Titus County Fair expected to set all-time attendance record
By LYNDA STRINGER - Tribune City Editor
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 10:47 AM CDT
| |
| Among the attractions that contributed to record attendance at this year's county fair were the Rhinestone Ropers Show, here doing a knife throwing act. TRIBUNE photos by Lou Antonelli |
The art of corn dog dipping, cotton candy swirling and turkey leg gnawing combined with multi-colored midway lights, thrill ride screams and laughter and the earthy, pungent smell of animal pens to make the 2008 Titus County Fair its biggest year yet. The sights, sounds and smells of the 33rd annual fair drew in a record crowd, with attendance up each night. Titus County Fair Association President Steve Russell estimated the numbers at 22 percent above last year's attendance figures.
"We don't have all the (paid attendance) tickets counted, but from the income it seems like every night exceeded all previous years," Russell said. "It looks like it's going to be in the neighborhood of 27 or 28 thousand people over the four-day period.
Ticket sales in 2007 were up 10 percent from the previous year with a count of more than 25,000 fairgoers despite the rain that dampened the fun on Thursday and Friday.
This year, the weather was perfect and as is always the case, Saturday night was the fair's biggest night.
"We were way ahead by Friday than where we were last year and then Saturday came in big again," Russell said.
Moving the Academic Rodeo dates to Sunday, Monday and Tuesday allowed more people to enjoy the fair activities on its main nights.
"It was a nice improvement and it grew the fair by spreading the days out," he said.
Not only did the weather cooperate – with warm days and cool nights – Russell said the economy and gas prices likely played a role in drawing in a bigger crowd.
"Maybe people are not driving out of town as much and they were ready to come to an event locally, maybe we just had a great fair and the word got out," he said.
He said the solid entertainment lineup kept the seats filled in front of the stages, with Johnny Rodriguez taking the older set back to the hey day of classic country music. After having to cancel his appearance last year, the country legend, in his 35th year of performing, did not disappoint his fans this time around.
"It was really a good show," said Russell, who also praised the Friday night appearance of Texas-style swing and country artist Johnny Gimble, who has been named Fiddler of the Year.
Newcomer and Fort Worth native Cody Jinks also performed Friday night, making many new fans in Northeast Texas.
The nightly entertainment featured a few new acts that were big crowd pleasers, including the Rhinestone Ropers Show and Pets Overboard, a dog and cat show.
"They were a big hit and had full bleachers every show they put on," Russell said.
Another new attraction this year was the Camp Junction Exotic Zoo and Pony Ride.
Handler Tammy Thompson, who is based in Beaumont, has the largest petting zoo in Texas.
"We were fortunate to get her," Russell said. "But, she experienced Hurricane Ike and had no electricity, no water, no gas and her barn blew away, so she was glad to be in Mount Pleasant. We plan to bring her back."
Thompson made some good friends here, too. She bought two goats at the Junior Livestock Show and Auction from Thomas Collier and Cody Sparks.
"She gave back to the kids and the goats joined her petting zoo," Russell said. "It was a really nice thing for her to do."
Also a nice touch was when Crabtree Amusements, which is now in its 11th year in bringing its carnival to Mount Pleasant, donated stuffed toys to 1,600 kids in preschool through second grade who toured the fair on Thursday.
Crabtree is the biggest Texas-based carnival in operation and Russell said they don't do many small fairs anymore.
"We're one of the few four-day events they do," he said. "They do state fairs, mostly 10 or more day events. They just happen to fit in with their routing and they continue to contract with us."
There were more than 100 food booths and commercial exhibits along Cooks Drive and inside the Mount Pleasant Center. There were also had record numbers of entries in many of the fair's blue ribbon competitions, including 94 entries in the Bake Show and 750 photography entries.
The Bike Rally featured a record 94 entries.
"I think it was highly successful. With all the news we're hearing about the affairs of the economy, we were fortunate to see people turn out," Russell said.
He said apparently people were just ready for a good time.
"The cool nights at the county fair are something that gets people in the mood for the fall months," he said.
