Opening night brings rides, awards at county fair

Published 11:59 am Wednesday, June 19, 2019

By Nacogdoches Miller

Sun Intern

Heavy clouds lurked overhead on the opening night of the Clark County fair, but the sun had come back out by the time

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The Clark County Fair Board presented the awards for the 2019 Agriculture Hall of Fame to Clay Wills.

Wills has spent his entire life working in agriculture. While in school he became a member of the FFA later becoming an officer in the club.

Will said he appreciated the award and was proud of his community. He said it was the message he got from being involved with church which drove him to do everything he could to help the community.

“It started when I was in church and teaching Sunday school,” Will said, “People in church talk about service to the community.”

Clark County Fair board member Nancy Wills was this year’s winner of the Fair Person of the year Award.

“I fill very honored in winning the award,” she said.

Nancy’s involvement with the fair started at a very young age because of her parent’s involvement with the with it and 4-H, she said. Watching her parents inspired her to follow in her their footsteps.

Both Clay and Nancy are Winchester natives and retired teachers from George Rogers Clark High School. Clay taught vocational agriculture for 27 years and Nancy taught science.

The awards were presented by Frank Hicks who has been involved with the fair since he moved to Clark County in 1971. The fair, he said, is an important part of his life as well as being important part of Clark County.

During the award ceremony, Shane Wiseman dedicated the new fairgrounds concession stand to Hicks for all of his years of service with the organizations.

“Mr. Hicks has been a part of this community since 1971 and all his done is tried to help the community any way he could, especially the fair board,” Wiseman said.

“I’ve never been a fan of naming buildings after people who are still alive,” Hicks said. “This concerns me a little bit.”