Published: March 25, 2008 11:42 am            

Reviving the county fair

Knox leaders look to revive county fair

By Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor

As snow flurries fell in Barbourville Monday morning, a small group stood in the cold, surveying the vacant land at the Barbourville Business Park. They discussed optimal places for parking, lighting requirements for carnival rides, and a horse ring. And while many aspects of the event haven’t been finalized, it’s the start of Knox County’s attempt to bring back a decades-lost event — the county fair.

The Knox County UNITE (Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treatment & Education) Coalition is sponsoring the five-day fair Aug. 19-23 at the Barbourville Business Park on Hwy. 225, formerly the Richland Coal Company property. In addition to carnival rides, plans call for a main event every night of the fair, and ideas have included a demolition derby, bluegrass concerts and a horse show.

UNITE member Claudia Greenwood said it’s been 25-30 years since Knox had a county fair, and the organization seized the opportunity to host one when a traveling carnival contacted the city about possibly holding an event in August.

“Actually, the mayor had an opportunity to have a carnival come, and he asked us, Knox County UNITE Coalition, if we would be interested in getting the proceeds from the carnival for our coalition and be responsible for planning the fair,” said Greenwood. “We’ve been working on this for probably four to six weeks.”

During a planning meeting Monday, organizers discussed partnering with Ted Gibson, who holds an annual bluegrass concert and car show in Barbourville. If he joins, he would hold an event on Sunday, Aug. 24.

Greenwood said they are also seeking craft vendors and clubs to help organize vegetable and canned good contests.

“We’re planning on having exhibits with Airvac, Wayne Supply Equipment, Rudd Equipment, the health department, state police, the National Guard and Homeland Security,” Greenwood said. “We’re going to ask local civic organizations if they would take a contest of some kind, maybe a cooking contest, a look-a-like contest or celebrity karaoke, and be in charge of it so local people can be involved.”

The coalition has enlisted the help of the city, the county extension agency and others in the Tri-County.

“A couple of meetings ago we had Doug Phelps from the Laurel County Fair Board, and he answered questions,” Greenwood said. “He suggested that we not go with the agricultural part because people won’t come out to that. He said they’ll only come to truck pulls, demolition derbies and stuff like that, but we’re still undecided on what we want to do.”

That’s partially because organizers can apply for grant money through the Kentucky Department of Agriculture for the fair if they include agricultural events, and right now, UNITE doesn’t have much money with which to organize the fair.

The group is hoping that carnival tickets, admission prices and food sales will help them clear a profit, but since it’s something they’ve never tried before, Greenwood said she has no idea what the profit could be.

The next meeting of the fair planning committee will be at 9:30 a.m. April 10 at Barbourville City Hall. Vendors or local organizations who are interested in taking part in the fair can contact Greenwood at the Knox County Attorney’s Office at 546-9515, or Marsha Dixon at 545-7009.

        

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