County fair to offer the usual and unusual

Aug. 14—The Lawrence County Fairgrounds was buzzing with activity as bakers, growers, seamstresses and livestock owners arrive to submit their entries for judging and campers pull in for a weeklong stay.

Lawrence County 4-H and FFA youths are preparing their animal projects with grooming and weighing-in at the animal barns. Amusement rides are moving in and setting up for the week, and commercial exhibitors are getting their booths ready.

All of these activities point to the start of the Lawrence County Fair, which opens with a flag-raising ceremony at noon Monday and lasts until the last skyrocket explodes after dusk on Saturday night.

Fairgoers will have sensory overload with the sights, sounds and smells — food and otherwise — as they stroll through the fairgrounds visiting exhibits, checking out antique tractors and farm machinery, playing games of chance, eating fair food and attending performances and competitions throughout the week.

Marching bands from various local high schools will perform on the midway, and the Lawrence County Community Band is a scheduled concert.

On exhibit and involved in judging in the livestock arena will be 201 dairy cattle, 51 beef cattle, 62 market steers, 59 market lambs, 34 open class lambs, 165 hogs, 63 market goats, 100 dairy goats, 54 rabbits and 31 horses.

Unusual features will include a live wolf exhibit, a mullet contest, a micro-wresting contest, helicopter rides and monkey and dog races.

Activities for kids will include magic shows, a dunking booth, a master gardener's craft sessions, balloon art and hula hooping, dress-up contests, pony rides and an animal petting area.

The Lawrence County Pomona Grange members will oversee their annual apple butter making behind the grange building, and jars of it, along with homegrown vegetables, will be available for sale.

Traditional shows will include the dairy delight calf dress-up contest and cheese auction at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the livestock arena, the Paw Printz 4-H Dog Club show at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the dog pavilion, and gospel night, also at 6:30 p.m. in the community building.

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A motocross series finale event, bull ride rodeo, tractor pulls and a demolition derby will be the big grandstand events during the week.

Fairgoers are encouraged to consult the full schedule of activities online at lawrencecountyfair.com/fair-week/fair-schedule for more choices and activities.

Shawn Hill, this year's fair board president, said the board has made several improvements on the grounds, sprucing them up for this year's events.

Several support posts were added on the row barns. New ventilation and improvements were added to the livestock show arena, the painting was done throughout the grounds, the main entrance and other locales received asphalt surfacing, and the roofs were replaced on the 4-H youth building, home economics building and the community building, he said.

The "microwrestling" event is new to the grandstand this year, he said, and interest in the Wednesday event has gained momentum.

"A lot of people have reached out about it," he said. The wrestling matches begin at 7:30 p.m.

Ticket prices for this year's fair remain the same as last year. Admission on Tuesday through Saturday is $10, which gets the fairgoers into the gate entrance and includes all of the rides and grandstand events.

Monday is a half-price day for families when the cost of admission is $5.

Parking is free.