Photo by Deb Gau 4-H member Shelby Neyens brought her hanging plant arrangement to a judge at the Lyon County fairgrounds Monday afternoon. While animal judging events are taking place over the course of the week, “static” 4-H exhibits ranging from woodworking to arts and crafts and gardening were judged Monday. Projects will be on display this week at the fair.

MARSHALL — After a year of events put on hold for COVID-19, communities around Minnesota have been looking forward to having summer festivals and county fairs come back. Organizers of the Lyon County Fair are hoping the same holds true in Marshall this week.

“I think we’re going to have a good fair this year,” said Wally Wichman, one of the members of the Lyon County Fair Board. The fair officially opens Wednesday evening with a full schedule including a carnival midway, grandstand events and entertainment through Sunday.

“I think everyone’s going to have a good time,” Wichman said.

This year’s fair will feature lots of returning favorites like the carnival, 4-H events, and attractions like the Ralco Enrichment Center, but there will be some new things to check out as well. Wichman said one of the new events fairgoers can see will be the Swifty Swine pig races. Some of the exhibits and entertainment at the fair will also include children’s entertainer Silly Miss Tilly, and strongman demonstrations by John Beatty Strength Shows.

In addition to the educational activities at the Enrichment Center, Ralco will be sponsoring games like agriculture trivia.

There’s lots of music and grandstand entertainment events planned this week, too. The grandstand programs will kick off Wednesday evening with a Christian music concert.

The fair was not able to bring the LifeLight Christian music festival back this year, but the kickoff concert will feature All the Noise, as well as local musicians, said fair board member Bob Richards.

“This year, we’re doing two local bands,” Richards said. One group will include students from Southwest Minnesota State University, and the other is made up of community members from Grace Life Church, he said.

Some of the big events coming back to the grandstand will include the PRCA rodeo on Thursday and Friday night.

“We’ve gone almost 20 years with the rodeo,” and the event is always a crowd-pleaser, Wichman said. On Saturday, the grandstand show will shift to a different kind of entertainment, with the return of demolition derby.

The fair schedule includes plenty of musical performances as well, starting with Wednesday night, as the White Sidewalls take to the free stage at 8 p.m. The music will continue each night of the fair, with the Cody Hicks Band performing on Thursday, Hicktown Mafia and Jason Pritchett performing on Friday, and Red Dirt Road performing on Saturday.