Reported By Jason Wheeler
DELAND -- Cotton candy, ferris wheels and much more await you as the Volusia County Fair got under way Thursday.
The gates opened at 4 p.m. for the annual event at the fairgrounds off state Road 44.
Volusia County Fairgrounds
3150 E. State Road 44, DeLand (Map / Directions)
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Organizers said they held an opening-day food drive to benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank.
“We have a reputation for giving a good time and a good, safe fair,” said David Viers, the fair’s executive director, who was excited to finally get things under way.
Workers scrambled Thursday afternoon to get everything ready for opening night, and Viers counted himself lucky. He said given the economic times, he knew things are tough all around, but the fair goes on with the help of more than four dozen sponsors from across Central Florida.
“It’s the same as everything,” Viers said. “The economy is down and our sponsorships are down a little bit, but I’m very proud of where we’re at.”
The rides along the midway are kind of like the flames to moths -- they help bring in people in -- but in Volusia County, this fair is much more than just the rides.
Melissa Knowles, a 10th-grader from DeLand High School, said she was getting her pig ready for judging. She told News 13 she was at the fair to celebrate Volusia County’s agricultural heritage.
“Anything you touch and eat and smell and make comes from animals, pretty much, and the byproducts made pretty much go into everything,” Knowles said.
“They just did an economic impact study and came back with a figure of over $750 million, a year agriculture in Volusia County does,” Viers said.
That’s a figure large enough to celebrate with a fair.
Back at the hog pens, Knowles said she hopes to one day work with genetics to make better plants and animals.
“I don’t like it when people throw away a whole burger or something, because it’s a cow, and the cow put part of its soul into that meat, and they just throw away the whole burger,” Knowles said. “It’s like, 'what are you doing?'”
And don’t forget the poor souls of the scores of Oreos that will be dipped in batter and sold over the course of this year’s fair.
The 10-day fair runs through Saturday, Nov. 15.
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