Despite the devastation caused by hurricane Helene in many areas over the weekend, organizers determined the 4th annual Henry County Fair must go on, with record attendance on Saturday, September 28 more than enough to determine it was a success.
While the wristband sales have yet to be counted, Henry County Parks & Recreation Director Roger Adams said Saturday was busy all day long, with thousands coming through the fairground gates.
“We had lines most of the afternoon to purchase ride tickets. There were lines past our gate admission ticket booths, and we’ve never had that happen before,” he said.
Adams said he was surprised the fair was as successful as it was considering the onslaught of rain. But, on “Saturday when we woke up and it was a clear sky, we knew we’d have a good local turnout. We probably didn’t have as many people coming from out of town because of the weather, especially Friday night,” he said.
Even then, Adams said the fair weathered numerous tornado warnings and had a good crowd for Jordan Feliz’s performance for Spirit FM night. Some people that traveled hours to see Feliz perform, with one family traveling five hours one way.
“I’m sure we would have had a lot more” local people and people from further away Friday “if it wasn’t for the weather. Typically, for Spirit FM Night, we have a decent amount of folks come from an hour, or a couple of hours away for that night,” Adams said.
On “Thursday, Jack & David Reid could not take the stage to perform, so we were only open for a short period of time,” he said.
Opening night Wednesday started off good, but Adams said Key West, a Jimmy Buffett tribute band, were about three-quarters of the way through their set before the rain started, causing them to cut their set short.
Still “Saturday kind of made up for it. We were busy all-day Saturday. You know, a great crowd. So, the fair was successful, we didn’t have any issues with anything, and we had good attendance for the weather,” Adams said.
There was also great turnout for the Pompeyo Family Amazing Dog Show, Adams said, with many people remembering it from America’s Got Talent and wanting to watch it in person.
“There were so many just positive stories of people interacting with the animals. People that were afraid of animals before and got to pet and hold and have their pictures taken with some of the animals here. It was just a great experience for folks to experience something that they’ve maybe never had before,” he said.
Adams noted Henry County has also lost at least one day the past couple of fairs because of inclement weather. Last year, Saturday was lost and the first fair’s Wednesday was lost because of hurricanes.
Adams believes any planned outdoor event potentially faces weather-related issues. But he believes the costs associated with the fair stayed within budget.
“The rain, weather, thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, are always going to be a concern when planning for outsold activities. Anytime you have an outdoor activity, even with our youth sports, the weather’s always going to play a factor.” Adams said. “Everyone hopes for sunny skies and nice temperatures for their event, but it always doesn’t happen.”
