A special day at the fair

 “We feel it is important for them to be able to have these types of experiences at the county fair,” said T.J.Schmidt Chief Operations Officer Doug Burtch.

“We can take away some of the stimulates that bother them while still giving them an experience similar to that of the general public but on their own time,” he said. “It makes us feel good to be able to give that to them.”

 Jonah Schmidt, looks forward to coming to the fair every year, according to his mom, Serre’Jo.

“We do the same thing every year, we look at the animals, we get ice cream, we ride the ride and then we always end at the taco place, tacos are his favorite,” she said. “We have a routine here, he knows when we come that is what we do.”

Schmidt said she and her husband cannot tell him about the fair until the day before because he will not stop talking about it.

“He loves coming to the fair,” she said. “He is usually ahead of everyone pulling them along because he knows what he wants to do.” She said if the couple brought him to the midway on a typical night it would be too much for him to handle. “There would be too many people here and it would be too loud and he would not be able to focus on going on the rides,” she said. “Thursday is more low key and he knows a lot of the people who were invited so he feels comfortable.”

Kay Walle was taking photos of her son, Ryan, as he rode the merry-go-round on Thursday.

“This is the biggest event for him every year, this and the fireworks,” she said. “He will ride the merry-go-round over and over and over again.”

Walle said Ryan who is 40 does not like the big kids rides and is too big for the little kids rides so it is nice he can attend the special kids day and ride the merry-go-round as many times as he wants too.

Children who were eligible for the special event were invited by invitation only and given an id badge through the West Shore Educational Service District.

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