Almost time for fair debut
By Steve Herring
Published in News on September 20, 2015 1:50 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Welcome flags wave atop buildings at the Wayne County Fairgrounds Thursday. Final preparations to the grounds are being made for the opening on Oct. 1. Fair manager Eddie Pitzer said, "When the flags go up you know it's getting close."
DUDLEY -- Dwight Wynn and Belmon Bailey were busy early Thursday morning rearranging the holding pens they had just finished setting up days before.
They had prepared enough to hold the 24 hogs expected for the Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair's annual swine show only to discover there are going to be 53. That is up from just a dozen hogs last year.
But for Fair Manager Eddie Pitzer, it is a good problem to have and is just another indication of how popular the fair and its livestock shows are.
With the Oct. 1. start of the fair's 10-day run less than two weeks away, Pitzer and his staff are busy prepping the fairgrounds for the 67th annual edition of the award-winning fair.
The fair will run through Oct. 10.
Colorful flags have been strung in both the front and rear parking lots. Thursday afternoon flags were placed on top of the main exhibit hall.
Display cases have been set up in the exhibit buildings and exhibits will start coming in on Wednesday evening, Sept. 30. Along the food court, local civic, church and other groups have been sprucing up their buildings.
"You almost have this mental checklist of what you need to do and what has to be in place," Pitzer said.
Then there is all of the work that goes on inside the office including getting information out about the fair, he said.
Pitzer has even saved some of the large Cooperative Extension Service's We Dig It campaign billboards placing one inside the main exhibit hall and another on the exterior wall of the entertainment building.
And for the first time "no parking" signs have gone up along the path that runs along the front of the fairgrounds.
"There are so many things that have to be done, and you really can't wait until the last minute to do it," Pitzer said. "And the closer we get to the fair, then the more activity there is out here. So we try to do a lot of things preliminary just so we can have it in place."
There were some flags in the parking lot last year, but more are going up this year to help people better visualize how to park when they arrive, Pitzer said.
Safety is the reason for the no parking signs, he said.
"When people are coming to the fair they are excited about coming to the fair, and they are looking for the closest spot they can find," he said. "I can understand that. But sometimes we have to think about the safety part of it."
Vehicles parked along the highway could pose an issue with people leaving the fair having a good view of oncoming traffic, he said.
"Also, we have to be able to move around the fairgrounds if there is an emergency situation," Pitzer said. "So we have to have lanes open."
Advance admission tickets and ride wristbands are already available online through noon Sept. 30. The wristbands are normally $25, but cost $20 online.
Advance adult tickets are $5 online instead of $7 at the gate.
The tickets may be purchased by going to the fair's website, waynefair.com, and clicking on "buy tickets."
Powers Great American Midway will provide 48 rides including two new ones.
While the fair offers a wide variety of free entertainment, carnival rides, foods, exhibits and other activities, the livestock shows always attract large crowds.
In recent years the shows where held under a large open tent near the grandstand area.
However, the Wayne County Livestock Development Corp., which owns the fairgrounds, has built a 60-by-100-foot pole barn where all of the livestock shows will be held.
Bleachers have been placed on the north end of the building. The arena will be in middle and the animal pens at the south end.
The first show will be the Open Junior Market Hog Show on Thursday, Oct. 1, at 6 p.m.
Setting up for the hog show is probably the most difficult because of the penning, Pitzer said.
He attributes the drastic increase in hogs for the show to the new showmanship circuit.
"In other words, these kids have been traveling to a lot of local fairs," he said.
"Friday night (Oct. 2) we will have the goat show. That is shaping up to be excellent. We always have a lot of goats. Saturday (Oct. 4) is the lamb show. That is an excellent show also. Then we will finish up with our beef heifer show on Sunday (Oct. 4)."
As of this past Thursday totals or the shows were: Hog show, 32 exhibitors and 53 pigs; goat show, 54 exhibitors and 99 goats; lamb show, 53 exhibitors and 83 lambs; and beef heifer show, 30 exhibitors and 38 heifers.
While there will be plenty of animals to see this year, there will be no chickens at the fair.
"With the avian bird flu and the precautions the state of North Carolina is taking to prevent that and protect our poultry industry, the commissioner of agriculture asked that they be no poultry shows or poultry sales in the state," Pitzer said. "We are not going to have any poultry or any fowl of any type at the fair this year."
The area where the fowl would normally be will still include rabbits and new hands-on exhibits for children, he said.
"It is a little expansion of our junior exhibitor barn," Pitzer said. "Of course a lot of things we will have in there will focus on agriculture. That is our No. 1 industry in the state, and the main goal we have is to promote agriculture here."