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The 167th edition of the Coffee County Fair will officially kick off Friday, Aug. 30 with gates opening at 4 p.m. and opening ceremonies taking place at 7 p.m. during the Bullwhip Rodeo in the Center Ring.

Fair Board President Stewart Little said it takes a lot of hard work and dedication by a team of 50 to 75 volunteers to bring the fair to life each year.

“We are wanting to promote more agriculture each year,” Little said. “We are trying to get more entries from everybody for the exhibits and the barns.”

Planning for the nine-day fair began almost immediately following the end of last year’s fair.

“It takes plenty of volunteers to help put it on every year because there are a lot of moving parts, and trying to do new things every year with entertainment and events to keep people’s attention.”

Event highlights range from the rodeo on both Friday Aug. 30 and Saturday Aug. 31 to an open class car show Monday Sept. 2 followed by Monster Trucks later that evening at 7 p.m. to the classic Fairest of the Fair Contest also slated for Saturday Aug. 31.

One thing fairgoers might notice this year is a standard $5 admission fee for every day of the fair, a change from last year that had some days priced at $10.

“We have worked on the gate price and the gate price is $5 all nine days,” Little said.

Little said it was a decision the Fair Board wanted to make to help make the Coffee County Fair more affordable for community members and he is hopeful the community will come out to support the fair.

“We are making it where everyone can come and come multiple times,” he said.

As far as vendors go, Little said they are on par with last year’s fair and are nearly running out of space.

“We had vendors that started reaching out to us in February and March,” he said.

Little said another new item for the Coffee County Fair this year is the transformation of the Morton’s Village area into Morton’s Christmas Village.

“We are going to have woodworkers and it is going to be like Santa Claus’ workshop,” he said. “We are actually going to have Santa Claus here.”

In addition to the agriculture elements of the fair, Modern Midways will once again be setting up a carnival complete with a variety of rides and games for all ages to enjoy.

“They are actually going to bring more rides, so there will be extra rides this year,” Little said.

Wrist bands can be purchased for $25 online or $30 in-person, with BOGO coupons available for Wednesday Sept. 4.

Little said he is looking forward to Fair Week and the way it brings members of the Coffee County community together.

“There are people in the community that this is about the only time you see them, is at the Fair, so I am just ready for the community to get together and support our fair and enjoy the agriculture and everybody gets to fellowship,” he said.