This year's Southeast Arkansas Fair and Livestock Show is looking to be a copy and paste from last year, complete with the possibility that it might not even happen.
Greg Bolin, president of the South Arkansas Livestock Association, the entity that manages Hestand Stadium and the annual fair, said that, like last year, the organization was hoping to be able to put on at least the livestock and home economics part of the fair, scheduled for the last week of September, but only if enough money is raised.
Currently, Bolin said, about $14,000 in donations have been committed to the event, with $10,000 of that coming from Go Forward Pine Bluff. In all, he said, $25,000 is needed.
Bolin said he's hoping that other entities step up to contribute, including the close to 20 counties in southeast Arkansas that make up the association's district.
"What we've gotten is pretty good seed money," Bolin said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to find enough to make this work. We're out beating the bushes right now, and I'm optimistic we'll get there."
Last year, the prognosis for the fair was in a similar spot. When it became known that the fair might not happen, Simmons Bank came to the rescue.
"They paid it all last year, the whole $25,000," Bolin said, adding that he had not yet approached the bank this year for help.
"I want to see how much we raise before we call them," he said. "I don't want them to feel like they have to carry this thing every year. We'll see how the collections go. They did their part and more last year."
Right now, the dates for the fair, if it happens, are expected to be Wednesday through Saturday, Sept. 28 through Oct. 1. Bolin said he's waiting to firm up the schedules for those days given that many of the participants are school-age youngsters who will be showing their animals and certain days and times might work better than others for them.
Also returning this year, he said, will be the home economics portion of the fair where scores of individuals who grow things, quilt, can, paint, photograph, sew and otherwise tackle all manner of creative tasks compete with one another for the cherished blue ribbon.
As for the midway, with rides and kettle corn, games of chance and fried everything, like last year, there won't be one during the fair but one is scheduled for the following week, Bolin said.
There might not have been one at all, he said, but last year, he noticed the midway going on at the Grant County Fair in Sheridan and stopped to talk to the operators. They couldn't come during the fair last year in Pine Bluff but they were able to come the week after.
The same is true for this year. Bolin said he hasn't signed a contract with the operator, Johnson Brothers Amusement, but the plan is for the company to set up its rides and other amusements the week after the fair here ends.