South Haven News

By Claire Minor

On Aug. 21-23, 2025, South Haven hosted the annual 109th South Haven Fair! The most popular events at the fair are usually the car show, the parade, the food trucks, and the pork chop feed; but there are many more events that go on at the fair. The carnival company this year was “Twisted Amusements”. Preliminary reports say that this year’s fair has had the most attendance compared to the last 6 years, maybe even since the 100th annual South Haven Fair!

Fair board member Julie Wolf, says that her favorite parts of the fair were the car show, the parade, the kid games, and the livestock shows. Wolf said that the fair board prepares to sell about 1000 buttons, so on a not-so-accurate estimate, there were about 500 people who attended the fair. Wolf also added and said “When the fair is lucky enough to make money, they put it towards improvements and upkeep to the buildings.”

South Haven fire chief, Blackwell assistant fire chief, and member on the school board, Seth Brown, thought the fair overall went great and that he didn’t hear one negative comment about anything this year, saying that “Everyone pulled together this year and made it a huge success!”

Brown participated with anything that needed sound since he was involved in the sound engineering needed over the weekend. All issues that occurred, they made it work and they have made plans for improvement next year.

Brown is also obviously involved with the fire department and even though the fire department has no direct involvement in the fair, they participate in the parade, wet the streets for dust control if needed, and prepare for possible events. Brown said “Thankfully there were no calls for service.”

Brown said that his favorite part of the fair was being able to enjoy his Saturday by visiting the vendors in the community building and his friends. Brown said that he also enjoyed being able to bring his assigned vehicle from work and display it in the parade.

Even though there are only 10 members on the fair board, the whole community pitches in. Wolf said that the board couldn’t do anything without the sponsorships, those who volunteer, and of course, the people who attend. Sounds to me like this year’s 109th annual South Haven fair was a success!

For information on the winners of contests you can take a look at the South Haven New Era or the South Haven Fair Association on Facebook!