Online ticket sales start in MayThey've toured the world and shared their music for more than 40 years.This summer they'll add the Park County Fair in Powell to their credits.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band — artists of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” and “Mr. Bojangles” — will appear as the fair headliner on Wednesday, July 22. This year's featured grandstand entertainer has been performing as a group since 1967.

Scheduling the “Dirt Band” continues the county fair tradition of bringing headliner entertainment to the fairgrounds each summer. Last year the country Western band, Sawyer Brown, played to a nearly full house in the main grandstand.

“We're actually making a little money, not a lot,” said Park County Fair Manager Steve Scott of the investment in “name” entertainment.

“We work with our booking agent to get a band like this in the area to do four or five shows at least 100 miles apart, and it gets a break for all of us,” Scott said.

The fair board will put up about $25,000 to contract for a one-night show by the touring group. Ticket prices of $25 and $30 cover the costs with a decent crowd.

“We don't know what the economy's going to bring us this year,” Scott said. “We hope if people don't panic, we'll be all right.”

The county fair is trying a new wrinkle with advance ticket sales online this year, starting in early May. The thing that people should be aware of, Scott said, is that tickets will be sold online for all fair attractions, not just the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

Tickets for the July 25 Demolition Derby Derby, for example, will also go on sale at the same time. Credit card transactions online will be complete with issuance of tickets. Further announcement of the online process will be made by the fair office before the starting date.