July 9, 2008, editorial: Connecting to community

  ISSUE: Hardin County Fair OUR VIEW: Family time, tradition valued    It’s that time of year again.

Time for carnival rides, cotton candy and corndogs.

Time for gardeners and homemakers to show off their flowers, jam cakes and quilts; for pageant queens and kings, and for baby contests.

Time for cattle contests and horse shows, for the truck pull and demolition derby; for clogging, square dancing and singing.

Time to return to our roots.

The Hardin County Community Fair is a tradition that dates back to before the 1900s and has been an annual county event since its revival in 1962. Each year it brings in about 20,000 people from Hardin County and throughout the region.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of volunteers who coordinate everything from grounds maintenance to contest judging to emceeing the parent/child look-alike contest, the fair has become a much-anticipated summertime festival in celebration of the simpler side of life in Hardin County.

Hardin County Fair Board President Larry Jaggers calls it a tradition, a community function, a homecoming. We call it necessary.

With gasoline prices soaring, the county fair is an affordable family excursion that’s close to home.

It's a chance to reconnect with your heritage or with your neighbors. A chance to get outside.

Particularly in a growing community like this one, it's an opportunity each year to step away from the computerized world, take a stroll among the concession tents under the neon glow of rides and wipe the thick, moist Kentucky air from your brow, just like they used to in the good old days.  

This editorial represents a consensus of The News-Enterprise editorial board.