Florida Fair News
“Farm Fresh, Family Tradition” Clay County Agricultural Fair
This year we will promote “Farm
Fresh, Family Tradition” as our theme for the 29th Annual Clay Coun- ty Agricultural Fair. The Fair is set for April 2-11, 2015. The Board approved a big capital
improvement project for this year… building a new RV Park. This is a major investment in our future. The purpose is to move the carnival workers to the new park so we can expand our midway. This will allow us to better serve our guests. The last two years our mid- way has been packed. We added a centralized ticket area to sup- plement our individual stations and added staging lanes for the larger rides. It really helped, but we need to look at our long-term potential. That’s why our board made the decision to build the new RV Park. It is being built on 6+ acres on the west side of the main entrance road to our fair. Board member, Derrell Kelly had his son-in-law use his drone to make a UTube video of the early stages of construction. It really shows the new park in relation to the county owned fairgrounds. This is being built on Fair Associa- tion property that was purchased in 2010. Lisa Hinton shared the link for the video in an email blast, but in case you didn’t see it, here’s the link
www.claycountyfair.org/ we are optimistic of com- pleting this before our fair opens but obviously a lot depends on weather. Last year we set a new attendance record with 110,078 guests
attending. We have an uphill climb to beat that this year. Obvi- ously weather will factor but Easter also falls during our Fair this year. Our plans are as follows: Opening day will feature admission and rides for $2 each. Rides
for the first hour will be free. Opening ceremonies will include a live remote and weather broadcast from our local TV Station Channel 4. Gates open at 2:00 PM to give our guests an oppor- tunity to take advantage of the reduced prices. The High School Night of Competition will again be held in the
Cattlemen’s Arena on opening night. Local High Schools compete in the following games: Tug-o-War, Cow Milking, Cow-Patty Toss, Land-Skiing, and Farm animal imitations. The top three teams will win cash awards for their schools. Local DJ’s, Judges, Mascots, Students and Cheerleaders combine for a fun evening. A school “Spirit Award” will also be awarded. Friday will be “Good Fair Day” with gates opening at 10:00 AM
and the midway opening at 11:00 AM. It is a local school holiday. To help we'll have two armband promotions for the day; $15.00 for 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM and $20.00 for 5:00 – 8:00 PM. Southern Mower Madness Lawnmower Racing will again be the main enter- tainment in the Cattlemen’s Arena. It will include a Pit Party and Lawn Mower Races both in the afternoon and evening. Saturday is “St. Vincent’s HealthCare Day”. We will open the
gates at 10:00 AM and the midway at 11:00 AM. We will have Horse Show Competition in the day and lawn mower races in the evening. Our midway ride armband promotion will be $25.00 sold from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM good ‘til closing. Sunday will be “Family Day,” sponsored by VyStar Credit Union.
We will feature a Clay County Invitational Classic Car Show in the Cattlemen’s Arena. We will open at 11:00 AM. Monday will be “Think Green Day,” sponsored by Waste Man- agement. Admission will be Half Price with 2 can-goods that will
benefit the Food Pantry of Green Cove Springs. We will spotlight on our recycling effort. Tuesday is “Twelve Buck Tuesday” sponsored by Clear Channel
Radio/WQIK. We will feature our lowest wristband promotion of the fair…$12.00. On the Main Stage in the Cattlemen’s Arena we will start our concert series with Montgomery Gentry. Wednesday is “Coke Night,” sponsored by Coca-Cola. Entertain-
ment will feature Parmalee @ 8:00 PM. Thursday will be Senior Day, sponsored by Wells Fargo. Gates
will open at 12:00 Noon. Our midway will open at 4:00 PM to allow our seniors to enjoy the fair. Ronnie Milsap will perform in the Cattlemen’s Arena at 8:00 PM. Friday is “Youth Agriculture Day” featuring our Livestock Buyers
Dinner followed by the 4-H/FFA Youth Livestock Swine & Steer Sale. The day is sponsored by W.W. Gay Mechanical Contractor. Entertainment in the Cattlemen’s Arena will be our Annual Talent Contest for junior and senior division, a performance by the All- Starz Dance Studio and our version of the Singing Bee Contest coordinated by Dennis Lee. Saturday is “Celebrate Clay Day at the Fair,” sponsored by
Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital / Baptist Clay Medical Campus. The entertainer for the evening will be Sam Hunt @ 8:00 PM. The winners from the Junior/Senior Talent Contest will provide the opening act. One of the most popular exhibits at the Fair is our Early Florida
Village. Demonstrators dress for the period and demonstrate their skills to show how life was in the old days in Florida, especially Clay County Florida. This popular stop for our guests includes: food sampling, educational exhibits, such as the Master Gardeners Heritage Garden, and entertainment. We will open the village to the general public during our set-up time on March 28th. This is a stop on Celebrate Clay History Month. Daily entertainment will include: The Sweeney Family Band,
Denny the Rodeo Clown, Dennis Lee Band, Sally Ann, Ron Dia- mond –Hypnotist & Magic Show, Rosaire’s Royal Pig Races, World Famous Disc-Connected K-9-s Frisbee Dog Team, Hansen’s Spec- tacular Acrobatic Sensations, Barnyard Review, Holy Cow, Mr. Pig, Bully, The Daniel Show, Sunshine & Smiles and Cheerios & Bub- blegum the face-painting clowns. In addition, our Winn-Dixie Community Stage will feature local acts daily throughout the Fair. This will be our third year for having an entertainment stage in the livestock barn. This year it will be called “The Home Depot Entertainment Stage.” We hope you can join the fun. Visit us on line at
www.claycountyfair.org. You’re always welcome!
This sign was spotted “in the middle of nowhere” on Lisa’s back roads trip to the DeSoto County Fair! Wow – Mana- tee County – you really covered your area with signage!
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