The 37th Annual Kingdom of Callaway County Fair is set to take place from Tuesday, July 29 to Saturday, August 2. A new company will be providing festivities this year.
The Southern Fun Carnival Company, which puts on the 4th of July carnival in Jefferson City, will provide this year's carnival. The event is located at 7217 State Highway C in Fulton.
There will be a plethora of events each day during the carnival, with events hosted in the main arena each night. Tuesday night will be "Callaway Night" with both a Callaway County truck pull and an antique tractor pull. Wednesday, the Missouri Farm Pullers Association will have a tractor pull. Thursday, there will be a figure-eight derby. Friday night will be a compact derby, and Saturday will end the week with a mud run.
According to Billy Spencer, president of the fair board, the county fair website (http://www.callawaycountyfairfultonmo.com/home.html) is currently being updated with events and other information.
Spencer said a tent was built from the ground to be in place year-round for the fair. He said the idea is that the fair is geared more towards a traditional fair in which people bring lawn chairs to "keep it low-cost so people in the community can come."
"This is an old county fair, put on by members and volunteers from the community," Spencer said. "We really rely on community members (to function)."
Spencer explained that the fair is geared more towards the community and to children, so that they can be involved in the events and not just spectators.
The fair will see a variety of food venders, rides, carnival and arena events such as an iron skillet throwing contest. This event, organized by Bill Gentzsch, is for females of all ages. The participants in each age bracket, ages 8-12, 13-18, and adult, throw an iron skillet, and the winner is the woman in each category that threw her skillet the farthest distance. According to Gentz, there will also be a dummy made from hay in the arena at which spectators can throw an iron skillet for target practice.