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The Southern Kentucky Fair Board, Inc., and the Bowling Green-Warren County Junior Chamber (Jaycees) will sponsor the 58th Annual Southern Kentucky Fair at the Jaycee Fairgrounds in Lampkin Park from July 26 through August 1. As always, the Southern Kentucky Fair is a “one price” fair. The $10 admission covers all carnival rides and stage and track events. This year, the fair is proud to bring back the old-fashioned family fair with 4-H, family games and great carnival and grandstand events.

The week’s festivities will begin on Sunday with a series of Beauty Pageants held at the Warren Central High School Auditorium. Winners from five of these pageants will advance to compete in the designated State Pageants. Last year, the Southern Kentucky Fair was proud to have both the state winners of Miss Kentucky County Fair and Miss Teen Kentucky County Fair come from our pageants.

The fair comes to life when the gates open at 6 p.m. on Monday, offering a wide array of carnival rides, provided by Myers International Midways of Florida. The Monday night track event will feature Motocross at the SOKY Fairgrounds, presented by Team186, and the main event will begin at 7 p.m. The 4-H beef show will take place in the Ag building starting at 5 p.m.

Tuesday night is Family Night, and each attendee enjoys a discounted admission price of $8 with a canned food item donation. Donations this year will benefit the Barren River Area Safe Space, sponsored by JB Distributors. The Ag building will host the 4-H market lamb and goat show while the main event at the track will feature the always popular Compact Car Figure 8 Racing. Family fun will be the main attraction on the stages with some classic county fair contests. Special appearances will be made by WNKY’s Radar the Weather Dog, the State’s Fair Bears, and others. Bring the kid’s out for an evening of family entertainment.

One-price admission to the fair for $10 resumes Wednesday through Saturday nights. Wednesday will feature a dairy show in the Ag Building, and a compact car demolition derby at the track will start at 7 p.m. The stages will host country line-dancing lessons with Cindy.

The Kentucky Outlaw Truck Pull will be held at the track on Thursday night, along with a band providing entertainment on the stages. Friday night will bring back the much-requested tractor pull, brought to you by the Ohio River Valley Tractor Pullers Association. It will begin at the track at 7 p.m. The stages will feature the band, Venus 12, at 8 p.m. The week’s festivities will wrap up on Saturday night with the Chad Wright Memorial Motorcycle Show to benefit St. Jude in the Ag Building. Our Feature Demolition Derby at the track will start at 7 p.m., and local favorites Easy Street on stage will start at 8.

For additional information about the SOKY Fair, how you can be a part of it, and any of the events listed, please visit our website at www.sokyfair.org or call the fair office at (270) 842-7980 or (270) 282-5838.

An event such as this requires numerous volunteers and countless hours of preparation and planning. Proceeds generated from the SOKY Fair are used throughout the year to fund the numerous other events sponsored by the Jaycees in the Bowling Green-Warren County community.

The BG-WC Jaycees don’t just sponsor and provide manpower to the SOKY Fair; the proceeds from the fair allow us to sponsor many events in Warren County that you may recognize. Events in the spring include the Daisy BB Gun Shooter’s Education Program, where youth 8-15 years of age are provided education for handling firearms properly. We are also presently active with the Concerts in the Park summer series, the Bowling Green Humane Society and the St. Jude Dream Home. We sponsor scholarships for each of the four area high schools, the Junior Miss Program, and an endowed scholarship at Western Kentucky University.

In addition to these worthy causes, at Christmas, the Jaycees partner with Nat’s Outdoor Sports to provide the Bikes for Kids program and provide the Christmas Shop for Kids event every year in conjunction with our sponsors: Wal-Mart, Cutting Edge Lawn Care and Allied Energy. This program provides much-needed clothing and other necessities to over 100 Warren County children in need at Christmas time.

So what are the Jaycees all about? The BG-WC Junior Chamber (Jaycees) gives young people between the ages of 21 and 40 the tools they need to build the bridges of success for themselves in the areas of business development, management skills, individual training, community service and international connections. A monthly membership meeting is held at the Pavilion inside the fairgrounds at Lampkin Park on the second Tuesday of each month starting at 7 p.m. The BG-WC Junior Chamber is a non-profit corporation/organization as described under IRS code 501(c)(4).

About the Author:

John Stanford is the 2009 Southern Kentucky Fair Chairman and Past-President of the Bowling Green-Warren County Jaycees. For more information about the Jaycees organization, to become a member, or to contribute to one of the Jaycees programs mentioned in the article, please contact them by calling (270) 282-5838 or e-mailing sokyfair@gmail.com.

Photos from the 2008 fair by David Francis