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Tyler Orgill, 22, always loved going to the Summit County Fair. Now he’s running it.

Tyler Orgill helps his niece, Brooklyn, avoid catastrophe while riding a sheep at the Summit County Fair.
Courtesy of Rebekah Stevens

A Coalville native, Tyler Orgill has many fond memories of attending the Summit County Fair.

He remembers showing pigs when he was 10 or 11, walking the midway and checking out the carnival rides.

But this year, he’s going to take in the fair a bit differently: The 22-year old is in charge of the whole thing.



“Ever since I was young, I always loved going to the fair,” Orgill said. “I always looked at the person who ran the fair — she was a local to Coalville — she was Superman, she put on the greatest show ever.”

Now that responsibility is his. He’s been volunteering at the fair since 2016, and in June signed a contract to become the fair coordinator after the previous coordinator stepped down.



While he acknowledges the task is a bit “overwhelming” and notes that “it’s on me” if something goes wrong, he’s optimistic about how the fair will turn out.

“Right now, the scariest thing for me is running the board meeting and presenting before the County Council,” he said with a laugh. “I’m feeling really good, feeling great about the event.”

Orgill took over for Travis English, who had run the fair since 2013 and resigned in June, less than two months before this year’s fair next month. County Manager Tom Fisher said the county has dealt with that “little crisis” with the help of two of the organizers of the Park Silly Sunday Market, Kate McChesney and Michelle McDonald. The pair have helped run the fair for six years, Fisher said, but were officially placed under contract this year.

Orgill said their experience has been invaluable and he “couldn’t do it without them.”

Fisher also said English had done a “tremendous amount of work” setting the county up for success. Orgill agreed, saying the former event manager had already sent out some of the contracts for this year’s fair and had organized helpful paperwork and information about the budget.

Managing the fair is largely an administrative task, Orgill explained, and entails making sure all the contracts are written and signed and committees are in place to run events like the Little Buckaroo Rodeo and the Miss Summit County pageant.

“You’ve got your iron in a lot of fires right now,” he said.

He also has to be something of an expert in everything that happens at the fair, a big ask considering the events range from a rodeo to a fine arts show.

Fisher said one of the things that make Orgill qualified for the job was his “familiarity with everything that goes on around (the fair.)”

“(He) anticipates what needs to be done, remembers from past years what needs to be done and interacts with vendors and volunteers extremely well,” he said. “He’s extremely valuable to the fair.”

Orgill describes the job as being the fair’s “control center.”

“If they have questions they talk to me,” he said. “If people call in and ask what’s required for the fine arts show, (I have to be able to tell them) their displays can only be 48 inches long, two per artist, where we’re taking submissions.”

Fisher said Orgill was hired on a two-year contract and the county has yet to decide how to dole out the balance of English’s job responsibilities, which included managing all of the county’s special events and film permitting. When it comes time to fill English’s full-time position, the county will have to open it up to outside candidates. Though Orgill said he could see his role with the county growing into a career, for now he’s concentrating on coordinating the County Fair.

“To have the opportunity to run the Summit County Fair and to be running it with Kate McChesney and Michelle McDonald is truly an honor,” he said.


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