DeKalb County Fair Hugely Successful

The 2009 Grandpa Fair of the South may have been the granddaddy of them all in DeKalb County in terms of attendance.
Jeff McMillen, Manager of the DeKalb County Fair, says this year’s fair was a huge success. “The 2009 Fair was the best that we have had, attendance wise. We have tentative numbers and there’s a big range, but it looks like somewhere between 21,000 and 25,000. The reason there is such a wide range is because of passes that we haven’t counted.”
“Our events went well and what we liked about it is that under the economy we have today, we were still able to provide something for a family to come out to and not break the bank in doing it”.
McMillen says new attractions this year added to the excitement and at least one, that was rained out, may be rescheduled.. “The rodeo on Thursday night was a great event and they did a good job with it. The attendance was good. In fact attendance was good every night. It rained on Wednesday night and rained out our four wheeler event. I’m not making a promise, but we’ll try to work that four wheeler race in at a later date on a Saturday night. If we do we sure hope the people will come out for that.”
According to McMillen fairgoers ate plenty and spent a fair amount of money on the carnival rides. “It’s unbelievable how much food is consumed at a fair. We talked to the food vendors and they did great. The Lions Club booth did great and the one (booth) that the fair association owns did great. The carnival people did well. He had told me that everywhere he had been in the last six months since the first of the year, it was off eight to ten percent compared to the prior year, but at the DeKalb County Fair, he was up this year. That says a lot for the people around here. They do support what we put out there.”
The fair association appreciates the support of the public and the sponsors and McMillen says efforts will be made to make this event better each year. “We really don’t have any complaints except we know there are some things that we need to address like seating. We need more seating. We need more bathrooms. But that’s problems that’s great to have, growth problems. We’re very pleased and we just can’t say enough about our sponsors and all those people who came through the gates because if it wasn’t for them we couldn’t have it.”
McMillen says if you would like to become a volunteer, your help is welcome, even now for next year. “We sure would like to have more volunteers. Those we have do a great job but we just don’t have enough of them. Some of us are getting older and we need a little extra help. We’re ready for people now to volunteer because plans for the 2010 fair are being made right now. So volunteer, get involved, and be there in the planning of this event. We’d love to have you.”