No fair this year

The Gilmer County Fair, one of the longest-running annual events in the county and a chief fundraiser for the Ellijay Lions Club, will not take place this year. The fair would have started Wednesday, Aug. 12, and run through Sunday, Aug 16. 

Members of the Ellijay Lions Club fair committee held two separate meetings on the matter and, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the decision was made to cancel the event, said Ed Stover, the club’s fair manager.

“We’ve been discussing this issue for a good couple of weeks. We presented it to all the people on the fair committee and it was unanimous that we not have the fair this year,” he said. “We feel we just can’t take the chance right now. We don’t want anybody getting sick.” 

Stover noted how difficult it would be to enforce such safety practices as social distancing and wearing protective masks during a five-night event that draws large crowds and where patrons typically gather closeby in lines and groups.

“We felt like one of the issues would be that we’ve got the rule for six-foot distancing, but that can be hard in a big crowd. How are you going to keep distance when you’re bumping shoulders with everybody? That’s one thing that really concerned us,” he added.

The county fair is the latest local annual event to be canceled or delayed amidst the continuing pandemic. 

So far, in Gilmer, the inaugural 7 Trails Fest, as well as this year’s St. Petrick’s Day Parade, Apple Blossom Festival and, most recently, July Fourth parade and downtown festivities have all been canceled. 

Nearby, several large annual events in Pickens County have also been canceled for this year, including Jeepfest, the Georgia Marble Festival and a July Fourth carnival and fireworks display sponsored by the Jasper Lions Club.  

Stover returned as the club’s fair manager this year after a one-year absence from the position. He’d managed the event for 5 or 6 years before then. The virus pandemic and safety concerns have resulted in a completely different type of planning discussion taking place this year, he confirmed. 

“We usually just go ahead and make it happen and that’s what we had wanted to do this year,” he said. “It’s like we’ve never been caught in this position, but we’re caught. All of us are volunteers and most of us are up there in years. I really hate that this is going on, but it is. ”

One of two main fundraisers

Held at the Lions Club Fairgrounds each August, the fair is one of two big annual events that serve as fundraisers for the club’s numerous community outreach efforts. The other is the Georgia Apple Festival, presented in conjunction with the Gilmer Chamber.

“(Fair proceeds) go for the organizations we support in the community. There’s 40-50 organizations we contribute to,” said Stover. 

Sam Burrell, Ellijay Lions first vice-president, said the club stands to lose almost $25,000 by not having the fair this year.

“Everything we make, we give back to the community. For many people (and organizations) we donate to, we’re on their budget so we don’t want to cut back our support or anything like that. We want to look at ways we can still help the community by donating as much as we always have,” he added. 

The virus pandemic also curtailed the club’s spring collection drive for White Cane Day, which raises money for eyesight-related assistance projects.

“We commit $5,000 each year to White Cane Day. It was in April, so we couldn’t do it,” Burrell said. 

Stover said club members are looking at the possibility of having a smaller spring fair sometime next year, as well as other smaller events that will be easier to manage and can also be used as fundraisers.

“It may be something we do a little bit later on. I don’t think we’ll be having it by the end of the year,” he said about the possibility of a smaller fair. “One of the things we’re thinking about is having a car show. It’s a wait and see thing, even with that, because we just don’t know which way this virus is going to turn.” 

Bad weather has been an obstacle that affected some past county fairs, but Burrell, a Gilmer native, said this is the first time he knows of that the entire week-long event has been sidelined.

“I remember years ago, when I was a little boy in grade school, school would turn out for the fair and we would walk right down to it. In all those years (since then), never did we have anything like this that would cut it all back,” he added.