Workers pile up volunteer hours to ensure smooth-running event
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While most Warren County residents realize there are volunteer hours involved in getting the fair up and running, few realize the overwhelming number of hours involved.
“We started the first Saturday in March and have been working ever since,” fair president Steve Grandey said Saturday while hammering new shingles on the roof of the Rural Volunteer Fire Departments structure. “We don’t hire out any labor at this fairground. That’s why we’re able to keep it a free fair year after year.”
Joel Powers, who is superintendent of the poultry barn, said the title of fair president means Grandey does the most work.
“The higher up the title, the more volunteer work you do,” said Powers. “We do a good bit of work here. We’ve worked for 24 hours straight before, but our main focus is this poultry barn. We don’t worry much about all the rest of the fair like Steve and some of the others do.”
Whether it’s repairing a roof, fixing a water line, or mowing the grass, if it’s at the fairgrounds then it’s volunteers doing the work.
Alan Gross knows a thing or two about replacing a water line. As a volunteer with the Covenant Academy food booth, he was hard at work digging a trench Saturday.
“This needed to be done, but it was a lot more than what we thought when we started,” said Gross.
This will be the first year at the fair for the Covenant Academy booth, which is taking over the spot formerly occupied by Brookside. About a dozen volunteers were on hand yesterday to give the food booth a much-needed makeover.
Grandey says he is helped with many of the maintenance chores by his first vice president Kevin Lawrence, his second vice president Kenneth Medlen, and his third vice president Regan Kelsey.
“People don’t realize the maintenance that’s required to keep up buildings that are 50 years old,” said Grandey.
Kelsey was just excited that he received some compensation for his work on Saturday. While hammering shingles, he found a quarter on top of a roof.
“I guess you can say I’m not a volunteer any more,” Kelsey said.
As for what keeps the volunteers going, there’s no shortage of practical jokes. Grandey told a story about how he once locked his brother, Joey, on the grandstand roof for several hours. He said one of the better jokes was when Standard reporter Susan Newby visited the fair, only to return to her car to find it resting on concrete blocks.
“Susan still doesn’t know who did that one,” said Grandey. “And I’m sure not going to tell now.”