(Spencer)– There’s a change in leadership at the Clay County Fair. It’s being announced today (Tues.) Jason Brockshus will be taking over as CEO/Manager effective April 19th. Brockshus will succeed Jerome Hertel, who is retiring. Brockshus tells KUOO news he’s had several years of experience with the Clay County Fair…
“I came to work for the fair full time in 2021 after covid. I was brought on to be the Partnerships Director and then also head up the charitable trust, so in that role I worked with all our fair sponsors as well as the charitable trust supporters and also headed up the ag education part of the fair and tried to grow that piece a little bit since I do have an ag education background and was an ag teacher at one point, so it seemed to be a natural fit for me there.”
Brockshus has also held leadership roles with the International Association of Fairs and Expositions and the Iowa State Dairy Association.
While the Clay County Fair itself goes on for nine days out of the year, Brockshus says overseeing the operations is a year-round job…
“We have our signature event of course everybody is well of aware in September, the Clay County Fair, the world’s greatest county fair, but we also have a great Regional Events Center that’s part of the fair operations now so we have events all year around. It really is a 365 day business that we operate out here in Spencer, so.”
Brockshus says one of his goals is to continue to build on the rich traditions of the Clay County Fair…
“The real role of this is to just be a good steward of the fair. There’s been people in this role before me here and they’ve entrusted the future leaders to take care of the fair. You know I grew up in Ocheyedan, Iowa so this was my state fair. Growing up I didn’t attend the actual State Fair until I was a student at Iowa State University so I know there’s a lot of people very passionate about the Clay County Fair. So we’ll hold on to those traditions and what this fair stands for but then also have an eye to the future bringing some new items in here as far as entertainment and ag education and just really maintain the facilities and what we have going on here with an eye to the future as well.”
Brockshus expressed his gratitude to the Clay County Fair Board for offering him this opportunity…
“I put a lot of stake in their thoughts and concerns and operating the fair forward and they’ve entrusted me to lead this organization through. We have a great staff here at the fair and events center, so I’m going to lean heavily on their expertise and expect us to be very successful into the future.”
The announcement comes as preparations for this year’s Clay County Fair are in high gear. The 2025 Clay County Fair Powered by SMU is coming up September 6th-14th.
