Big night
It’s beloved tradition for families and an excitement-filled week for the young and young-at-heart.
The Fayette County Fair will get underway Thursday, July 27 and run through Saturday, Aug. 5 at the Fayette County Fairgrounds on Route 119 in Dunbar Township.
The fair is the biggest annual event in the county, typically attracting around 100,000 people over its 10-day run.
The fair showcases the best in local agriculture and provides entertainment that ranges from pig races to demolition derbies to the crowning of the fair queen and fair princess, of course.
It takes a tremendous amount of work to hold the fair every year, with hundreds of volunteers, including committee workers and the fair’s board of directors.
They all deserve our thanks for their hard work and dedication to the fair. Simply put, without them, there wouldn’t be a fair. Bill Jackson, the fair board president, also deserves some extra kudos for all his hard work during the entire year. He can certainly tell you that being a fair board president is much more than a one-week or a one-month job.
The main goal of the fair is to promote agriculture, and there certainly will be plenty of that at the fair with exhibits of all sorts of farm animals and numerous 4-H competitions. But there will also be plenty of fun with a plethora of musical performances, amusement rides of every kind and the ever-popular demolition derbies, tractor pulls, motocross, monster trucks, mud mania and rodeo.
The fair wouldn’t be complete without such long-standing traditions as the pig races, the fair queen pageant, fireworks, the petting zoo and home economic contests like the apple pie and chili competitions.
The various food booths keep people coming back year after year with such tasty treats as sausage sandwiches, gyros, funnel cakes, french fries, pizza and foot-long hot dogs available.
For information about the entrance prices and so forth, see the fair’s website at fayettefair.com. Also, be sure to check the Herald-Standard for a full schedule of events.
All in all, this year’s fair should be another great event with something to offer for everyone.
We encourage residents to come out and spend a night reliving old memories or creating new ones. In a world where we spend too much time with our noses in our phones and on Netflix, Hulu and the like, it’s good to spend an evening (or two) enjoying some good old-fashioned fun. Especially with the past year we’ve all had. For many, it will be a chance to see old friends. It will be a welcome reprieve and a closer step to normalcy.
For longtime fairgoers, it’s hard not to begin to reminisce when the smell of funnel cake hits your nostrils, or the sounds of motocross or truck pulls hits your ears. Many in the area grew up attending the fair, and this year’s activities will have all the familiar favorites and much more.
The fair has always been a great family event, and it’s also an affordable one. Considering that money is tight these days, it’s hard to find a cheaper way to spend a night having fun.
We all get caught up in the hustle-bustle of the day-to-day, but what makes the fair so special is that since it only comes around but once a year (save 2020), it is a reason to carve out some time to spend with your family.
Whether your kids are little and ready to see the fair for the first time or your kids are all grown up and would be reliving all their favorite memories, we can’t think of a better way to spend a summer night.
So, make your plans to attend the fair now. It will be over before you know it.