The Jefferson County Fair kicked off Thursday for its 74th year at a much better financial start than the last few.
"We started a lot better than we did last year with all of our fundraisers," Jefferson County Fair President Ricky Taylor said. "We've come a long way, and hopefully, this year, if everybody would come on out and support the fair, we could be debt free."
The fair is currently about $18,000 in debt, but that's up from a $60,000 deficit two years ago. Taylor said the fair has added a few events to make up the remaining cost.
"We've added a second night rodeo, which is tonight," he said. "Then we've got the monster trucks that we've not had in three years will be here tomorrow night."
He said the truck and tractor pull will happen Tuesday night, and then the last two nights of the fair will be the derby. Admission has stayed at $12 for the last nine years.
But after three girls suffered serious injuries at the Greene County Fair on Monday, visitors are focusing more on the safety of Jefferson County rides.
"It's scary," Karen Gouge said. "You don't know how good they inspect them, and I think it should be expected every single day."
Another visitor, Jadah Rice, was hesitant to enjoy the rides this year as well, but then said, "I knew we'd ridden it before, so I felt pretty confident. I think that it makes them double check everything so that it doesn't happen again."
But Taylor said the Jefferson County Fair uses a different operator than the Greene County Fair, called James Gang Amusement.
"We've had a lot of phone calls from people in Greene County wanting to know about our carnival, and we don't use the same carnival," he said. "We've had the same carnival for over 20 years, and we've had no accidents, and they have a clean record of accident free."
He said inspectors with James Gang Amusement also inspect each of the rides an hour before the fair opens each day.
The fair runs until Saturday, August 20.
