Jacktown Fair gets underway
A group of children collect candy during the Jacktown Fair.
Bud Behm, left and “Buck” Burns open the gates for the parade to enter the Jacktown Fairgrounds.
The Golden LivingCenter float at the Jacktown Fair.
Waynesburg University’s James D. Randolph Kiltie Band at the Jacktown Fair
WIND RIDGE – It was a beautiful evening for a parade and a beautiful night to celebrate the start of the 151st edition of the Jacktown Fair.
People lined the main street of the village of Wind Ridge to take in the floats, antique cars, marching band and fire trucks that formed the parade lineup.
Many of the spectators followed the parade at the end, walking down the hill to the Jacktown Fairgrounds to enjoy the evening’s events, play games, ride rides or just hang around eating and talking.
About a half-hour before the parade, Pam Hill of Wind Ridge laid a blanket in the yard of a “good friend” along the parade route to lounge on with her son and three grandchildren.
She said she has been coming to the parade for years.
“Twenty years at least,” she said. “I’ve missed a few of them, but I try not to.”
Hill said she likes to come to the parade to see all the local children who may be marching with their baseball teams or are on floats. Her eight-year-old granddaughter, Maelynn Hill, who was with her on the blanket, was in the parade last year with her local T-ball team.
Hill said she also enjoys visiting the fair, which gives her the chance to catch up with family and friends.
“Everybody gathers and visits,” she said.
Another parade watcher was Babe Headley, who grew up in Wind Ridge and now lives in Villa Rica, Ga.
“I came up for a visit and decided to stay two more weeks because of the fair,” Headley said.
She was sitting with her sister, Michelle Headley, her great-niece, great nephew and several other family members.
Growing up in the area, Headley said, she never missed a fair.
In fact, she said, she and her brothers and sisters use to put up hay every summer just to raise money for the fair.
“It’s been 25-plus years since I’ve been to the fair,” Headley said. “I’m really looking forward to it, I look forward to seeing the difference between 25 years ago and today.”
The Jacktown Fair is considered the oldest continuously operating fair in the nation.
Though other fairs are older, none has operated as long as Jacktown without interruption. A fair has been held at Jacktown every year since 1866. It hasn’t missed a beat.
This year, 103 units were part of the parade. “It was great,” said Marcia Sonneborn, parade chairman. “There were people all along the parade route and a good many in here as we came through the gate.”
Serving as the parade grand marshal was John S. Scott of Graysville.
Scott, who has attended every fair since he was a boy, first helped at Harvey’s Grange food stand and later worked with the 4-H and FFA clubs. He is now an official for the tractor and truck pulls and the mini-mod tractor pulls.
Following the parade, a ceremony was held at the upper grandstand to crown the 2016 Miss Jacktown Fair Queen. This year, two contestants competed for the title.
The winner was Laura Wise, 17, the daughter of Mary Ellen and Andy Wise of Graysville. Laura is a recent graduate of West Greene High School. She plans to attend Slippery Rock University in the fall and major in middle level education mathematics.
As the sun fell and people began to fill the midway, Walter “Buck” Burns, president of the Richhill Agricultural Society, the fair’s sponsor, said everything seemed to be going well.
The weather was perfect, he said.
“If we have good weather, we will have a good fair,” he said.
In the last few years, the fair has had rain. But maybe not this year, Burns said.
“They’re saying it’s going to be hot and dry. We’ll just have to put up with a little dust,” he said.
The fair runs through Saturday. Admission to the midway and exhibits is free. Tickets must be purchased to ride the rides and attend grandstand shows.
Today will feature youth night with free rides for kids 14 and younger.
The evening will include BMX Bicycle Stunt Shows at 6:30 p.m. and again at 8 p.m. at the upper grandstand; a food eating contest at 7 p.m. at the midway stage; motorcross at 7:30 p.m. at the lower grandstand; and a performance by Sandy Huffman at 8 p.m. at the midway stage.