Josh Forte, Antique Equipment superintendent, told the Fair Advisory Board he and his volunteers will not participate in this year’s fair after county staff reconfigured the paved display area and placed food vendors there. “We were not gonna participate in the fair this year,” Forte said, describing several meetings his group held after receiving the county’s revised plan.

Board members and staff responded that the paved area now offers water, power and lighting that food vendors need. A county staff member told the board that the location “is perfectly suited for the food vendors” and cautioned that the county has repeatedly struggled to provide power and water when vendors were located elsewhere.

The disagreement traces to a grant-driven renovation that added lighting, power and water to the paved area. Staff said the grant-funded improvements were intended to improve utility access for vendors and events; Josh and other antique-equipment supporters said the same paved space had historically provided safe egress and a convenient loading area for tractors and other static displays.

Board members proposed meeting after the fair to try to rework the layout. Don, a county staff member, said he had prepared a map and met with stakeholders earlier in the year but that food vendors filled several spaces while the parties awaited further discussion. “We did put together a map. We had a meeting,” Don said; he added that the county can likely accommodate a smaller number of tractors in the paved area but not the full historical count.

The dispute centers on competing uses for limited paved space: the county and its vendors prioritize consolidated power and water access and improved customer circulation, while long‑time county exhibitors want room to exhibit and safely move antique tractors on and off site. No formal decision or vote was recorded at the meeting; board members asked staff to reconvene with tractor representatives to try to reach a compromise after the fair.

Board members and staff also discussed whether some food vendors could be relocated to other sites around the fairgrounds in future years to lessen crowding in the food court and to free paved space for static displays. Staff said the food‑court configuration improved customer flow this year and that some vendors require larger footprints because of the size of their trailers, hookups or equipment.

If the parties cannot agree on a shared plan after this year’s fair, tractor exhibitors warned they will continue to withhold displays.

The board will schedule a follow‑up meeting to review the map and placement options after fair week.