Florida Fair News
“Farm Fresh, Family Tradition” Clay County Agricultural Fair
We enjoyed another
successful, record-breaking Fair! Our new theme was
“Farm Fresh, Family Tradition”
We set another new attend- ance record this year. Total attendance was 113,591 + 3.2%. We track zip codes during our
Clay County Agricultural Fair is officially open for the 29th time. We had Crystal Moyer from the Morning Show at Channel 4 The Local TV Station on hand to join Chairman Wayne Heath and the Board of Directors to cut the ribbon. It was a beau- tiful day and a great crowd. We are blessed with an awesome team.
Fair to determine out of county guests. This year over 15,000 codes were entered. Results were 51% were from out of coun- ty. Of these, 4 % were from out of state. This is a 1.66 % jump in out of state visitors. Our reputa- tion continues to attract out of
county guests. In addition, we had meetings during the Fair for District 111 Farm Bureau Women’s Conference representing 9 NE FL counties, the Farm Bureau Board of Directors, and Leadership Clay Class from the Clay County Chamber of Commerce. Our opening day ribbon cutting was done by Channel 4 Good Morning Jack-
sonville on-air personality Crystal Moyer and the Board of Directors. We en- joyed good weather on opening day and were even with last year’s results which were up 59% over 2013. Our High School Night of Competition was a big success. Local judges were again on hand to make sure each high school team played by the rules. The team from Middleburg High School was the first place winner and the Spirit Award winner. In addition, we held a ceremony to dedicate and rename our Heritage Garden in our Early Florida Village. It’s now the “Lee Henry Heritage Garden”. This was done to commemorate the legacy of its founder and long- time Superintendent who passed away this year. His family was in attendance with a host of Master Gar- deners as well as local TV personality Crystal Moyer. Friday was Good Fair Day. All local schools were out because of Good Fri- day. Great weather
pro-
duced great results with over 16,000 guests attend- ing.
Saturday was a good day
but behind last year 14%. This was due to a thunderstorm around 5 PM and hampered the night crowd. Sunday was down 21% due to Easter holiday. Mon- day started a better trend; we set a new Monday record 6,996 and collected a record amount of can goods for the Green Cove Springs Food Pantry. All the remaining days were up except Wednesday. We ended with a new attendance record of 113,591 up 3.2%. We also set a new single day record on the last Saturday of 24,303. We were really blessed not to have rain during the latter part of the Fair. In fact, the last Saturday had a projection of 90% but it went around us. Entertainment was fantastic! Main Stage concert entertainers included: Montgomery Gentry, Parmalee, Ronnie Milsap and Sam Hunt. This year we added a VIP Hospitality Tent of all Main Stage concerts. It was a big hit!
We enjoyed a special appearance just prior to the Sam Hunt concert from
the Jacksonville Jaguars including players, The Roar Cheerleaders, D-line and Jaxon Deville. Strolling acts and characters included: The Daniel Show, Mr. Pig, Holy Cow, & Bully, Denny the Rodeo Clown, Chic-Fil-A Cow, Ronald McDonald, Wolfie, Garbear, Daisy and the Sweeney Family Band. Ground/Stage acts included: Hansen’s Spectacular Acrobatic Sensations,
Barnyard Review, Rosaire’s Royal Pig Races, Disc-Connected K-9’s World Famous Frisbee Dogs, Dennis Lee Band, Sally Ann, America’s Country Darlin’, Ron Diamond’s Hypnosis & Magic Show, and Sweeney Family Band/Country Comedy Review. Our “Winn-Dixie” Community Stage is very popular. The activities included
our first “Miss Clay County Scholarship Pageant” cloggers, dance teams, vocal- ists, bands, diaper derby, toddler trot, bingo, and sweet-treat walk for seniors. The 4-H/FFA Youth Livestock Sale produced $239,137 for local 4-H and FFA
participants to help with their college fund. Competitive exhibits totals were up dramatically this year. This was due to being more flexible for entries with our on-line registration system. Our Early Florida Village continues to be a “must see” for our guests. It is not only educational but fun and rewarding with a food treats from our country cooks. Paige Poole, Yesteryear Village Manager and Connie Christman, Yes- teryear Village Program Coordinator from South Florida Fair visited two days at our Fair. Thanks for coming! Our recycling program continues on a positive path. Trash was up compared to last year but still less than 2013.We used one compactor for the entire Fair complex. Cardboard, bottles, and can recycling improved from 5.41 tons to 5.62 tons; cooking oil was 3 tons, same as last year. We also donated our left over hay to the CJ Animal rescue Farm.
Clay County Fair - South Florida Fair visitors
Website visits totaled 100,775 during the Fair. Our mobile app contributes to be a large contrib- utor to our website. The top five destinations after the home page were: Daily Schedule, Ticket Information, Get Directions, Vendor Coupons and Midway Rides. Our social media continues to improve with over 25,000 likes on Facebook. This provided great feedback and sharing within our Fair family. We started promoting and using Instagram this year also with 207 followers. Special thanks to the folks from the following
Fairs for honoring us by coming to visit during our 2105 Fair: Baker County Fair, Bradford County Fair, Central Florida Fair, Columbia County Fair,
Representative Travis Cummings and two of his boys came to enjoy the Fair . His wife, newborn, and mother also came. We took the photo so you could see his hat—Hinton Farms Produce. He said Jake Raburn (Lisa Hinton’s son-in-law) gave it to him. He’s a great Fair friend.
John Owens and Ronnie Hall visited the Clay County Fair. Tommy Gann took a pho- to with them on Main Street.
Dutchess County Fair (Reinbeck, NY) Greater Jacksonville Fair, Pasco County Fair, Putnam County Fair, South Florida Fair, Volusia County Fair, and Salem VA Fair. We enjoyed another safe, fun Fair. We continue to be blessed with tremen-
dous community support, sponsor partners and dedicated volunteers. Their pride and passion for our Fair is our success. We have an awesome team!
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