Speaker 1: Hey, this is Melody Divers with a local ag. We
Speaker 1: have a special mini podcast today. Mackenzie Mother is here
Speaker 1: with us with the Bedford County Fair and she's going
Speaker 1: to share all things about this upcoming wonderful fair that
Speaker 1: we have.
Speaker 2: Hey, thanks Melody for having me again. So next week
Speaker 2: kicks off our twenty twenty six Bedford County Fair. The
Speaker 2: fair opens on Friday at four pm and then runs
Speaker 2: through Saturday and Sunday, where it will close Sunday at.
Speaker 1: Six the twenty first, twenty second.
Speaker 2: And twenty third. That's right. So we're super excited to
Speaker 2: be back this year again at Liberty Link Park. This
Speaker 2: will be our second year there, so we are very
Speaker 2: grateful for the support from the town to allow us
Speaker 2: back again. We've been able to add a lot of
Speaker 2: new features to this year's fair, so we're super excited
Speaker 2: about those. To give everybody kind of an idea of
Speaker 2: what to expect throughout the weekend, Friday, we kick off
Speaker 2: again at four. We'll have our traditional favorites, the old
Speaker 2: McDonald's tent, the Midway. We have a really great lineup
Speaker 2: of rides for this year. We'll have our Home Goods
Speaker 2: Pavilion where you can check out all of the Home
Speaker 2: Goods contest entries throughout the whole weekend, and then Friday
Speaker 2: exclusively will have the Blue Ribbon Bouquet Bar where you
Speaker 2: can go and create a flower.
Speaker 1: Bouquet that is correct yet job.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, that's always a big hit, So that's happening
Speaker 2: Friday at six. In addition to that, we of course
Speaker 2: have a lot of food and craft and that will
Speaker 2: be there throughout the weekend. Another exciting feature that we'll
Speaker 2: have this year is a kid's activity tent. So we
Speaker 2: kind of played with that idea last year and it
Speaker 2: was very popular, so we added a lot to that
Speaker 2: and expanded the space so that will be geared more
Speaker 2: towards you know, uh, littler kids who may be not
Speaker 2: so interested in the rides, but give them something where
Speaker 2: they can go and have a quieter hang out while
Speaker 2: enjoying the fair. Saturday, we start the fair with our
Speaker 2: Community Expo, which is for our local nonprofits. That runs
Speaker 2: from ten am to three, so you're welcome to come
Speaker 2: check out those guys that are coming to set up
Speaker 2: during that time. They'll be up at the Home Goods Pavilion.
Speaker 2: The Midway open Saturday at noon and then of course
Speaker 2: we'll have the Old McDonald, the kids activity tent, all
Speaker 2: our vendors Saturday. We've got several presenters that will be
Speaker 2: at the Old McDonald tent throughout the day and then
Speaker 2: a few rocking chair conversations which I personally am super
Speaker 2: excited I have to.
Speaker 1: Tell us about this. Yes, So that's.
Speaker 2: Something that we've we've talked, talked about and tossed the
Speaker 2: idea around for several years. And basically our idea envisioned
Speaker 2: behind this would be having some local historians and just
Speaker 2: community like founding people who could come and share some
Speaker 2: Bedford County history at the fair. So we've finally put
Speaker 2: all that together this year and we'll have Danny Johnson
Speaker 2: of Johnson's Orchard or Piece of oter Winery. So he'll
Speaker 2: be there on the main stage at eleven thirty and
Speaker 2: that's on Saturday. That's on Saturday the twenty second. Yep.
Speaker 2: So if you've never had the pleasure of meeting Danny,
Speaker 2: he's a wealth of knowledge from of Bedford County and
Speaker 2: just a great storyteller. Yep. He's been just chomping out
Speaker 2: the bit to he wants to he wants to tell
Speaker 2: me with the story, and I said, I want it
Speaker 2: to be a surprise. I want it to be a
Speaker 2: surprise because I'm going to be front row then tent
Speaker 2: of just like everyone else.
Speaker 1: So he will be great.
Speaker 2: And like I say, he's there at eleven thirty till
Speaker 2: about twelve thirty on Saturday. And then we have miss
Speaker 2: Leslie from the Bedford Museum who will be there that afternoon.
Speaker 2: And then she's got about an in an hour worth
Speaker 2: of conversation to share about just kind of all things
Speaker 2: history of Bedford. So I think both of those will
Speaker 2: be well worth it for all ages to attend and
Speaker 2: really adding kind of a different, different feel for the fair.
Speaker 2: It'll give everybody kind of a chance to sit and
Speaker 2: relax and listen and still be educational, but really dig
Speaker 2: into that Bedford County history roots to the reason we're
Speaker 2: doing why we're doing this, Yes, our community, Yes very much.
Speaker 2: So that's been super important to me to try to
Speaker 2: bring in all avenues of our community and have a
Speaker 2: little piece of something that represents all of that at
Speaker 2: the fair. So I'm really excited to have them and
Speaker 2: hope that they have the support so that maybe that will,
Speaker 2: you know, kind of cue somebody else who was thinking
Speaker 2: about it the story right, so to have the interest
Speaker 2: and see you know how like impactful that was, and
Speaker 2: I mean they'll join us in the future. And then
Speaker 2: Sunday we'll have Midway that opens at one o'clock, fair
Speaker 2: grounds opens at noon, rides will start at one and
Speaker 2: of course food. Sunday we have our Community Talent Show,
Speaker 2: so I'm very very excited about that. That starts at
Speaker 2: one thirty. So at the conclusion of our talent show,
Speaker 2: we then will move into a fun foam dance party.
Speaker 1: For the kids.
Speaker 2: Uh so we're excited about that. I think one of
Speaker 2: our biggest editions this year is going to be our entertainment.
Speaker 2: So typically in the past we've always you know, included
Speaker 2: a band. This year we've got a lot up to
Speaker 2: kind of keep the stage busy all day. You know,
Speaker 2: families are busy, so we're trying to make it so
Speaker 2: at any time that they come to the fair there's
Speaker 2: gonna be something they are going on, rather than you know,
Speaker 2: just once right that in the day. So as far
Speaker 2: as entertainment goes, on Friday, we've got Cameron Smith who
Speaker 2: will be playing from six to eight and then we'll
Speaker 2: wrap up the evening with line dancing with Angela, so
Speaker 2: she's a line dance instructor and she's bringing all kinds
Speaker 2: of fun for us, and you know, kind of have
Speaker 2: an interactive piece, so a little something different, but I
Speaker 2: think that'll be super popular for all ages. And then
Speaker 2: entertainment for Saturday, we kick off with mister Johnson and
Speaker 2: the Rock and Chair Conversations, and then from that we'll
Speaker 2: move into New Standard, which is a local bluegrass band. Yeah, so,
Speaker 2: so they'll be there at one thirty. After them, we
Speaker 2: have Miss Leslie with another rock can share conversation. At
Speaker 2: four pm, we have the Blue Collar Band, and then
Speaker 2: to wrap up our evening we have.
Speaker 1: Star City Rockerska.
Speaker 2: So that's a full lineup for the day. On Saturday,
Speaker 2: different John Genres, Yeah, yep, keeping keeping a nice blend
Speaker 2: going and kind of breaking it up so it's not
Speaker 2: you know, back to back music. We've got some things
Speaker 2: mixed in. And then of course entertainment Sunday, we have
Speaker 2: Grayson Long's Evolution of Clogging, so she's gonna present a
Speaker 2: clogging demonstration and then also give us the history on
Speaker 2: the art of clogging. So we're excited to have that
Speaker 2: something different well, and then of course, like I say,
Speaker 2: the talent show at one point thirty and at the
Speaker 2: conclusion of Talent Show, DJ showtime.
Speaker 1: We love John Hometown Popular.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, So we're gonna turn it up with John
Speaker 2: and have our Pham party for the kids along with
Speaker 2: a dance party to kind of wrap up the evening
Speaker 2: of the fair. So we're super excited for all, you know,
Speaker 2: the great lineup of entertainment and bringing in new folks
Speaker 2: and having a lot of diversity to like I say,
Speaker 2: bringing in all different areas of the community and try
Speaker 2: to have something that checks the box for everybody of
Speaker 2: an interest because it is everybody's fair. That's right, that's right,
Speaker 2: Everybody's fair, and we want everyone to feel like they
Speaker 2: have a part of space there. Tell me something that
Speaker 2: a question we get asked a lot on Facebook. Tell
Speaker 2: me about parking and admission.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: So the Bedford County Fair continues to be free admission,
Speaker 2: free parking. Our on site parking is limited. If you're
Speaker 2: not able to get a spot on site, We've got
Speaker 2: to shuttle pick up areas that will be running throughout
Speaker 2: the fair, So Bedford Elementary School will be a shuttle
Speaker 2: pickup drop off and then Word of Life Church on
Speaker 2: Burk's Hill. Okay, we'll also be a secondary shuttle location.
Speaker 2: And then we have a small parking lot at the
Speaker 2: entrance to Liberty Lake that if you, you know, happen
Speaker 2: to be there, the bus will pick up on the
Speaker 2: way in. So we have two shuttles that will be running.
Speaker 2: We're very grateful Bedford Baptist Church and then LifeWise Group
Speaker 2: they have sponsored our shuttles for the weekend, so we'll
Speaker 2: have those running. Yeah, so that's fantastic and those are
Speaker 2: again the shuttle service is free, so if you're not
Speaker 2: able to find parking on site, feel free to go
Speaker 2: to one of our shuttle locations. They'll be making rounds
Speaker 2: all all through the fair, so you don't have to
Speaker 2: be there at a certain time. Once you get park
Speaker 2: just hang tight and they'll pick you up, bring you
Speaker 2: and be ready to take you back when you drop yep,
Speaker 2: when you're ready to go.
Speaker 1: So the tickets for the rides, that's an extra fee,
Speaker 1: correct and you can buy them when you get there
Speaker 1: or online.
Speaker 2: All all wristbands and ride tickets are purchased on site
Speaker 2: our website Bedford viafair dot org. We've got a section
Speaker 2: on there from our midway provider that provides ticket and
Speaker 2: risk band pricing and information you're not caught off guards
Speaker 2: correct yep. And then we'll have a big share on
Speaker 2: our social media pages at the start of next week
Speaker 2: to kind of give everybody some information to prepare as
Speaker 2: far as that goes, that's something worth checking out. There's
Speaker 2: some uh specials and discounts so at certain times in
Speaker 2: certain days, so if you know you've got people that
Speaker 2: you know are coming to ride, that would definitely be
Speaker 2: worth you know, checking in to. He's got some family
Speaker 2: packs available, there's military and active duty discounts, ticket packs,
Speaker 2: those sort of things, so definitely worth checking out, like
Speaker 2: I say on our web page, or you can keep
Speaker 2: an eye out on social media next week for for
Speaker 2: that information.
Speaker 1: And guess my last question is for the home goods
Speaker 1: is the deadline has it been not yet? Okay?
Speaker 2: So miss Carolyn who is our home goods Yes, she
Speaker 2: will be at the park next week starting on Monday
Speaker 2: at noon, so she'll be accepting entries for our home
Speaker 2: goods contest until the nineteenth, so she'll be there each day.
Speaker 1: I believe her hours are.
Speaker 2: Noon to seven each day to get those entries you
Speaker 2: may enter on site or if you visit the web
Speaker 2: page and have entries for three or less categories, there's
Speaker 2: an online submission there and then your your entry itself
Speaker 2: would just be dropped off at the home Goods contest
Speaker 2: to begin the judging, which would start on Thursday.
Speaker 1: And what kind of things for people that may not
Speaker 1: that may be new to a county fair. What what
Speaker 1: are home goods? What? What are these people presenting then
Speaker 1: getting judged.
Speaker 2: So we have a wide variety. I think some of
Speaker 2: our most popular areas of the home goods contests are
Speaker 2: our photography and art. It all also has categories for baking, canning.
Speaker 2: We've got several chocolate cake contests. Yeah, and then of
Speaker 2: course your your produce. There's some uh produce baskets that
Speaker 2: are judged, you know, on quality and appearance. We go
Speaker 2: into honey, so there's generally a honey contest, and then
Speaker 2: she's got several that are geared more towards kind of
Speaker 2: youth friendly, so those are worth checking out. Those those
Speaker 2: kind of vary, but there's definitely categories for both youth
Speaker 2: and adult. I think I covered most of the basics there.
Speaker 2: We've we've got some crop categories which go into hate
Speaker 2: quality and those sort of things. So if if, if
Speaker 2: you're a producer or an artisan, it is certainly something
Speaker 2: worth checking into because miss Carolin, Yeah, yeah, and miss
Speaker 2: Carolyn really puts a lot of time and effort into,
Speaker 2: you know, bringing quality judges in and putting together that
Speaker 2: home goods catalog to be very informative and very descriptive,
Speaker 2: so you know, you're you're able to see exactly you know,
Speaker 2: what to expect and and how your your entry is
Speaker 2: being judged. So that's worth worth checking into. She's got
Speaker 2: the catalog uploaded onto our web page. And then there's
Speaker 2: a couple social media shares with some you know interest
Speaker 2: for you to check out if, like I say, if
Speaker 2: you're a grower, producer, artistan that has a has an
Speaker 2: interest in that. Yeah, going back to there's a spot
Speaker 2: for absolutely yeah wonderful.
Speaker 1: One more time. Give a Facebook page and the web
Speaker 1: web page and the date.
Speaker 2: Okay, so our Facebook page is Bedford County Fair. We're
Speaker 2: very active on our Facebook page and share a lot
Speaker 2: of updates there. As we get into next week Fair Week,
Speaker 2: we'll have lots to share there. We also have Instagram
Speaker 2: and tiktoks so Graham. Yeah, so so we're expanding, we're trying.
Speaker 2: And then our web page is Bedford vafair dot org.
Speaker 2: So all information is on the web page. And then
Speaker 2: we also have a lot of links to take you
Speaker 2: directly to social right if if you need, you know,
Speaker 2: entries or we're still accepting sponsorships, volunteers, anything of those sorts.
Speaker 2: We would be happy to have you, and you can
Speaker 2: go directly to our website and it'll give you information
Speaker 2: yeah that you need for that wonderful.
Speaker 1: Well, I would like to thank you Mackenzie for all
Speaker 1: of your work and doing a great job you, Carolyn
Speaker 1: and everyone else is just pitching in and have a
Speaker 1: good team. Yes, so thank you, and we hope to
Speaker 1: see everybody at the face yeah see yeah at the fair. Yeah.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, this is Melody Divers reminding you to
Speaker 1: be good to yourself and be good to others.