Muskingum County Fair Security

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Each county in Ohio holds an agricultural exposition each year that draws the community together to celebrate its rural culture and the local sheriff’s office always plays an integral role at the Muskingum County Fair.

Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz, who is widely known by community members on a first name basis, is tasked with the responsibility of maintaining security and keeping things in order during the fair. 

“Our duty, really, is just to try to make this place as safe as we can so that everybody can come here and have a… you know, great time,” Lutz said. “The fair board does an excellent job of preparing the fair and making everything safe and getting great events here. And so our job is to basically just to walk around, drive around and make sure everybody’s just kind of sticking to the rules and make sure that nobody’s acting up and causing any unsafe conditions. So that’s primarily what we do. We’re here pretty much 24/7. We have somebody here kind of looking out for everything and kind of just being the eyes and making sure everything is good.” 

The sheriff also talked about his office’s involvement with the public during the fair and how that helps with community relations throughout the year.

“I think not only the tent but the tent is one thing we do,” Lutz said. “We also do our child ID cards, we have them in the Veterans Building. And we have those two times a day for certain hours of the day. And then also I think mainly, is just the public able to walk up to our guys in uniform. Our guys are really good about carrying our sheriff’s stickers and so when we see young kids or they come up to us, we’ll try to give them the stickers just to build that rapport. To show them that the guys in the uniform are here to help them.”

Lutz recommends that fairgoers plan ahead in regard to when and where they can meet up with family members as well as how they can stay hydrated while coping with the summer heat.