As the Lebanon community celebrates another successful year of the fair, Dan Siegel, chair of the Lebanon Area Fair board of directors, took some time to reflect on this year’s fair and revealed that preparations are already underway for the year(s) ahead.

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When asked about the turnout of this year’s fair, Siegel responded, “We were really wondering if we’d beat some of our rushes that we had in the past couple years, but we managed to outdo them. It was amazing.”

The fair starts tracking numbers for the day at 3 p.m., which is when it starts to charge for admission into the fairgrounds. Despite the somewhat lighter attendance in the early days of the fair, they tracked 47,750 people through the gates and an estimated total of 60,000 for the week.

“So expectations, we usually on average say that we have a 50,000-person event. But obviously, it is so extremely weather dependent. You’re in the middle of, or close to mid- to end of, July; of course, you’re going to have storms, rain, excessive heat, and you deal with it,” Siegel said. “And some years, you just luck out, and I’d say this year, we did.”

In addition to the weather, the fair attendance tends to fluctuate based on what events are happening around the fairgrounds, especially those at the track. “Our track people put on a good show, and there’s a lot of demand from both participants and spectators for those events,” he said.

“And of course, Wednesday night, when we had the Amish Outlaws there as well, that day started off looking a little dreary, but then everything cleared, and we had a great night. The weather turned out to be absolutely perfect,” Siegel said. “So, some of it’s luck of the draw, some of it’s the fact that we have a community that is growing in population, and also, it seems, growing in support for the fair.”

Siegel pointed out that, for example, seeing the Amish Outlaws for the price of the $5 admission to the Lebanon Area Fair is much cheaper than what other venues charge to watch the Lancaster County-based cover band perform. This made the value of the admission fee apparent and likely lent itself to the increase in attendance at this year’s fair.

Read More: Amish Outlaws get crowd up and moving at Lebanon Area Fair

When asked when the planning process for next year’s fair will start, Siegel responded, “Believe it or not, we already are looking at booking some entertainment for our 2026 fair.”

The 2025 Lebanon Area Fair has already been scheduled for Saturday, July 19, to Saturday, July 26, of next year. And while some of the entertainment is already booked, many details still need to be planned out.

Siegel said they are always “self-assessing: What did we do well? What improvements did we make that worked? What changes did we make that really sort of fell flat on their face, if there were any? And that all happens at our August and fall meetings.”

During these meetings, they review people’s suggestions and use them to inform their decisions on which beloved traditions they want to keep the same, which traditions they want to improve, and which traditions they want to introduce. “That’s probably one of our highest priorities is providing a fair that you want to go to,” he said.

The entirely volunteer-run fair is always looking for more hands to help out. Those interested can contact the fair office at 717-273-3795 for more information.

Siegel noted that, although he chairs the board, there are “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of volunteers, whether they’re giving a couple hours of their time, whether they’re giving a week’s worth of vacation, or in some cases, even two weeks’ worth of vacation, dedicated to that event and that organization.

“And it truly is amazing to see just how an entire community comes and how, out of bare ground and empty buildings, you can create an event that’s enjoyed by the Lebanon area, and there are then people there to clean it up, too.”

Catch up on all of LebTown’s coverage from the 2024 Lebanon Area Fair

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Lexi Gonzalez has worked as a reporter with LebTown since 2020. She is a Lancaster native and became acquainted with Lebanon while she earned her bachelor's degree at Lebanon Valley College.

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