CRAVEN COUNTY, N.C. — The Craven County Fair finally opened its gates Wednesday night after cancelling last year’s event due to COVID-19.
This is the sixth annual spring fair put on by the Craven County Junior Chamber of Commerce, better known as the Jaycees. They are excited to be up and running once again. Visitors are asked to follow COVID-19 guidelines while they are there. That means the staff will be relying on an honors system and asking anyone who isn’t vaccinated to wear a mask.
“During a normal year, pre-COVID, we would have 3,500 people over the course of 11 days,” Event Planner David Ricks said. “We’ve shortened the fair to five days. We had to set up the fair weeks before COVID restrictions were lifted, so we weren’t sure what we were going to have. Shortening the fair from 11 to five days let us control it better, so we’d have more access to hand sanitizer and be able to do social distancing. Now that the restrictions are lifted, we expect to have the same kind of crowd in a shorter time.”
The fair is complete with over a dozen carnival rides, games, food trucks, live entertainment and even a new addition — helicopter rides. All the profits from the fair are donated to local charities.
“I love working with the Jaycees,” Ricks said. “It’s a good cause. This is for charity, and it feels good to do something good for the community. But one of the benefits of being a Jaycee is you get to experience all of this, all of the rides, the Super Slider that’s here behind us, the Sky Wheel here. There’s so much to do, and I’m a big kid at heart. I love to do all of it.”
The fair will run through Sunday evening. You can get more information and tickets online at cravencountyfair.com.