Fair Grove’s Biggest Event of The Year
October 11, 2022
The Crowd of people at the Fall Festival. (Photo taken by Sawyer Haskins)
The Fall Festival or Fair Grove Heritage Reunion has been a tradition for the small town of Fair Grove for many years.
“The community has been very gracious in providing several lots to the FFA chapter,” Mr. Crutcher, Fair Grove’s FFA Advisor, says. For this to be such a big event, the community has to come together. Mr. Crutcher explained, “A day usually starts between 5-5:30 am by getting everything ready and hauled to the various lots.”
There are many different groups that come together to raise money. One of Fair Grove’s students’ favorites is the corn shack. Lance Luttrell (11) explained, “I work the Fall Festival at the Corn Shack just up past the Mill, I cook and serve corn with the congregation at Bass Chapel Church.”
Many of these booths sell favorable food at considerably good prices, because of this they have been able to stay in demand. But for Bass Chapel, it’s not about the money. Lance said, “We don’t strive for a specific amount, we just sell corn until we run out which most of the time is the case considering how fast people buy it up. All of our profit goes towards our church; all of our workers are volunteers.”
The population of Fair Grove is under 2000 so there are a lot of visitors from out of town. Luttrell included, ”There are thousands of people that show up over the weekend every year, it’s a spectacle to say the least. We’re normally a modest town, seeing it bustling with the population of a small city is mind-blowing.
Even though it’s a lot of work to get this event ready, a lot of people still enjoy it. “We enjoy working the parking lots as it’s a huge fundraiser for our group,” Mr. Crutcher said. Brigid Woods (11) also said, “I like the atmosphere and how happy everyone is to be there and how full our small town gets from everyone coming to enjoy the festival.”
Since the festival takes up so much space, everything has to be put up fast and taken down even faster. Mr. Crutcher explained a day of working the parking lots, “Students begin parking cars in the lots closest to the festival around 6:15 am, we usually quit parking around 5:30 pm and then haul anything that needs hauled back to the AG building.”