An outsider’s perspective on fair season
As someone new to Greene County, I have to say, I’m flabbergasted.
A huge part of my job as managing editor is planning content for the paper. So I must think weeks, sometimes months, in advance to make sure our paper is able to cover all the important events happening in the area.
I started at the Messenger about a month ago, right before the storm that is summertime in Greene County. I knew, looking through older issues, there would be a lot of large-scale events coming up, but it wasn’t until I sat down this week to put my planning to paper that it truly hit me: Greene County, has an overwhelming amount of festivals, fairs and pageants.
And they happen all at once.
In the next month, we will have the Jacktown Fair, the Rain Day Festival, the Greene County Fair and the King Coal Festival. Plus, we have the pageants corresponding with each event.
Then, this fall the Frontier Festival, the Heritage Festival, the Covered Bridge Festival, the Harvest Festival and the Mason-Dixon Festival happen.
I had no idea there could be so many celebrations in one place.
I admire how fiercely everyone celebrates here. I feel the excitement in the air and can sense how enthusiastic everyone is. It’s just taken some getting used to as someone from an Ohio suburb.
Where I’m from, there is one fair a year and it’s your standard county fair. Don’t get me wrong, it’s always fun and my family looked forward to it, but that was it. We attended one fair for one day. Then we went home.
That clearly wouldn’t fly in Greene County.
This will be my first Greene County fair season and I’m ready. At least, I think I am.
I am eager to learn more about the Jacktown Fair, which people say you can’t die happy until you attend. I’m looking forward to my first Rain Day festival. I’m anticipating a county fair that will blow the fairs I’m used to out of the water. And as someone who has never competed in a pageant, let alone met someone who won one, I’m excited to see what it takes.
And I was told about a ramp festival that happens in the spring?
A month ago, I had no idea what a “ramp” was, assumed people were celebrating inclines, but no. Pretty soon, I’ll be paying tribute to the wild, garlic-like vegetable like everyone else in Greene County.
But I’m ready to witness it all, to learn and try a new food.
So, bring on the fairs, the pageants and the festivals. Bring on new experiences, busy work days and hot summer nights.
I’m ready to see what all the fuss is about.