Pageants returning to fairgrounds

MATTHEW BURNETTE Staff Writer This year’s iteration of the Coffee County Fair will see all pageants return to the fairgrounds after hosting them at Coffee County Central High School for the last number of years. The change is due to the construction of the new Midway Entertainment and Agricultural Pavilion, a 40’ by 120’ structure that will feature a 22’ by 22’ stage built by local materials and local labor. Seating at the pavilion will be individual chairs but fairgoers are welcome to bring their own chairs for events. Coffee County Fair Board Secretary Delana White explained that the new facility will not only bring the pageants back to the fairgrounds but also offer a “nicer, newer, fresher area to have extended entertainment.” “Now we’ll have entertainment not only in the pavilion but in center ring as well as the pull track,” she said. “There are some nights during the fair that we’ll be having three different events happening. A lot of fairs have one main attraction a night, but we’re shooting to have two or three every night.” The new pavilion will also have a backstage utilization room that is insulated and air-conditioned for pageant contestants and entertainment acts to get ready before going on stage. White says that the hope is to not only centralize everything back to the fairgrounds but also hopefully encourage more foot traffic there as well. “A lot of people have missed the pageants being at the fairgrounds, and we miss that as a Board because we didn’t get to see any pageants at all whether we had kids in them or not since we’re at the fairgrounds with volunteers,” she noted. In addition to the venue change, registration for the pageants will now only be completed in person at the Starnes Building on the fairgrounds with the last day to register being Saturday Aug. 15. No online, phone or late registrations will be accepted. This year’s Coffee County Fair will be held from Sept. 4 through 12 with the theme being 250 Years of Freedom, Fields and Ferris Wheels. All pageants will be held from Saturday Sept. 5 to Sunday Sept. 6. The post Pageants returning to fairgrounds appeared first on Manchester Times .