Jacktown Fair ‘always brings good cheer’
The granddaddy of them all kicks off the local fair season this week.
The Jacktown Fair – considered one of the oldest continually operating agricultural fairs in the country – started in 1866 as the Jacksonville Fair.
For a little perspective on how long the event has been part of rural Greene County’s landscape, let’s rewind 160 years. Andrew Johnson was president, the Civil War had just officially ended, and Tennessee had become the first state to be readmitted to the Union in the wake of deep political division between the North and South.
Farming was the primary occupation of the day, born out of necessity to feed American families. It was a back-breaking vocation, done without the assistance of modern-day equipment and electricity but with manual labor, hand tools and draft animals.
In addition to the livestock, cooking, home and garden contests that remain the cornerstone of present-day fairs, horse racing was a big draw in those early days. Entertainment, according to Jacktown Fair organizers, consisted of an “international circus,” balloon ascents, tight-rope walkers, trapeze performers, fireworks and assorted bands.
Fast forward to today. Beyond the amusements, tractor pulls, demolition derbies and exhibits, agricultural fairs offer an important educational component for non-farmers to engage with the producers of our food. A stroll through the animal barns offers children and adults alike a close-up look at the animals whose byproducts eventually make it to our kitchen tables, from the milk we pour on our breakfast cereal to the cheese and protein that tops our pizza.
And let’s not forget to acknowledge the appeal the annual exhibitions hold for members of the agriculture community itself – the youth in 4-H clubs and their families as well as the farmers who proudly show fairgoers the fruit of their labor.
In 1879, the Waynesburg Messenger offered this observation of the Jacktown Fair: “If there was nothing on exhibition except the large crowd of people it would pay to spend thirty-five cents and a half day on the fair grounds. … We witnessed so much sociability and apparent true enjoyment, that we could not help thinking that such a day might be looked forward to as one of the most pleasant of the season, and that, if properly managed, it might be said of ‘fair day,’ as of Christmas, ‘though it comes but once a year, it always brings good cheer.”
If you’ve never been to the Jacktown Fair, there is no time like the present to check it off your bucket list.
The weeklong event begins with a worship service Sunday morning, and the fair queen and princess competition is later that day. Festivities don’t begin in earnest, however, until Tuesday evening, when the beloved and highly anticipated parade steps off and marches onto the Wind Ridge fairgrounds followed by the opening ceremony.
As the saying goes, “You can’t die happy ’til you’ve been to the Jacktown Fair.”