Fair entering final weekend
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on October 3, 2014 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
From left, Grace Webster of Mount Olive Middle School and Meagan Lee of Grantham School show their excitement at both receiving first place in the dance solo portion of the middle school talent show at the Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair on Thursday night.
The Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair will culminate this weekend with midway games and rides, food and entertainment and a demolition derby on Saturday.
The fair has enjoyed a good run, fair manager Eddie Pitzer said Thursday, adding that he hopes any rain will hold off through Saturday.
Attendance has been about average for the award-winning fair, he said, despite some rain early in the week.
Pitzer said that after a year of hard work and planning, it is a good feeling to see the crowds pack the fairgrounds.
"I like the process you go through to put it all together, as well as seeing it all come together," he said, as people streamed past.
This year's fair has featured high quality entertainment, Pitzer said. Acts are booked well in advance -- some of the performers for this year were booked two years ago.
On Thursday night, a guitar soloist, a seventh-grade student who sings like Bruno Mars, and a 10-foot-tall robot all took center stage, so to speak.
During the afternoon talent contest, Nicholas Froats, an eighth-grade student from Rosewood Middle School, lit into a scorching guitar solo that kicked off with "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osborne and blended custom solos throughout, all making a piece he called "Nick's Mix."
And Zac Kelly, a seventh-grade student from Grantham, sang "It Will Rain" by Bruno Mars and promptly blew the audience away.
"Zac," said announcer Janet Barnes when he was finished, "you know that part you sang that goes, 'There will be no sunlight if I ever lose you baby?' Can you come back up here and sing that to me one more time?"
Despite the music, games and rides, Pitzer said he considers agriculture to still be the focus of the fair.
"I like to promote agriculture," he said. "Not many kids nowadays grew up how I did, where you have grandparents that own a farm and can get really close to agriculture. I like to get kids back involved with agriculture."
Looking ahead, Pitzer said fair officials are always trying to improve the event. This year, the restrooms have been improved. Next year, they are setting their sights on exhibits, he said.
"Of course, you have to consider the vendors, too," Pitzer said. "If the vendors are happy and they're doing business, then hopefully they come back to the fair next year. We think it's a really good event, and we want people to come out and see it."