LINN — The Linn Lions Club decided to change the dates of this year’s Osage County Fair after their long time carnival vendor, Show Me Amusements, notified the club that the owners would be retiring this year and could not provide rides and games for the 2026 fair. That notification came around the first of January, said President Andy Dudenhoeffer, leaving Lions Club members scrambling to find an alternative.

“There’s fewer and fewer and fewer carnivals now, just since Covid hit,” Dudenhoeffer explained. “(The) labor’s not there like it used to be. There was just an interruption in their usual cycle, and it killed a lot of carnivals.”

After club members called multiple carnivals and found most were scheduled at least a year in advance, Dudenhoeffer said Jones and Company Carnival out of Lexington, Kent., had an opening in early June. “The dates they had available for us were June 11 through June 13,” Dudenhoeffer said. “Historically, our fair has always been that second week of July, so this year would have fallen on July 9th through 11th. So, we’ve moved it up a month. We’ve signed the contract, and they will be playing our fair June 11th through the 13th.”

Dudenhoeffer said the club had only about a week to make the decision because the company had other events vying for that spot. “We can’t have a fair without a carnival,” he said. “We experienced that three years ago, and we said we’d never do that again.”

He went on to explain that the fair isn’t financially viable for the Lions Club without a carnival. The proceeds from gate sales are used to fund the events on the track, but concessions are where the Lions Club makes its profit. “We have spectators that come watch events, (but) the carnival brings in families,” he said, explaining that families buy most of the concessions. “Without something for the kids to do, the moms and dads are maybe reluctant to come.”

They’ve been fortunate, he said, that other events have fallen into place around the new dates. “Thursday night’s event will be the farm tractor pull, like it has been forever and ever and ever,” he said. “Friday, this year, we’re going to have Mid-Missouri Truck and Tractor Pulling Association. They’re going to have their big trucks and tractors there on Friday night. Last year, that event was on a Saturday.

“This year on the Saturday, we’re having our Mud Bowl 36,” he continued. “(And), obviously, everything between.”

Stage events, concessions, and 4H animals will still be part of the fair, he noted, adding that 4-H was one of the biggest obstacles involved in changing the dates. “They sell their animals, obviously, at their livestock auction, and taking a month away from them makes a lighter-weighted animal, which returns less yield,” he explained.

Dudenhoeffer said it’s been a sore subject, but “they have complied, and they’re going to make the best of it, which we’re thankful for.”

Moving forward, Dudenhoeffer said the Lions Club hopes to sign a contract with the new carnival for future dates, so they can keep fair dates consistent going forward, whether it stays in June or returns to the traditional second weekend in July.

“It’s a bigger (carnival) than one we typically hire,” he explained. “They’ve got the kiddie rides, like all the carnivals have. They have intermediate rides, adult rides, and their carnival foods. But they’re a little bigger outfit than what we’ve had historically, so we’re hoping community likes it.”