"Best Little Fair" Continues to Expand

Known for years as "The Best Little Fair in the Land", the East Perry Community Fair in Altenburg continues to expand its facilities and relocate venues to better accommodate the large crowds that attend the event. The fair will be held on Friday and Saturday, September 24 and 25. The biggest change this year is the addition of a FFA Exhibit Building that was built for the fair by the Perryville Chapter FFA Alumni. The 2,800 square foot building will house FFA field and forage, horticulture, floriculture, and agriculture mechanics exhibits. These classes will be open to all FFA members in 2010 on a trial basis, with eligibility for entries to be evaluated annually for future years. The building also has an 840 square foot lean-to that will house additional commercial booths.

The beef cattle are being relocated to tents west of the arena where a new wash rack has recently been constructed. This will enable them to be housed and shown in a single location. They were previously divided between a livestock barn and tents some distance away. The draft horses, mules, and ponies will be relocated to the barn vacated by the beef cattle and place them adjacent to the arena where they are shown. With the additional activities west of the arena, there will be more food stands for fairgoers in those areas. A stand returning from last year, that sells pork chop sandwiches, chicken gizzards, and deep fried pickles, will be joined by a stand selling frozen custard and one selling rib eye sandwiches and Rueben sandwiches.

The fair begins with a parade at 1:30 pm on Friday followed by the opening ceremonies. Musical entertainment for this year's fair will be provided by "Uncle Pearl" on Friday evening at 6:30 pm, the Saxony Hills Community Band at noon on Saturday, "Reminisce" at 2:00 pm, and the Jackson Municipal Band at 6:00 pm. Other entertainment includes a pedal tractor pull at 3:00 pm on Friday, an antique tractor pull at 5:00 pm on Friday, a saddle horse show at 11:00 am on Saturday, the "world famous" jumping mule competition at 5:30 pm on Saturday, and the 4X4 truck pull at 8:00 pm on Saturday. The last scheduled event of the fair program is the traditional awarding of attendance prizes at 8:30 pm on Saturday.

One thing that makes the East Perry Community Fair unique is that there are no parking or admission fees and all of the entertainment is free. The event offers something for everyone including rides and games for the kids, food and drink of all kinds, and commercial exhibits featuring many products and services for the farm and home. The major changes made in traffic flow and parking in 2009 were very successful and will be used again this year with only minor changes.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24

8:00 AM JUDGING OF POULTRY & SMALL ANIMALS

10:00 AM JUDGING OF HALL EXHIBITS

1:30 PM PARADE

2:30 PM OPENING CEREMONIES

3:00 PM PEDAL TRACTOR PULL

4:00 PM BARROW WEIGH-IN

5:00 PM ANTIQUE TRACTOR PULL

6:30 PM MUSIC BY UNCLE PEARL

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25

8:30 AM JUDGING OF SHEEP & GOATS

9:00 AM 4-H & FFA STEER SHOW

9:00 AM RIVER HILLS RUN

9:30 AM 4-H HORSEMANSHIP SHOW

10:00 AM JUDGING OF BEEF CATTLE

10:30 AM DAIRY CATTLE SHOW

11:00 AM JUDGING OF DRAFT HORSES & MULES

11:00 AM SADDLE HORSE SHOW

11:00 AM JUDGING OF 4-H & FFA BARROWS

12:00 PM MUSIC BY SAXONY HILLS COMMUNITY BAND

2:00 PM MUSIC BY REMINISCE

3:30 PM 4-H & FFA SALE

5:30 PM JUMPING MULES COMPETITION

6:00 PM MUSIC BY JACKSON MUNICIPAL BAND

8:00 PM 4X4 TRUCK PULL

8:30 PM ATTENDANCE PRIZES