ZANESVILLE, Ohio — A year of resignations, vacancies and debate over the Muskingum County Fair’s direction ended with a sweeping turnover on the fair board, as only two incumbents kept their seats in the Oct. 28 election and two former members who had resigned within the past year won their way back, according to reporting by the Zanesville Times Recorder.
Six seats were up for election. In the races for four three-year terms running through 2029, incumbent Heather Noss led the field with 262 votes, followed by newcomer Keith McKenzie with 212, returning former member Derek Watiker with 202 and returning former member Andy Wilson with 192, the Times Recorder reported. Three incumbents lost: Jesse Passwaters received 128 votes, former board president Jerry Miller received 112 and Dave Eck received 94.
Two shorter terms were also decided. Ashton Pettit defeated incumbent Brady Johnson, 197 votes to 133, for a two-year term ending in 2028, and incumbent Darren Hanby held off former board member Berney Harmon, 166 votes to 143, for a one-year term expiring in 2027, according to the Times Recorder. Eck, Passwaters and Johnson had been appointed earlier in 2026 to fill board vacancies.
Wilson left the board in January, and he told the Times Recorder on Nov. 3 that the biggest factor was supporting a family member through health issues. With that family member’s health improving, Wilson said he could focus on the fair again. He also said he had worried that 4-H programs were getting lost — a concern that surfaced in August, when changes to the hog sale drew community blowback before a compromise was reached.
Watiker, who also resigned within the past year after taking over his family’s construction business, told the Times Recorder he stepped back partly over creative differences and wants his return to refocus the fair on young exhibitors. “For me, a fair is about the 4-H and the kids,” Watiker told the Zanesville Times Recorder. “If you don’t have the kids and 4-H, then it’s a carnival.”
The reshaped board met Nov. 3 to swear in members, thank departing ones and elect officers, naming Denny Mozena as its new president in place of Miller. “We just need to keep moving forward,” Mozena told the Times Recorder, adding that the board should “continue to grow the fair as an agricultural representation of Muskingum County” and “make it a family destination for a week in August.” Vice President Katie Linville, Secretary Mike Boysel, Treasurer Gail Deitrick, Rodney Crooks and Jonna Sharp remain on the board.
Miller, who told the Times Recorder he was undecided about running again, pointed in his farewell remarks to the fair’s first summer rodeo, 200 tons of new blacktop and a fair that stayed in the black despite challenging weather. The new board now takes over planning for next August’s fair, and its returning members say the test of their comeback will be whether 4-H and FFA exhibitors feel the difference when the gates open.
Photo: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA