LAUDERDALE COUNTY., Tenn. — The Lauderdale County Fair is kicking off in the middle of a pandemic.
Going to the county fair for a lot of people is the highlight of their year. But when it’s during a pandemic, it may raise a few concerns.
However, according to Lauderdale County officials, safety in their main priority.
“People in town had not anything to do, and they say ‘are y’all going to have the fair? Are y’all going to have the fair?’” said Halls Mayor Eugene Pugh. “And we got together and decided to go ahead and have this fair.”
For the 17th year, the Lauderdale County Fair has set up shop in Halls, Tennessee. However, things will be very different.
“Our fair looks, first and foremost, nothing at all like it has in the previous years,” said Chairman and founder of the Lauderdale County Fair Susan Worlds.
Worlds says they’ve been planning ways to safely continue the fair since the start of the pandemic.
Guests will be screened before entering, and masks will be available at the front gate. Twenty-one hand sanitizing stations are set up across the fairgrounds.
As for the rides, only every other seat is available, and they’re sanitized between each run.
“People are ready to get out, and we want them to get out as long as they are very cautious, and they take this pandemic very serious,” Worlds said.
Worlds says the fair board has been keeping a close eye on the number of cases in the county. As of Thursday, the county reached 726 cases.
“We’re kind of in the downturn time,” said Lauderdale County Mayor Maurice Gaines. “We think we’ll probably see a little bit of a bump but necessarily because of the fair. You know our schools have started back on in-person learning.”
Officials say only 1,000 people will be let in at a time. After that, they’re closing the gates. The fair is expected to run until Saturday.
