Next month, an event to help put on one of the biggest Summer events in Jacksonville will be put on at Hamilton’s just off the square.
The Morgan County Fair Gala will take place February 3rd, and members of the Fair Board, Marty Marr, Jay Harrison, and Gary Hadden joined WLDS’ What’s On Your Mind program to talk about the gala and the fair.
First, Harrison tells us about the origins of the gala.
“It kind of started as an event to keep in mind our supporters and the people that make the fair happen every year. We started talking about that and we thought winter is a good off time, a good time to have a social event like this. And then also, a lot of us wanted to be able to maybe have a scholarship for the youth exhibitors, so those were some of the ideas we had and it sort of evolved into the gala,” Harrison says
Hadden talks about how the 4H is such an integral part of the Morgan County fair.
“4-H is kind of the backbone of our fair association. For Morgan County, if we didn’t have that 4-H program in here…I mean that is the heartbeat of our fair association. It’s all for the kids, everything we do out there is to give back to the kids. We’ve all experienced the joy and the work and the learning process that you get out of being in 4-H. It’s a great organization as far as getting kids involved and teaching them lifelong lessons that they may not know they’re learning,” says Hadden.
Harrison also says that the reason they do this gala is to shine a light on the youth of the Ag community.
“We’re all about trying to bring more attention to the ag community, as far as the youth in the ag community because there’s some really good kids in the 4-H program in Morgan County. Growing up on a farm in an agriculture community is very, very important, and there are a lot of really good life lessons. It helps make some really good future employees and business owners and people to come back and be a part of the community. There’s so much you learn and you get such a community sense of involvement in this young generation that needs that. That’s what 4-H does for you, and I think that’s just such a wonderful gift for these kids,” Harrison says.
To get tickets for this year’s Morgan County Fair Gala, you can go to the 4-H building at the Morgan County Fairgrounds or online at morgancountyfairgrounds.thundertix.com