Three-hour Bluegrass concert added to this week’s Whitley County Fair

The biggest changes to this year’s 14th Annual Whitley County Fair are the addition of a three-hour Bluegrass music concert Friday night and the absence of the donkey race, which had taken place for the last five years.

“We’re not going to have the donkey race this year,” said Whitley County Fair Board Chairman Harry Alder. “We’ve enjoyed having that, but it is really expensive and funds just aren’t around to do it. I don’t think we are going to get that much attendance for a donkey race anymore, or at least not this year anyhow.

“Carson Payne has lined up four Bluegrass acts. We are going to do that on Friday night instead of the donkey race. Hopefully it will be a pretty good show with Bluegrass and Bluegrass gospel.”

On Thursday, the fair will kick off with registration for the farm and home exhibits that will take place from noon until 5 p.m. at the Whitley County Cooperative Extension Office in Goldbug off Exit 15.

The displays will judged and then be on exhibit Friday from 1 – 7 p.m., and Saturday from 1 – 5 p.m. at the extension office.

“We want to invite everybody to come out and look at all those exhibits that we are going to have out there for them,” Alder said.

“I would encourage people that have some canned goods or are proud of their vegetables to bring those out there, enter them in a contest and get a blue ribbon if they can.”

The antique tractor show is back for the second consecutive year and will take place from 5 – 9 p.m. Friday and on Saturday from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. at 3-R Arena.

“We started the antique tractor show last year, and it went real good,” Alder said. “We had a lot of interest in it. It really surprised me the number of people around here that have antique tractors. We had a lot of interest. A lot of people came out to see them.”
The Bluegrass concert will take place from 6 – 9 p.m. Friday at 3-R Arena featuring Clearfork, Peerless Mountain, the Chris Grigsby Family and Ivan Siler with Front Porch Glass.

At 6:30 p.m., the antique tractor “slow race” and the “barrel roll contest” will also take place at 3-R Arena.

“It’s a slow tractor race. It’s not the fastest over a set distance. It’s as slow as the tractor can go and complete that distance. Whoever does it last is the winner,” Alder said. “It is based on the fact that the old tractors had a real slow gear box transmission.”

Alder said that he’s never seen it before, but the barrel roll contest features the old tractors trying to roll a barrel between two goal posts.

“It’s apparently what they do at these antique tractor shows. The tractors will be on display like they were last year in one of the paddocks there at 3-R Arena,” he added.

In addition, the Knox-Whitley Animal Shelter will have a pet display at 3-R Arena from 6 – 8 p.m. Friday.

“The people, especially the kids get a good kick out of that,” Alder said.

On Saturday the fair will hold its annual mule pull at 3-R Arena starting at 10 a.m., which is traditionally one of the most popular events.

“It is always a big hit. People come from all over for that. It is real exciting to see the heavy weights that they are able to pull,” Alder noted. “They will come from far away to do that. A lot of these guys that pull ride a circuit.”

The Whitley County Fair Corn Hole Tournament will take place on Saturday starting at 4 p.m. at the extension office. Registration and practice will start at 3 p.m.

“This year we have a $200 purse with no entry fee,” Alder said.

The fair will finish with its grand finale that night with the annual horse show that will start at 7 p.m. Saturday at 3-R Arena.

“That just keeps growing and growing. Lots of people have horses now,” Alder noted. “There is a class for about everybody that wants to ride a horse. We invite everybody to either observe or participate in the horse show.

“The horse show is really the biggest event each year followed by the mule pull that everyone seems to enjoy.”
Admission for all events at 3-R Arena, including the mule pull, horse show, Bluegrass concert and antique tractor show, is $5 per person. Children under the age of 6 will be admitted free. Admission to see the home products exhibits is free.

“We just want to invite everyone to come out, have a good time, and enjoy the various events we have. I think we have something for everybody,” Alder said. “As we’ve done in the past, we always try to do something a little newer and better every year.”

The Miss Whitley County Fair Pageant and the Miss Whitley County Fair Teen Pageant have been cancelled this year due to a lack of participants, Alder said.

The pageant for the younger contestants will still take place on July 30 at Whitley County Middle School. Registration will be at 10:30 a.m., and the program starts at 11 a.m.

The pageant will include Whitley County boys and girls through four years old, little miss and mister ages five thru seven years old, and pre-teens ages eight through 12 years old.

July 26 is the last date that contestants can sign up for this younger kid’s pageant.