
A flooded field and raging wind at the Franklin County Fairgrounds on Friday, the day that the fair had to shut down amid severe weather. (Photo by Michael Nelson, Franklin County Agricultural Society president)
As sheep baa-ed in the background, DeJoy said the Franklin County Fair is in a good place financially, but that this year will place a strain on the organization and may require loans to be taken out.
“To have a hit on a Friday, especially with a heavily, heavily advertised main attraction to be cancelled, that’s a big hit for us,” DeJoy said.
The weather Sunday was overcast, with some lighter rain in the forecast. DeJoy said he hoped that the weather would hold off, but noted that “mother nature is in charge.”
The Krazy Train truck sits in a flooded lot on Friday as the Franklin County Fair had to close amid severe weather. (Photo by Michael Nelson, Franklin County Agricultural Society president)
Friday’s storms caused immense damage throughout the state, with tens of thousands losing power in Massachusetts and a Massachusetts man dying as a tree fell on his tent while camping in Vermont.
In a Facebook post on Friday evening, Franklin County Agricultural Society President Michael Nelson posted photos of flooded grounds and collapsed tents as he described a “heartbreaking” situation for the fair.
“Not gonna lie. It’s been a heartbreaking 36 hours for the fair planning committee,” Nelson wrote. “Our volunteers worked so hard for months to bring you an amazing community event and had two days of severe storms now.”
A mangled tent sits on the Franklin County Fairgrounds amid severe Friday weather that closed the fair that evening. (Photo by Michael Nelson, Franklin County Agricultural Society president)
Amid all of the difficult weather, DeJoy paid tribute to his fellow volunteers and said that teamwork is what would help the fair move forward.
“When all the stuff hit the fan, the same core group of eight was always there,” he said. “It’s all about resilience.... We won’t quit.”