When I first heard that the JC Country Fair was being changed to the JC Country Fair and Music Fest, I was a little disappointed. No carnival rides or games? Seriously, what’s the point of going other than to see how much of a bust it’s going to be?
Friday night, walking up to the Fair, I expected to see the usual riff-raff the fair always attracted. To my amazement, the majority of people I saw there were JC attendees and not trouble-seekers looking for a brawl from other schools or pre-teens who just got dropped off in their parents’ white mini-van.
There were vendors, games, and a center stage in the middle of the circle. Once seven o’clock hit, the parking lot and grass immediately emptied, with volunteers and security telling students to either go inside for the Battle of the Bands or to leave. This was a successful effort to stop fighting and other things that usually happened once it got dark.
On Saturday, RCA Nashville/Sony BMG recording artist Chuck Wicks performed outside on the stage. It cost ten dollars just to enter the Fair, but it was worth it. Chuck Wicks was friendly, and members of the audience could even meet him and snap a picture for only ten dollars.
Sunday featured art teacher Michael Gaudreau’s band, Faire Isle. I enjoyed getting the chance to see a teacher actually doing something in public that wasn’t teaching. There was also a pancake breakfast and The Annual Ed Miller/Jim Long Old-Timer’s Lax Game.
The fair this year succeeded in being transformed into a more family friendly event. More noticeable than anything was that there wasn’t the usual swarm of people running to the football field to watch a fight, no fights broken up, and no police cars stolen like in previous years. I felt more comfortable being there than I had in previous years.
The fair may have been more appealing to younger attendees, but it helped JC to replace their bad rep for the JC fairs with a new, more appealing one. Even though the fair lacked rides, it made up for that with the remarkable talent and music that it offered.
Julia Earnshaw can be reached for comment at [email protected].