Greater Jefferson County Fair begins Monday

FAIRFIELD — The Greater Jefferson County Fair is offering the public a week of “Carnival Lights and Country Nights,” which is the theme of this year’s fair.

The 2022 fair runs from Monday, June 20 through Monday, June 27 at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Fairfield. This year’s schedule follows the typical format familiar to regular fairgoers, which means the horse show kicks off the fair on the Tuesday of fair week, followed by the parade through town beginning at the Fairfield High School at 6 p.m.

Wednesday features the Little Miss Contest at 6 p.m., followed by the Queen Contest and later the Bill Riley Talent Show, all in the show arena.

From Thursday through Sunday, the fair will offer unique grandstand entertainment each night at 7 p.m., starting with the Dirt Drag Races on Thursday. Friday will bring the Quad Races, Saturday will host the Truck and Tractor Pull, and Crash for Clunkers will be the grand finale on Sunday, which will be followed by fireworks.

Kenny’s Funland returns to provide carnival entertainment every evening from Wednesday through Sunday. Bryce Millikin, a member of the fair board, said the board has a good relationship with Kenny’s Funland.

“We always get good feedback about them,” he said. “They have good quality rides, and are well received by everyone in the area.”

A couple of new attractions to look for during this fair are pig races and the white tiger shows. The fair has hosted a white tiger exhibit before, but not for the last few years. On the pig races, Millikin said those races are especially popular with young kids.

“They’ll have three pig races per day,” he said. “It’s all part of the free entertainment.”

As always, the Greater Jefferson County Fair is free to attend. There is a charge to attend the grandstand events, and to ride carnival rides, but the rest of the entertainment during fair week is free.

“It’s all about being accessible to the community,” Millikin said. “We believe the small fee that other fairs charge is not necessary for us because we get such great support from the community. There are plenty of other things families can spend money on these days, and we want this fair to be available to anyone.”

Something new for this year’s fair is an updated speaker system throughout the fairgrounds, made possible by Jefferson County ISU Extension choosing that as one of their main capital improvements.

“Hopefully, people will notice the higher quality sound, and it will keep people up to date about what’s happening,” Millikin said.

The show barns will have new lighting and fans, too.

“This is a good year to have updated fans,” Millikin said, referring to the heat wave that is expected to arrive during fair week and send temperatures near triple digits.

For a complete list of events at the fair, go to https://jeffersoncofair.com/schedule/

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com