Canned fruits and vegetables are displayed at a previous Hamilton County Fair.
The Methodist Men’s Club of Jones Memorial United Methodist Church in East Ridge will retrieve the cow-shaped barbecue grill for the 41st annual barbecue this weekend in the church fellowship hall. The United Methodist Women also will have a bake and craft sale. Most of the day’s proceeds are used to purchase winter coats for underprivileged children in East Ridge elementary schools.
Huge hands lay on the studio floor as artist Wayne White, back center, sits and works on the face of one of his fifteen-foot-tall puppets. Ernie Paik, standing left, and Bob Stagner, deputy director of the Shaking Ray Levi Society, talk last minute preparations as White works. The oversize puppets will front Saturday’s Glass Street LIVE parade to commemorate the Centennial of the National Park Service.It’s the biggest festival weekend of the fall season with county fairs, church fundraisers, craft shows and heritage festivals around the Tennessee Valley. Anyone who can’t find something to interest them from among the coming week’s 19 events is just pretty hard to please.
This weekend’s Hamilton County Fair offers a little bit of everything – music, crafts, car shows, cows, concessions, crowns and fun for kids – all at Chester Frost Park. The county fair is expected to draw as many as 50,000 folks to the park on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 24-25. Some hope to claim a blue ribbon in the agriculture or home-centered exhibits. Some will come for bluegrass music and other nonstop entertainment on three stages.
Daniela Ford, 15, and her brothers Jonathan, 10 and Jacob, 14, will be vying for ribbons in the home-centered and livestock competitions. Carrie Presley, their mother, says the two oldest began competing six years ago, entering photography, horses, jellies and fresh eggs from the family’s 8-acre home in Middle Valley.
“We just enjoy it,” says Presley. “We go to the fair anyway, so we began taking things to enter. Between the three, they win about $100 in prize money each year.”
Then there are the girls who want to bring home a crown. Fairest of the Fair pageants are scheduled Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on the Dallas Island Stage. Mike Dunne, Hamilton County communications manager, says competition groups are divided by ages 10-12, 13-15 and 16-21. Splash Salon will award a $500 gift certificate to the top winner in each age division. The first-place winner of the 16- to 21-year-olds will represent Hamilton County at the Tennessee State Fair Convention in January.