July is synonymous with county fair season in Iowa, and Marshall County is no exception as the annual Central Iowa Fair will begin at the fairgrounds at 1308 E. Olive St. on Wednesday and running through Sunday with a wide range of events and a concert featuring two chart-topping country music artists on Saturday night in the Pits area. This year’s theme is “In My Fair Era.”

“This is the first year to have a concert, so we’re really excited about it. We certainly hope the community will come out to support it and have a great evening at the fair,” Central Iowa Fair Board President Jodi Breniman said.

The show in question will feature Darryl Worley, best known for his number one singles “I Miss My Friend,” “Awful, Beautiful Life” and the post-9/11 anthem “Have You Forgotten?” along with Mark Wills, who hit number one with “Wish You Were Here” and “19 Somethin'” in the early 2000s. He has also written songs like “Somebody” and “What Hurts the Most” that have subsequently become hits for other artists.

Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. that night, and the opening set from local country singer Mike Bernard, who hails from Marshall County between Albion and Liscomb, will start at 6:30 p.m. Breniman said it was “fairly easy” to bring Wills and Worley to the fair as they worked with KIX 101.1 to secure them.

“We were very fortunate that we could get both artists here for that concert,” she said.

Beyond that, this year’s fair will be full of old favorites and livestock shows as well as the second annual Color Fun Run after the queen crowning on Wednesday evening and the Zoops Fun Bubble Zone for kids at the same time.

On Friday night beginning at 8 p.m., the Punching Pandas, who won the Prairie Meadows Battle of the Bands in 2024 and performed at the Albion Rail-Trail Festival earlier this summer, will take the stage under the Big Top Tent for a free show.

“(The 4-H kids) are very important, but we also have tried to incorporate a lot of things for the community to come out,” Breniman said, citing other events like the Pepper tournament, cornhole and bags tournament, darts tournament and mud volleyball tournament, which will be held for the fourth time on Saturday and requires registration by 11 a.m that day at the office.

Parking and daily admission are free, and the only event with an additional cost is the Saturday night concert with Wills and Worley. Tickets can be purchased at https://www.showclix.com/tickets/mark-wills-and-darryl-worley-djnn7bv, and those who plan to attend are encouraged to bring a lawn chair.

The Central Iowa Fair Board is a nonprofit organization with an all volunteer 12-member board of directors, and Breniman said they are excited to see another year’s worth of hard work pay off over the next several days.

“We spend many, many, many hours out here putting in free labor out here. I think people will be pleasantly surprised. We’ve been very much busy doing updates. Our buildings, in fact, are being painted right now. Every building’s got new roofs, new doors, new bathrooms. We’re really trying to upgrade our fairground and make it nice for everybody to enjoy,” she said. “(We’re) trying to get it done little by little.”

A full schedule of events was printed in last weekend’s T-R, and it can also be found online at https://www.centraliowafairgrounds.com/central-iowa-fair/.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.