Allow me to do some bragging on my community. I am a member of the management committee of the James E. Ward Agriculture and Community Center, which is the official name of our fairgrounds. Annually, it hosts to Wilson County Fair, the largest fair in Tennessee. It is even bigger than the state fair. In my mind, that’s bragging rights.
At this meeting, we were presented with the final statistics of the fair. I thought a few of you might find them interesting.
The fair was attended by 589,229 people. While there is no accurate way to determine where all of those people came from, some folks scan the parking lot to check license plates. They found cars from 5 countries, 35 states and 51 Tennessee counties. This is a fair that is known far and wide, but it wouldn’t be possible without the 905 volunteers who take vacation from their real jobs to operate the fair successfully.
The people who oversee the fair like to highlight the agricultural aspects of our community because that’s what county fairs were originally designed to do. With that in mind, there are all kinds of agricultural exhibits judged for their quality.
Let’s see. There were:
403 beef cattle
572 dairy cattle
657 sheep
141 swine
196 mules
681 goats
378 poultry
470 rabbits
193 jars of honey
50 hams
821 fruits and vegetables
954 flowers and plants
Of course, what’s a fair without beauty pageants.
198 babies were signed up for the Baby Show.
24 young ladies competed in the Fairest of the Fair, which was sponsored by Beauty Boutique.
On top of all that, the winner of Ms. Senior Wilson County went on to win the state competition.
There were also cooking contests, antique tractors, school exhibits, horse shows, dog shows, photography contests, art contests and an arm wrestling competition. The list goes on and on. The thing is so big that it can’t all be seen in one visit.
We are all proud of the Wilson County Fair. If you are in this area next August, then you should check it out.
SBI: A Thinning Crowd 
Wow, that’s a huge fair. We used to get a little bitty one, but the town sold the fairground. There used to be a huge one every year in Danbury, CT, but that fairgrounds is now full of condos and a mall. I miss the county fairs. I was a devotee.
For a long time our fair was gone, then local volunteers brought it back. Now, it’s grown into the biggest thing around. It’s also cool because they do it like the old time fairs. I think that’s why it’s so popular.
10 points for “that’s bragging rights”. I tried to comment by using my phone over the weekend, but technology imploded and it wouldn’t work…
I thought someone out there would appreciate that.