By Sean CW Korsgaard
CP Reporter
Last week saw the Caroline County Agricultural Fair return to the fairgrounds near Ladysmith, and 12,817 people came with it.
The fair, which ran from Wednesday to Saturday last week, brought thousands of visitors to thew fairgrounds. This in spite of near record high temperatures and the threat of thunderstorms Friday that thankfully never came to pass, leaving visitors free for an exciting few evenings of carnival rides, concerts and cattle showcases.
“We try to have a little something for everybody at the fair,” said Francine W. Whittaker, President of the Caroline County Agricultural Festival Association. “The fair in general really punches above its weight class, it’s won a lot of awards over the years for a fair of its size, and we try to build on that and make it a little bit better every year.”
For a lot of the event organizers, there is a tinge of sadness to this year’s fair, given the recent passing of Ann Tate, a longtime supporter of the Caroline County Agricultural Fair who donated the land that today is the fairgrounds. There was a memorial ceremony for Tate on Friday, but the best way to honor her memory is knowing all the attendees had a good time.
“We’re all very sad that Mrs. Tate isn’t here with us this year, and I know the baking competition isn’t the same without her pineapple upside down cake,” said Whittaker. “As much as she loved the fair, I know she’d be happy seeing all the people coming out here with smiles on their faces.”
The Caroline County Agricultural Fair is about more than just prize-winning cows and corn dogs though – it’s about remembering Caroline’s roots as an agricultural community, and seeing how that got the county to where it is today, at least to Jeffrey M. Sili, who sits on the Caroline County Board of Supervisors, and whose passion for the displays in the Heritage Building are evident.
“Looking around here, where you have everything from a wall of the awards won by the local chapter of Future Farmers of America, to the original marble counters from the original Union bank in Bowling Green, you see where we came from, how far we’ve come, and that’s important,” said Sili. “I think nothing speaks higher of this fair and this community than the decedents of the folks who helped organize that first fair in Caroline are still helping to run things today, the fair is a Caroline County family tradition, in the truest since of the word.”
Next year promises to be an important one for the Caroline County Agricultural Fair, not just because it will be the tenth anniversary of the fair being hosted at the fairgrounds location, but because it will be the centennial anniversary of the fair itself, with the first fair held in Caroline back in 1918.
While plans for the 100th Anniversary are still in the works, Tanitia Powell knows she’d like to be there. Powell, a Locust Grove resident attending the fair for her second time, having entered several pies into the fair’s baking contest.
“I brought six items last year, and all six of them placed, and a few of them only came in second because I used saranwrap, which hurt the presentation, so I made sure to use plastic this year,” said Powell. “This year, I entered thirteen items, and all of them placed, including my apple pie and pecan pies taking the blue ribbons this year, which I’m very excited about.”
Though not a Caroline County resident herself, Powell said blue ribbon pies or not, she enjoys the fair and the experience it offers.
“It’s very different from some of the other fairs I’ve been to,” said Powell. “There is much more of a community feel to it, you can see it and feel that all around the fairgrounds, and I love that.”
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