by Allan Detrich

The food booths are shut down, and the games of chance are closed up waiting for new victims to arrive the next day. It’s just after midnight, the bright lights of the midway are switched off, fair-goers have filed out the gates.

As this happens, a work force of hundreds prepare to perform a nightly ritual which has never been seen by the average person attending the Ohio State fair since its opening at the Columbus Expo center site in 1886. This ritual consists of cleaning, sweeping, polishing, mowing, and stocking shelves, so the fair is ready for the gates to open the next day.

Governor George Voinivich makes his bunk at 12:03 in the brand new cattle building which ironically bares his name, as he prepares to camp out at the fair for his seventh time. Voinivich laughs as he admits that growing up on the East side of Cleveland did not prepare him to know much about agriculture. "I have found that coming out here and spending time with families is a wonderful way for me to really fully understand what is happening, this is a part of Ohio that alot of people only hear about and never get to understand," says Voinivich, he also admits that the first time he camped here at the State Fair, "I did not know the difference between hay and straw."

It’s 1:07 a.m., an old blues song that crackles from an AM radio is drown out by a loud buzz. A fleet of street sweepers zoom around like a swarm of locust, devouring all the trash and dirt in their path. Leaf blowers whine as they blow cigarette butts, and trash into the path of the looming street sweepers.

"I have been doing it for 15 years, there is always something to do," says Ben Wyckoff Maintenance Supervisor, as he eats his supper at 3:00 a.m. at the Maynard Avenue United Methodist Church food booth, "Last night we were mowing grass at 3 a.m. in the morning, trimming trees, bushes, painting, sweeping." Wycoff also touts that his crews "...are the backbone of the maintenance at the fair." Bragging that his 87 workers do a majority of the up-keep of the fair, opposed to the 35 they keep on duty during the day.

Another backbone for the after midnight workers is the Maynard Avenue United Methodist Church food booth. The church has operated around the clock during the Ohio State Fair since 1916. This makes for some incredible numbers. They are open 420 hours straight, average 900 transactions a day that translates into about 1500 people per day. This equals about 25,500 people for the run of the fair says Randy Reed, Chairman of the Fair committee. "At night the main people we serve are actual fair workers, the people employed by the state, as well as some of the people from the barns." says Reed, "Sometimes some of the people coming back from the bars stop in here between 1 and 3, they have a few too many occasionally, they might want six eggs and some raw bacon to eat. We go ahead, if that is what they really want, I give it to them. They eat it on down, they make their donations to the church, and go on to bed. Everyone is happy." Reed also says the overnight hours give him and the church time to tear down their machines and do daily cleanings, to keep the state health inspectors off their backs and their customers safe.

Rev. Donald Ray Hodge Jr., who spends his nights moping the floors of the Coliseum, says that working overnight has its advantages "It is cool and quiet, and I prefer to work at night, and I have the daytime to do what I need to do." Along with the 87 maintenance workers, there are over thirty state troopers on the grounds for security as well as a private security force and hundreds of children and their families who maintain a round the clock vigil watching their livestock.

If it was not for the the work of these dedicated workers after the midnight hour, there would be no tomorrow at the Ohio State Fair.