Fair Grove Hosts 37th Annual Fall Festival

The Fair Grove Fall Festival is coming up soon this September. An estimated 50,000 people from the surrounding areas come to visit unique booths and eat different foods. The booths can have anything from clothes to furniture, and with nearly 300 of them marking the grounds, there are hours of shopping.

“I’ve been going for around 7 years now,” says Megan Winder, a sophomore at Fair Grove, “My favorite part about it is the root beer!”

Other than root beer, some of the stands have funnel cakes, pork tenderloins, and chicken legs to fill up on. Also, there are other fun things to do during the festival. For example, there are horse rides with the Saddle Club, or music and dance performances under the pavillion.

“I love walking around and seeing the community together,” says Brittany Morris, a student at Fair Grove, “The best food has got to be the fried Oreos!”

Morris is also a part of the school’s band, who gets to participate in the annual parade. Consisting of old cars, tractors, and fire trucks, it starts at the Fair Grove High School and ends at the top of the hill, the home for many local shops and businesses. Each of the school’s sports teams also get to participate in the parade, by riding their own floats.

“The parade has the biggest crowd,” states Carol Highfill, “It’s the most popular part of the festival.”

Carol is apart of the Fair Grove Historical Society, the group in charge of putting together the festival every year. They have various jobs, such as cleaning the property and marking the location of each booth.

“We start planning for it as soon as the previous festival is over. We look at things that could be improved,” announces Marilyn Smith, Historical Society member. The society meets monthly to discuss different things involving the festival, such as getting ahold of the music groups to perform during the festival while people shop.

“We have to call them 3-6 months in advance, or they might already be booked,” explains Smith. The Fair Grove Historical Society plans almost everything to do with the Fall Festival, so they’re the ones to thank for making it happen.

The Fall Festival starts the 27th and ends the 28th. Various high school organizations are raising money, and will be providing parking for the event.