One hundred years ago, folks traveled to Fulton County’s first fair by wagon and the new Model T Ford. This year, they’ll arrive in air conditioned vehicles and extended cab pickups as the fair is “Celebrating 100 years of Fulton County’s Best.”
Photo: Courtesy Fulton County Fair.
While events and exhibits have changed, the reason for a county fair has not. The history of the Fulton County Fair, according to its website, notes it continues to provide a chance to come together and showcase the many talents of its citizens.
The fair officially opens Monday and will run through Saturday, July 27 at the Fulton County Fairgrounds on Civic Center Road in Salem.
100 Years of Fulton County’s Best Recipes will be on sale throughout the fair. The books contain over 500 recipes and will be available for $18. Proceeds will support the fair scholarship program.
Gate admission is $6 for teens and adults, $4 for youth age 6-12 and free for those under 6. Gate admission will cover all events except the carnival. Parking is free.
Fair queen, junior fair queen pageants and talent contest
The annual event kicks off Saturday evening with a full week of events for area residents, beginning with the fair queen and junior fair queen pageants, along with the talent contest.
The pageants and contest will be held at the Salem Civic Center. The pageants and talent contest are open to the public at 7.
Arkansas State University-Mountain Home will award the Fulton County fair queen a $500 tuition scholarship for use during the 2019-20 school year. Carter’s Jewel Chest of Mountain Home is providing crowns. Expressions Salon by Dena is providing custom sashes for the two queens.
Winners will represent Fulton County in the Arkansas State Fair Queen Pageant in Little Rock in October, and all contestants, with the exception of the winners, are eligible to enter the North Central Arkansas District fair queen pageants on Sept. 28 at Ozarka College at Melbourne.
The age categories for the talent competition have been changed, returning to the 2018 rules, so there are changes in previous information. The competition offers three age groups, the youth division, ages 5-9; junior division, ages 10-15; and the senior division, ages 16-21.
Youth winners will not be eligible to advance to the district and state competition. All contestants must be residents of Fulton County or attend school in the county. Contestants can only enter one county fair youth talent contest during a calendar year, and it is recommended they enter in the county in which they reside. Members of group categories can be from two or more counties but must choose which county contest they will enter.
The categories are vocal solo, vocal group, dance solo, dance group, instrumental solo and variety. The variety category is acts with multiple talents, such as song and dance, vocal and live instrumental, lip sync, pantomimes, skits, juggling, ventriloquism, magic, gymnastics, karate, cheerleading or other talent not fitting in a solo or group category. Contestants cannot enter in more than one category unless the second category is with a group of five or more. Talent numbers should be no more than three minutes in length.
Winners of each category in the junior and senior divisions will represent Fulton County in the Arkansas State Fair Youth Talent Contest in Little Rock in October. Winners of each category are not eligible to enter the North Central Arkansas District Fair Youth Talent Contest but the district talent contest will be open to anyone who competes in a county- sanctioned youth talent contest in the seven-county NCA District Fair area.
Monday, official opening
All creative arts exhibits including flowers, horticulture and baked items will check in on Monday from 11 until 6.
The second night of the beauty pageants for ages 4 months through 4 years will start at 7 Monday night in the civic center.
Hall Rodeo LLC will host round robin team roping in the fairgrounds arena at 8.
Call 870-577-9315 to enter the team roping competition. The fair concession stand will be open and will be serving burgers.
Tuesday’s events
All creative arts exhibits will be judged Tuesday, and the exhibit building will open for public viewing at 3.
Entries for the King Arthur Flour baking contest, The Pacesetting Times “This is Fulton County” photography contest and the Salem VFW Post 9777 Auxiliary patriotic art contest will be judged Tuesday.
Commercial exhibits check in from 2 until 5 Tuesday, will be located in the Salem Civic Center and will remain in place through Saturday.
The annual fair horse show is scheduled to begin at 6 in the arena. Horsemanship awards will be presented to the junior and senior exhibitor who earns the most points.
For information on the horse show, contact Christi at 870-371-0660 or Dustin at 417-293-0890.
The new petite miss, junior miss and young miss pageants for ages 5 through 13 will be named on Tuesday night. All contestants in the youth pageants will be eligible to compete in the district pageants in September.
Wednesday’s events
All veterans will be honored Wednesday. Veterans and their spouses or caregivers are invited to attend this special day.
There will be special recognition for World War II veterans and a special honor of WWII Veteran Bill Strauss, who will be 100 years old in 2019. Since the Fulton County Fair is celebrating its 100th anniversary, the day will feature WWII Veteran Strauss’ birthday as part of the 100-year celebration. Strauss fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Members of the Salem VFW Auxiliary will present a short history on Strauss’ military service.
Those who know World War II survivors should contact Salem VFW Auxiliary President Cynthia Elliot at (870)750-0874 or the Fulton County Fair Office at 870-895-5565 to receive a special invitation to attend this special day.
The veterans day program will start at 10:30. Salem VFW Post 9777 will post the colors. All veterans and the branch they served in will be recognized, and the Salem VFW Post 9777 Auxiliary will present the tribute to our Fallen Heroes.
Photo: Colonel (Ret.) Anita Deason
Colonel (Ret.) Anita Deason, advisor for military and veterans’ affairs from Senator John Boozman’s Little Rock office, will return as the keynote speaker.
During Colonel Deason’s 33-year military career, she served in a variety of traditional command and staff assignments including platoon leader, detachment commander, company executive officer and company commander. She was promoted to the rank of colonel during her final assignment as human resources officer for the Arkansas National Guard.
During her military service, Col. Deason earned numerous awards and decorations including the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal and the Arkansas Commendation Medal.
She is a resident of Conway.
The day will end with games and door prizes donated by the VFW auxiliary members.
The Beta Sigma Phi pie baking contest will be held at 3 Wednesday, with $295 in added prize money. Any type of pie may be entered. Photos will be made of all the entries to be displayed, and the pies will be sold after judging, with the funds from the sales going to the fair scholarship fund.
Wednesday is livestock check-in day, including poultry and rabbits. Arkansas fair exhibition laws require all poultry exhibits have a negative Pullorum test within 90 days of entry to the fairgrounds. Poultry testers will be at the pavilion at the Salem City Park on Civic Center Road to do testing.
Exhibitors whose last name starts with A-M should be there between 3 and 5, and exhibitors whose last name starts with N-Z should check-in between 5 and 7. There will be no charge for the test.
All other livestock, including beef and dairy cattle, sheep and goats, swine and rabbits, will check in from 5 until 7.
Johnson Brothers Amusements will return to the Fulton County Fair this year with new rides. They will open at 6 p.m. Wednesday, with rides and amusement booths.
Armbands will be honored on each night from 6 until 10. Reduced price armband tickets are available at Shaver Plumbing and Hardware, FNBC Community Bank, Bank of Salem, North Arkansas Electric and Hill’s Auto Sales in Salem and Tri-County Farm and Ranch Supply in Ash Flat.
Advance armband tickets are $20 and will be $25 if purchased on the fairgrounds after the carnival opens. Tickets are also available at the Fulton County Fair Office during regular office hours.
Hall Rodeo, LLC returns to the Fulton County Fair with an ACA-sanctioned rodeo on Wednesday and Thursday nights. The two-night rodeo gets underway at 8 each night. Call Hall 501-412-3644 for more information and to enter.
Thursday’s events
Thursday is senior day. This event is for seniors age 60 and older. Senior day starts at 10 and will feature free admission, entertainment, a free barbecue lunch, games, golf cart tours of the livestock exhibits and goodie bags and door prizes from area businesses.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge will present a program on fraud prevention for seniors. The medical community will showcase services and have health screenings available throughout the day.
Thursday is filled with a day of judging at the fair. Livestock judging will start at 8, with swine judging. Rabbit showmanship and judging will start at 10. Goat and sheep show and judging will start at 11. Poultry showmanship and judging is at 1 p.m.
The second night of the rodeo will start at 8.
Friday’s events
Friday starts with beef and dairy cattle judging at 9 in the Everett Show Arena.
Kid’s day on Friday and registration will start at 9:30. Kid’s day activities include a magician, Survival Flight helicopter, KAIT Kid’s Weather Team, Fulton County Farm Bureau’s “Ag In The Classroom” display where kids can have a hands-on agriculture experience, the big fire truck from Agnos-Glencoe-Heart Fire Department and the Viola Fire Department Fire Safety House.
Salem FCCLA students will be there for face painting, North Arkansas Electric will serve a hot dog lunch and the day will conclude with door prizes. Pre-registration is encouraged to plan for the meal. Contact the Fulton County Fair Office at 870-895-5565 to pre-register.
Friday’s events continue with a corn hole tournament at 3 or after the cattle shows. Those interested in the tournament should contact Denny Young at 501-658-6347. All entry fees will go for the fair scholarship program.
Johnson Brothers Carnival will open at 6, and Chuck Young and Friends will have a concert in the civic center at 7:30. The concert is free, with the regular gate admission.
Saturday’s events
The Fulton County Trap Range will have a sanctioned ATA Big 50 Tournament. Registration will be at 8, and the first flight is at 9. Contact Scott Moody for more information 870-371-0070.
The Hickinbotham-Miller Exhibit Building will open at 11 on Saturday, with photos of the creative arts grand champion winners scheduled at 1. Grand champion poultry and rabbit winners will have photos immediately following the creative arts winners.
The junior livestockpPremium and the cookie jar scholarship auction will start at 4 p.m. in the Everett Show Arena. The Fulton County Fair Foundation will award seven $1,000 scholarships to fair exhibitors who graduated from high school in May.
4-H and FFA members from Fulton County will offer goats, market hogs, calves, rabbits and the two top pens of pullets from the 4-H poultry chain for sale.
Prior to the sale of animals, the cookie jar scholarship auction will be held. Exhibitors will donate decorated cookie jars for the auction. Funds from the cookie jar sale will be used for scholarships for graduating seniors who are active in the county, district and state fair.
Those unable to attend the auctions can support the scholarship and junior livestock programs by making a cash donation. Contact the fair office or Auctioneer Danny Perryman at 870-458-2020 for information.
Bingo will be in the civic center at 7. The Salem VFW Post 9777 will be calling and bingo lovers can win gift cards and certificates. A $100 gift card will be awarded for the final game of bingo. The bingo is free with a regular paid gate admission to the fair.
The annual truck pull is set for 7 on Saturday for two-wheel and four-wheel drive trucks. Rules and classes are available on the Draggin Wagon website at dwpainc.com. For more information call Michael Roork at 870-371-0108 or contact Nikki at 417-259-1506.
For a complete schedule of events for the 100th anniversary Fulton County Fair, visit the fair Facebook page or the website at Fulton County Fair.
Seniors are reminded the Salem Civic Center is a climate controlled facility. There will be shuttles with pick-up and drop-off from the parking areas.
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