1945 Dade County Fair Is Saturday

By REBECCA HAZEN
News Editor

Enjoy all-day, free, family-friendly fun and activities at the 1945 Dade County Fair, to be held Saturday, July 3, from noon until 10 p.m., at Jenkins Park.

This will be the fifth year for the county fair, held every year except for last year because of the pandemic.

A lot of activities and events are new this year, according to committee members Nathan Wooten, Jerry Gregory, and Amanda and Curtis Huckabee.

“It has gotten bigger. It just keeps growing,” Wooten said.

There will be a new vintage car show. Entry for the show is $10. Voting for the car show winners will be at the Lookout Detailing booth.

There will also be a new softball tournament. The winning team will receive a trophy cup that they will get to keep for the whole year, until next year’s tournament.

Other tournaments include a cornhole tournament and horseshoe tournament. It costs $20 to register a team for horseshoes, and $40 for cornhole teams.

The day will start out with the crowning of the fair’s queen, and end with fireworks, with plenty of activities in between.

Kids will have a lot to do at the 1945 Dade County Fair, with an arcade, bouncy houses, water slides, a duck race, and a foam machine.

“I think the kids love that more than anything. It’s big,” Gregory said about the foam machine.

There will be music all day. Sôlt will play at 12:30 p.m., Southwind will play at 1:30 p.m., Crazy Flutes will play at 3 p.m., Dallas Walker will play at 5 p.m., and Chris Shupe will play at 6 p.m. Country music singer T. Graham Brown is the headliner musician, playing at 7:30 p.m. All the musicians are local, except for T. Graham Brown.

There will be contests aplenty throughout the day. Contests include a pie baking contest, a Moon Pie eating contest, frozen t-shirt contest, hot dog eating contest, watermelon eating contest, the Great American Pinewood Derby contest, and hairy leg contest. People can sign up for contests at the registration booth.

Fair attendees will also have the opportunity to take a sledgehammer to an old car.

There will be bingo games, and a cake walk (similar to musical chairs) inside the Civic Center.

There will also be drama team shows and a talent show.

In addition, swimming at the community pool is free for the day.

Thatcher’s Barbecue & Grill will provide food, along with the Davis Fire Department. There will also be kettle corn, ice cream and funnel cakes available. No alcohol is allowed.

There are about 70 vendors expected to be at the fair. There will also be a silent auction and a 50/50 raffle.

There will be multiple designated parking lots, and there will be signage around town designating the spots. There will also be maps and a schedule of events available to attendees.

The 1945 Dade County Fair has always had good attendance, but the committee members expect the numbers to double this year.

“It’s going to be humongous, I think, because the Cornbread Festival is cancelled, Riverbend Festival is shutdown,” Curtis Huckabee said.

“As a vendor point of view, with COVID, we couldn’t do anything. I haven’t done a vendor show in two years,” Amanda Huckabee said. “This being local is the perfect thing. This area is full of local vendors.”

“We needed to do something here for folks who aren’t able to leave town,” Wooten said about the creation of the event.

The committee is open to new volunteers who want to help plan next year’s event.

“It is a lot to try to pull it all together. We have weekly meetings,” Gregory said. “We’re all the time throwing ideas out.”

The money made from the event goes straight back to the committee to start planning for next year’s event.

“This year we have had exceptional support from the business community,” Wooten said. “More than exceptional.”