As Oklahoma State Fair opens today, official already is planning ahead

And in a way the process is continuous. The 2010 Oklahoma State Fair opens today, but Munz already is looking at existing concert tours to get an idea of entertainers he might want to sign for next year.

"You always want to know 'Who's the next big thing?'" Munz said.

Rewind for a minute to 2007.

Munz was given the name James Otto, who some described as "a country singer and songwriter with a Southern rock heart."

Munz signed him in November 2007 for the next year's state fair. As it turned out, Otto's "Just Got Started Lovin You" became the No. 1 song on Billboard's year-end 2008 hot country songs chart.

Typically the search will strengthen in late November to early December, when Munz meets with agents during the International Association of Fairs and Expositions convention in Las Vegas.

He said not a month goes by in which he isn't doing something related to the next state fair. Even though he doesn't release the talent lineup to the public until June, he likes to have it set by April 1. He does that to maintain a clause in the contract that gives the Oklahoma State Fair a 90-day protection and a 120-mile radius protection before that entertainer's appearance at the state fair.