County fair begins Sept. 24

Published 2:36 pm Thursday, September 19, 2019

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It is fair time once again, as the 2019 Chilton County Fair is scheduled Sept. 24-28. Gates will open at 6 p.m. all five nights.

“We will close after the last person has ridden their last ride,” Scott Zuelzke with the Clanton Kiwanis Club said.

Admission is $2 to enter, while children 3 years old and younger are free. There will be nightly specials for unlimited ride tickets.

“That [unlimited ride ticket] will get you onto all the rides as many times as you want to ride them,” Zuelzke said.

Parking at the event will be free.

According to Zuelzke, Friday is typically the fair’s busiest night.

The event serves as a fundraiser with the money raised going towards charities benefiting children within Chilton County.

“We’re not a for-profit fair,” Zuelzke said. “We’ve given over half a million dollars back to this county through the proceeds we’ve received from this fair.”

It will be the 16th year the Clanton Kiwanis Club has sponsored the fair.

The fair will once again be held at Clanton City Park, which has become the event’s home for the past handful of years following the fairgrounds no longer being an option.

“It had grown incrementally every year until we lost our fairgrounds,” Zuelzke said. “We took a huge hit, and we still have no timeline of when we will have a permanent fairgrounds.”

Due to the lack of space at the Clanton City Park, the Kiwanis Club has been forced to cut back on the amount of attractions other than rides.

“We’ve been without a demolition derby and agricultural events and exhibits, which people really liked to participate in,” Zuelzke said. “We had to scale back.”

However, Zuelzke said the plans to build the Alabama Farm Center gives hope as a possible future site for the fair.

“That’s what we’re working towards, but it’s just a very complex situation,” Zuelzke said.

Any new attractions or last-minute changes will be posted on the Chilton County Fair Facebook page.

Two unlimited ride tickets will be given away daily as part of a giveaway promotion. A drawing will take place each day with the winner being announced on the fair’s Facebook page at noon.