The Gazette-Enterprise

It’s no secret that even in tough economic times, Seguin and Guadalupe County are growing.

It should come as no surprise that the county fair is growing, too. The Guadalupe County Fair is this community’s annual celebration of itself and its vanishing agrarian rural heritage.

It’s a week when we see folks we just never seem to run into at any other time of year.

The county fair provides an unsurpassed cultural and educational opportunity for kids who learn the skills, ethics and values that will enable them to not only appreciate what came before, but to one day take over and carry those traditions on themselves.

And it provides an outlet for them to display the results of their work.

Those skills — whether it’s sewing a quilt or baking a cake — might seem quaint, but many of them formed the fabric of our society.

And no one learns responsibility and stewardship like a kid with a livestock project — who might see an auction check at the end of the show season that could help pay for an education at Texas A&M or some other fine school.

In spite of the rain and cold, an estimated 65,000 people visited the 126th rendition of the county fair this year, including 1,700 who attended its well-received first concert — last Friday night’s show by the Randy Rogers Band that filled the rodeo arena.

Fair Association President Mike Herrera has seen the county fair through three years of growth.

He says he would like to add another concert and maybe some other events to make it bigger still — continuing a trend from a harvest weekend event to a 10-day celebration.

Herrera said the fair could not happen without the support of its sponsors and the volunteers who do the work.

If you know any, be sure to thank them. If you don’t, maybe there’s something you could do to support the fair next year.

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