Jacktown Fair adding rodeo to events

WIND RIDGE – The Jacktown Fair, the oldest continuously operating fair in the nation, will add another year to its longevity – and a new event – as it gets underway Tuesday evening with the annual Jacktown parade.
This year, the fair will mark its 153rd edition featuring an event that hasn’t been seen at Jacktown for a number of years: A rodeo, presented by the Rafter Z Rodeo Co., will be the main attraction Friday and Saturday nights.
“It’s a really nice rodeo,” said Walter “Buck” Burns, president of Richhill Agricultural Society, which organizes the fair. “It’s a full rodeo, with bull riding and bronc riding and roping and barrel races, the whole works,” he said.
The fair has held rodeos in the past, but it has been quite a few years since the last was a fair feature, Burns said.
As part of the show, a children’s rodeo will be held Friday night at 6 p.m., prior to the 7 p.m. start of the full rodeo. In the event of rain either night, the company has agreed to run a show Sunday afternoon, Burns said.
The Rafter Z Rodeo has played numerous other venues and drawn good reviews, Burns said. “Everybody has been really satisfied with them.”
This year’s fair, which runs Tuesday through Saturday, offers a full schedule of events and activities, Burns said. There will be music, food and rides, livestock judging, ATV and UTV dirt drags, motocross and tractor and truck pulls.
“We’re in pretty good shape,” Burns said of the fairgrounds. “We’ve been into quite a bit of rebuilding and remodeling. We’re getting all of our buildings into tip-top shape.”

Mike Jones/Observer-Reporter
Mike Jones/Observer-Reporter
Walter “Buck” Burns has been president of Jacktown Fair for more than 30 years.
The fair is considered the oldest continuously operating fair in the nation. Though other fairs may be older, none has operated for as many years nonstop as Jacktown.
In fact, Burns said, the fair board recently received a letter from a fair in Missouri, congratulating Jacktown for being the nation’s oldest continuously operating fair. The Missouri fair did some research on the matter, he said.
“They thought they were the oldest consecutive fair, but found out we were,” Burns said.
The first Jacktown Fair was held Oct. 3 and 4, 1866. It was initially called the Jacksonville Fair, paying homage to the name for Wind Ridge in those days. Even during World War II, a fair was held at Jacktown, though on a somewhat smaller scale.
Burns has been involved with the fair for about 38 years and has served as president for the last 31 years. Now 80 years old, he has never missed a fair.
“My mother and father, they lived right here in Jacktown and they brought me here when I was just a baby,” he said. “I’ve never missed a fair.”
Burns has attended numerous other fairs during his life and some, he said, he has found to be “boring.” But Jacktown is different and special, he said.
“It’s like a big reunion,” Burns said. “A lot of people here don’t go anyplace for vacation. They look at Jacktown as their vacation.”
Burns said he runs into people at the fair each year whom he often doesn’t see anywhere or anytime else. That’s what he enjoys most about it.
“I know so many people, having been in business for so long, people from all over the county,” he said. “I just enjoy the people.”
Burns initially became involved in the fair because he enjoys “making things work.” It’s also a family tradition. Burns’ grandfather was president of the fair back in the 1920s and his great uncle succeeded his grandfather at the post.
But it takes a lot of people and a lot of time and effort to get a fair together, he said.
“We have 14 directors and it takes everybody to make this fair go,” he said.
The fair will officially kick off with the Jacktown Fair Parade at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. It will be followed by the crowning of the fair queen at the upper grandstand. Music for the evening will be provided by Ben Tharp and Hillbilly Way. ATV and UTV dirt drags will be at 8 p.m. at the lower grandstand with fireworks topping the night at 9:30 p.m.
Youth night is scheduled for Wednesday with free rides for kids 14 and younger thanks to First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Greene County. The evening will include a food eating contest at 7 p.m., motocross at 7 p.m. and fireworks are at 9:30 p.m.
Thursday is senior citizen’s day and will feature music by Aaron Margaria and Sandy Huffman. Tractor and truck pulls will be at 7 p.m. at the lower grandstand.
On Friday, the rabbit and goat sale will be at 7 p.m. at the livestock barn. Music will be provided by Heather Olson and Sandy Huffman. The children’s rodeo will be at 6 p.m., followed by the rodeo at 7 p.m.
Saturday will feature music by the Cross Vision Band and the rodeo at 7 p.m. at the lower grandstand.
Admission to the fair is free; rides are $10 and an admission fee is charged for grandstand shows. For more information, visit www.jacktownfair.org.