After 48 years as a 10-day event, the Arkansas State Fair will add an extra day in 2017, its organizers said Thursday.
In a news release, the state fair said it would run for 11 consecutive days Oct. 12-22, opening on a Thursday instead of the years-long tradition of starting on a Friday.
“We have been seriously considering this move for several years and our executive committee felt like the timing was right,” Arkansas State Fair general manager Ralph Shoptaw said in a statement.
In addition, organizers said this week that a new carnival company — North American Midway Entertainment of Farmland, Ind., — has been contracted to operate the annual event.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.