First Posted: 10/8/2013
The show will go on, but it’s going to begin one day late.
A steady rain saturated the Richmond County Fairgrounds in Hamlet and Ann Wheeler, education coordinator for the 56th annual Richmond County Agricultural Fair, said the opening would be delayed until today.
“It’s flooded,” Wheeler said early Tuesday afternoon. “The water’s standing, it’s soggy. When we have any kind of rain, it backs up into that field.”
Wheeler said the rain this week is not at all unexpected.
“In Richmond County, rain is fair-related,” she said. “All we have to do is open the doors down there and there’s the rain. it was so loud in the barn (with the rain falling) you couldn’t even hear yourself think.”
The animals exhibited in the barn are “tucked away snuggly” in the barn and were volunteers’ top priority, Wheeler said.
Gates will open at 4 p.m. today as rides and typical fair food being immediately available. Events begin at 6 p.m., including a demonstration by the Ellerbe-based Millstone 4-H Camp as well as a group of foreign exchange students displaying items from their home countries. School-aged children who received special tickets from their teachers can enter at no cost from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The pet show also begins at 6 p.m. Wheeler said pets entered range from dogs and goats to turtles and, one time, a tarantula and a turkey.