Tomi Erickson with the Lincoln County Fair Board stepped into the SVI Radio Studio on Wednesday, July 22 to discuss changes to this year’s Fair Parade.  The parade will take place on Friday, August 7 at 4:00 p.m. Registration is free. Preregistration is strongly encouraged. To register, scan the QR code below or click here.

(0:00) To catch up with Tommy Erikson, Tommy, (0:02) one of the members of the Lincoln County Fair Board, (0:05) and Tommy, man, we are just days away now (0:08) from the start of the Lincoln County Fair. (0:10) You guys feeling ready? (0:11) It’s that pressure time now, right? (0:13) Yeah, it’s crunch time now, so. (0:15) Awesome.

(0:16) Well, of course, it starts not this weekend, (0:17) but next weekend, and wanted to have you on (0:20) to talk specifically about the fair parade. (0:22) That’s such a cool tradition and annual part of the fair, (0:25) but some changes this year. (0:26) Tell us, a date change happening.

(0:28) Thanks for having us, Duke. (0:30) So, one thing we wanted to try and do, (0:33) we’ve kind of seen some decline in our parade (0:35) as far as participation and even people showing up (0:41) to come out and be there and be a part of the parade. (0:46) So, we wanted to see if maybe switching the weekends (0:50) would maybe help drive some traction (0:52) and get people out a little bit more.

(0:56) One thing that we kind of were taking note of (1:00) is a lot of our friends from the southern part (1:02) of the county, they’re a big part of our fair, (1:07) and a lot of them don’t come in until (1:10) the first part of the week. (1:12) And so, we wanted them to be able to have a chance (1:14) to be a part of the parade as well. (1:16) And the fair parade is actually a county-wide event.

(1:22) It’s not like our 4th of July parade (1:24) or the Parade of Lights, where it’s just focused (1:27) on the town of Afton or the town specifically, (1:30) but it’s a county-wide event, (1:33) and we wanted to be more inclusive (1:36) of the whole entire county. (1:38) Absolutely. (1:39) So, traditionally, it had been held (1:41) on that first Saturday of the fair, (1:43) and so that’s been moved to the next weekend now, correct? (1:46) Yeah, so we’re aiming for Friday.

(1:51) We didn’t want to swap Saturdays (1:54) because Saturday’s kind of a crazy day (1:55) and with the livestock sale and everything, (1:58) but we’re really fortunate to have Three Nights of Rodeo, (2:04) and we’re really, really excited about that. (2:06) We got some big names coming in, (2:07) and so we took a lot of inspiration (2:11) from the Preston Night Rodeo of having a big parade (2:15) to kind of kick off our rodeos and get people excited, (2:19) and there’s generally a lot of people in town (2:21) for the rodeos, so we thought that would be a great time (2:25) to have our fair parade, (2:26) and we just want to encourage everybody (2:28) to get their organization or their political party (2:33) and come out. (2:35) It’s a great opportunity for some free advertisement.

(2:38) I mean, not technically free (2:40) when you figure in the price of candy, I guess, (2:42) and your float. (2:44) But there’s no entry fee, though, right? (2:45) It’s free to enter. (2:47) It’s free to enter, (2:48) and one thing that we’re doing this year (2:50) that’s kind of fun is we are gonna have (2:53) the community vote on the best float, (2:58) so in the parade, we’ll have some, (3:02) like, I don’t know if we’re gonna have golf carts (3:05) or horses.

(3:06) We haven’t pinned that down yet, (3:07) but there will be three different floats in the parade (3:14) that have a QR code that you can scan. (3:17) If you’re standing there watching the parade, (3:18) you can scan our QR code and vote for your favorite float, (3:22) so that’ll be kind of fun. (3:23) Yeah, so that’ll be kind of fun.

(3:26) So Tommy Erickson, Leakey County Fair Board and Studios, (3:28) so the fair parade on August 7th, (3:31) Friday, August 7th at four o’clock, right? (3:34) So it’s ahead of the rodeo. (3:35) Get the parade done. (3:36) Get your chance to get your food.

(3:38) Head into the rodeo. (3:39) So four o’clock on Friday, August 7th (3:41) for the parade this year. (3:43) Do you need to register in advance (3:44) if you’re gonna be in it? (3:45) Yeah, so we will still take same-day registration this year, (3:50) but we’d like to move to pre-registration, (3:52) and we do have that ready.

(3:54) So we have a Google form that you can fill out, (3:56) and we’ll get that posted. (3:58) It’s floating around, (3:59) but if you guys will post it for us, that’d be awesome, (4:01) and you can just register through that Google form. (4:05) Perfect, absolutely.

(4:07) All right, so Friday the 7th, four o’clock, (4:10) Lincoln County Fair Parade is when that’ll take place (4:12) with some changes. (4:13) Anything else we missed, Tommy? (4:14) Real quick, the parade route has changed. (4:17) So we’re gonna go headed south down Lincoln, (4:21) and then we’ll come up by the old Robinson Motors, (4:24) Salt River Meats, right there, (4:26) and then come down Washington, back north on Washington.

(4:30) So heading north on Main Street, (4:32) up back towards the fairgrounds. (4:33) Yep, exactly. (4:34) Perfect, all right.

(4:35) And that’s the same route that the town used (4:37) for the 4th of July. (4:38) Perfect, all right, Tommy, appreciate the details (4:40) and the info. (4:41) Thank you very much.

(4:42) Good luck to you guys (4:43) and the entire fair board. (4:45) It’s all part of the weekday wake up this morning (4:46) on the SBI Radio Network.