Cornhole coming to Neshoba County Fair
The Neshoba County Fair is less than three weeks away.
The Fair opens Friday, July 21, and will run through July 28 and a new addition this year is a cornhole tournament.
Heavy rains in late June have kept the Fairgrounds management team busy as they strive to have everything ready for Mississippi’s Giant House Party.
“We have everything back in order from the two floods we had,” said Kevin Cheatham, Fair manager. “We had two flash floods, one June 15 when we got eight inches of rain. Then a few days later, we got another six inches. We had water 25 to 30 cabins that got some water in them.”
Rain washed away part of the horse racing track, which could have affected on of the top favorite events during Fair week. But Cheatham said the track is ready to go.
“We had to haul 30 to 40 loads of dirt,” Cheatham said. “We finished last Tuesday. We were able to let some of the horses get back on it.”
Cheatham said Fairgoers should be pleased with the Grandstand entertainment this year.
“We have some really good talent this year,” Cheatham said. “I’ve listened to the sound track of the ones that will be on the Grandstands stage. They all have some pretty good songs out on the radio.”
The schedule for the Grandstand entertainment is as follows:
• Tuesday, July 25 – Jackson Dean: A fast rising singer/songwriter, Dean is quickly earning a reputation for his old school, gritty, lyric-driven, outlaw style of Country Music following a breakout year that landed on Pandora’s Ten for 2023 list;
• Wednesday, July 26 – Jameson Rodgers: A Batesville native, Rodgers is an American country music singer and songwriter signed to Columbia Nashville/River House, whose debut single "Some Girls" charted on the Country Airplay chart;
• Thursday, July 27 – Niko Moon: Also known as Nic Cowan, Moon is an American country pop singer and songwriter signed to RCA Nashville. He has written songs for Dierks Bentley, Zac Brown Band, Rascal Flatts, and Morgan Wallen.[He was also a member of the group Sir Rosevelt with Zac Brown and Ben Simonetti;
• Friday, July 28 – Russell Dickerson: In July 2015, Dickerson posted a music video for “Yours,” on YouTube. The song was noticed by SiriusXM's “The Highway” and then took off on Spotify (it currently has more than 150 million streams). The next year, Dickerson was the first singer signed to Triple Tigers, an independent record label.
Along with the visiting and family reunions, there will be plenty to do on Saturday. The day starts with the Flea Market in Founders Square and the running of the Heart O’ Dixie Triathlon.
The Triathlon will be followed by a new event on the schedule. A Cornhole Tournament will held at the Grandstands Saturday afternoon. That will be followed by the second night of the rodeo
Cornhole is a lawn game that has become highly popular in North America in which players or teams take turns throwing fabric bean bags at a raised, angled board with a hole in the far end. The goal of the game is to score points by either landing a bag on the board or putting a bag through the hole.
This is Cheatham’s second year as Fair manager but he is a lifelong Fairgoer. The retired educator said he has only missed six Fair days in his life.
“I’ve always had a passion for the Fair,” Cheatham said. “I have been at the Fair my whole life. It is some thing my parents instilled in me. They built a cabin the year I was born and I pretty much grew up at the Fair.”