Fairs and farming go hand and hand for 12-year-old Haley Ehrke. It's what she knows. It's tradition that runs deep - so being crowned the Grand Champion of this year's 4-H Parade of Champions was extra special. It's a title she now shares with her mom.

"29 years ago I actually won the state fair with a steer too so it's overwhelming to think that the last year in Lincoln, Haley actually was fortunate enough to win it," said Janell Ehrke.

The showing is the last they'll have in Lincoln which makes it bitter-sweet but the Ehrke's hope the fair's ride in Grand Island brings new opportunities. Janell would like to see an emphasis on technology and entrepreneurship.

"Cabelas was started at a kitchen table. Just think of how many small businesses we could grow," said Ehrke.

For Stacy Keller and her family, the drive to Grand Island will be shorter from their home in St. Paul. Showing their animals at the fair has also become family tradition. It's the tradition Keller says she'll miss the most.

She expects the fair's focus to shift with a different crowd of attendees.

"We're already kind of thinking it will take on more of a livestock exposition rather than everything this encompasses but hopefully it's not going to ruin the fair even though there's not all the shopping and stuff that Lincoln has," said Keller.

She's not alone in her predictions. Sandy Pospisil thinks fewer people will make the trip to Grand Island, simply because it's away from Lincoln and Omaha. She and her husband have been bringing their antique tractors to the fair for the last few years, but don't know that they'll have the time or money to do the same in Grand Island.

"I think it will be similar to husker harvest days because that's what everybody there is used to," said Pospisil.

A decline in attendance doesn't catch Jerry Fitzgerald, Chairman of the State Fair Board, by surprise. In fact, he expects the same.

"We're going to have people come to the fair, were going to have people from the western part that maybe won't drive into Lincoln as much as people from Lincoln say that they won't go to Grand Island, I think the numbers are probably going to go down, but I do think were going to have excellent support," he said.

While it's too early to know how many will make the trip to Fitzgerald does expect to see more exhibitors making new memories like those of Haley and Janell Ehrke.

"Our exhibits were up this year, and that's what makes fairs, the juniors, and the F.F.A. Kids that come to town, the open classes were up, and I think those exhibits will continue to go up, and people will come to the fair as an exhibitor. I think it's going to be positive."