The Van Buren County Fair kicks off Monday, for many, it will be the last enjoyment of the Fall season.
Van Buren County Fair Board President Lesa Bouldin said the county fair will likely be the last event before cold weather approaches. Bouldin said usually the county fair does not wait till this late in the year to start.
“Van Buren County Fair is not all about a carnival,” Bouldin said. “It’s important for our kids to have that experience here on the mountain. So this is what worked best for us. It’s hard to get a carnival in a small county, and we were fortunate enough to be able to get one on their way back home from the season.”
Bouldin said this year will be the 111th county fair. Bouldin said what most people enjoy about the county fair is the hometown feeling it provides.
“I think they enjoy it all, I think they enjoy the fellowship most of all, and definitely the greasy cheeseburgers,” Bouldin said. “And we just have pretty good attendance for everything, and hard to believe, but probably the greased pig is one of the most popular events. We had our horse show this last weekend. Our fair board is small, so we do have to space things out a little bit. We already have a queen, and we had our horse show, and it just turned out great. People came from everywhere, and we had a lot of horses.”
I hope you like pickles because this year’s fair theme surrounds pickles. Bouldin said the fair will have a new event this year called “Pickle Palooza”. Bouldin said there will be monetary prizes for those who bring the best pickle-inspired potato salad, pasta salad, or dip.
“We just thought it would be fun,” Bouldin said. “We are gonna incorporate pickles, we are gonna have fried pickles at the concession stand, of course, dill pickles. We had a pickle race at the horse show, but I think this Pickle Palooza, we are getting a lot of interest for it.”
The county fair will run through Saturday. Bouldin said the people and volunteers play a significant role in making the county fair successful every year. Bouldin said that without the people, there is no county fair.
