News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
School out. Memorial Day weekend. County fairs will be the next milestone on the Upper Cumberland calendar. But will they happen?
Clay County has the first county fair every year in early June. Fair President Dean Walden said they have decided to postpone until this fall.
“We’re going to try to have something later down in the year, maybe in September,” Walden said. “It may not have what it would have if we had it now, because we won’t be able to have the carnival, but we could have our exhibits and stuff like that later in the year.”
In Dekalb County, the fair is scheduled for July 13-18. Fair Manager Jeff McMillen said too much remains uncertain to make a decision.
“We don’t know what the plans are exactly,” McMillen said. “We don’t want to make decisions that we don’t have something to back it up with. We have decided to make our decision by June 1 and that will give us about 45 days out on our fair to know the right thing to do.”
The Overton County fair overlaps Dekalb County’s, running July 16-26. Fair Treasurer Donita Wilson echoed the frustrations over the unknowns.
“We don’t know what’s coming down the pike that we’re going to have to meet the guidelines for,” Wilson said. “We talked to the commissioners, and right now everything is up in the air as to whether or not we can even have a fair this year. That will be based on if we can safely have events and what sanitizing and distancing guidelines are going to be in place.”
One of the county fairs that takes place later in the year occurs in Fentress County in August. President Jimmy Sweet said some preliminary fair events have been cancelled, but they would be making a decision later in the summer as more guidelines are recommended by the state.
Fentress County Fair Treasurer Cindy Smith said small communities will miss out on many special moments if their fairs are cancelled.
“There are people here who don’t go on long vacations,” Smith said. “They save their money to go to the county fair. The fact that it teaches our kids about agriculture, and at our fairgrounds, we have soil conservation day that has been cancelled, but it was for all fifth graders throughout the community. The things they learn about agricultural sources, and they talk about he parks. It’s an endless resource for learning for students in our community, so it’s really hard not seeing it taking place.”
