By Kay Bakkehaug
Hemingford Ledger
“We are very excited about having Casey Donahew come to our fair,” Box Butte County Fair Manager Donna Dexter said. “He has a pretty big fan base that follows him.”
She was also excited to announce the theme for this year’s Box Butte County Fair: “Sew It, Grow it, Show it! It’s Our Future.”
“We thought that this theme encompasses a whole lot of different areas of the fair,” Dexter said.
Over the last 15 years, Casey Donahew has risen from a favorite on the local Texas music scene, racking up 18 #1 singles, to a nationally hot touring act who consistently sells out venues all across the country. Donahew has over 70 million on-demand digital music streams through Spotify and Apple, over 268 million streams on Pandora and has more than half a million followers on his social platforms,
Donahew has released eight independent albums to critical and commercial acclaim. Donahew’s Standoff, quickly topped the iTunes Country Chart at #1, upon its release, and his follow-up album All Night Party, out on Aug. 19, 2016, immediately rocketed to #3 on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart, #13 on the Top Album Sales Chart and Top Current Album Sales Chart and #40 on the Billboard 200 Chart. The project also took the #2 spot on the Internet Albums Chart and landed at #3 on the Independent Albums Chart.
His most recent project, a 15th anniversary record titled, 15 Years, The Wild Ride, is a collection of Donahew’s most popular songs, and the ones that droves of fans sing night after night at his live concerts. The album was inspired by and became a gift for those fans who remain loyal in Donahew’s standing-room-only audiences. Casey is currently putting the finishing touches on a brand new album to be released later this spring.
“I’m really excited about this record. I think the songs on here are great, and are a big step forward, and the fans, whatever their expectations are, I hope we blow ‘em away,” Donahew said.
Donahew also owns a gaming ranch in Throckmorton County, Texas. He wanted to create a hunting retreat with all of the excitement of the sport and all of the comforts of home.
A big fan of 80’s and 90’s country, Donahew had always admired the storytelling in the songs of that period, and when a wild-eyed Oklahoma boy named Garth Brooks began swinging from the rafters and employing all sorts of crazy, rock show antics during his concerts, Donahew was immediately hooked.
“I’ve just always liked the country songs from the 80’s,” Donahew said. “It seems like a time when there was a lot of great songwriting going on, and I just enjoy people who can tell a story with a song. And I’ve always been a big Garth Brooks fan, since the beginning. First there was George Strait, and then here came this guy from Oklahoma, Garth Brooks. And you’d see George standing there playing guitar, but then Garth comes along running all over the stage, playing guitar and singing all these songs that he wrote. And the thing I was always most enamored with about Garth was that he wrote most of those songs. He was just one of those guys who did it all. And he started in Stillwater, not too far from the Red Dirt scene. You could really take a lot of Garth Brooks songs and put ‘em on a record of mine, and I think it would fit right in.”
Along with country music legends like Garth he also credits Matchbox 20 and Bon Jovi as musical influences.
“We have some fun new things coming our way to the fair this year,” Dexter said. “RockIt will be doing our midway again this year but is bringing several new things plus some of the good old standbys. We have spoken for the Zipline, which should be a lot of fun. We also have the most amazing ‘Balloon Girl’ coming and she makes the most amazing things from balloons. I have never seen anyone like her. She is young and full of energy but what is really unique about her is that she also will be going to the Senior Center to entertain them with her balloon creations, which is awesome.”
This year they will be trying to get a few more new things plus rearrange some of the other entertainment to make events easier for everyone to attend. The popular Stock Dog Trials will be back again this year due to the high turnout from last year.
“The first year is always a trial and error and we have a few kinks to work out,” Dexter said. “But there is talk in the dog world that will be having another and there is some excitement. A couple of the dogs that ran here also ran at the championship finals and placed in the top 5.”
As always, volunteers are welcome and encouraged to help out.
“Our fair board is made up of volunteers they do not get a dime for all there hours of hard work. They spend lots and lots of hours behind the scenes getting everything ready and set up. They deserve a huge ‘thank you’ for all the time they spend working on the fair. It is an all year project and they are all gracious enough to give up their time to try and make something special for everyone in the community to enjoy. It takes so much to add things as there is only so much our fair board can do. They work so hard doing everything that it is very hard to ask them to do more.
“I encourage any and all volunteers to help out. It is very rewarding and can be a lot of fun and you get to meet new people. If there is somethings that the community would like see or individuals would like to see please let us know. A lot of times we really want to do things but there just is not enough funding or people to help put it on.”
Sponsors are also sought.
“A lot of what we do is limited by funding. Every year we send out sponsor letters. They actually will be going out very soon. We ask everyone that is willing to help out to turn it back in as soon as possible so we can get going on our planning. Our community has been very generous in helping out. We know that they get hit all the time and there just isn’t the extra funds sitting around. With that being said we would appreciate any help. If a business or person would like to sponsor or donate to the fair they can pick a certain event to sponsor or just donate to the general fund which will be used where it is needed.”
“We will be having an Open Poultry show this year as Nancy Leider has graciously come forward and will be organizing and running that show. They will be having a very knowledgeable judge from eastern Nebraska come to judge it. She did want everyone to know that it was going to happen this year so people can start planning as it is time for people to be ordering there birds. We will have more information for that.
“Again we will be holding the Open Horse Show. We did have to work around the rain last year but it is a great place for people to practice and get ready for the fair horse show.
“Several events that are held at the fairgrounds will need a food vendor. We have had a very hard time in the past getting someone. If there is anyone that would like to do concessions at the open events please get a hold of me and we can discuss what is needed.