By Paul Leach
Correspondent
DECATUR, Tenn. — After working at the Meigs County Fair for 30 years, Clare Nell Breeden sees it as more than cotton candy, cake contests, carnival rides and cattle.
“It’s a way we can showcase our county, our people both young and old can receive recognition for their achievements, and it can bring the folks together for a great homecoming,” said Breeden, the fair’s organizer who started as a volunteer in 1980.
The Meigs County Fair opens Tuesday at the fairgrounds in Decatur and continues through Saturday. It drew 6,400 attendees last year.
“Fairs were created to enrich and improve communities,” said Lynne Williams, fair administrator for the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, in a news release.
The Meigs fair celebrates its 90th anniversary this year and offers agricultural and beauty contests, community exhibitions, musical entertainment and carnival rides. Admission is free.
Along with a beauty pageant on Tuesday night and Pretty Baby, Little Miss and Young Miss contests on Wednesday night, there is a 4-H poultry show and sale on Wednesday and a junior beef show on Saturday. A barnyard nursery also will be open daily.
“In a time when choosing local and homegrown foods is a national movement, fairs are on the cutting edge,” Williams said, “giving a whole new generation of gardeners and canners encouragement and education about how to grow and safely preserve nutritious foods.”
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture supports county fairs by partly funding prizes for livestock and locally grown and prepared foods.
The state covers “a percentage of the funds we pay out but, of course, it is very helpful,” Breeden said.
The Meigs County Fair, originally established in 1920, lapsed a few years in the 1970s but was reorganized in 1980.
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