Our history with the fair and Monticello keeps going

     A couple of weeks ago, it was a honor to have the opportunity to interview John Harms, our county’s esteemed outgoing fair manager.

     That story appeared in the Express last week, noting his retirement from the county fair, and recalling special moments during his tenure with the fair.

     I have worked here for 12 years now; I’ve covered 11 Great Jones County Fairs.

     Prior to each fair, John always grants me an interview to preview the fair. The Monday immediately following the fair, when his voice is semi-horse, when he’s ready to sit back and relax, when he’s still cleaning the grounds from the last day of the “Five Best Days of Summer,” John is always gracious and takes my call to offer comments on the wrap-up of the fair.

     Throughout the year as concert announcements are needing to be made, John always allows the Express to help make those on-sale-date announcements on the front page of our newspaper.

     Anytime the fair has a special project, John has been great in giving of his time for us to feature the project in our Home & Building Issue.

     While it’s work, it’s also fun to get an invite to and cover the fair’s annual kick-off event where they announce the Hall of Fame and Friend of the Fair inductees.

     For the Express, the fair is never just five days; it’s all year-round.

     Our long-standing relationship with the Great Jones County Fair started decades ago, before John was fair manager, and will no doubt continue as Lucas Gobeli takes over the reins.

     We strive to provide our readers and the community (the community beyond just Monticello, but of all of Jones County) with complete fair coverage, and despite pretty darn biased, I think we do that and more. That hard task would not be possible without John, Lucas, and those associated with the fair, Jones County Extension, and 4-H.

     I look forward to seeing how that relationship will expand and grow working with Lucas!

     Speaking of history, I was thumbing through the Monticello sesquicentennial book last week and came across “The Unfinished History of Monticello” on page 395. (If you don’t have a copy of the rare book, stop down to the Heritage Center or Monticello library and take a look.)

     The writers of that book urged a younger generation “to attempt to finish what the editors (of the book) have started”…

     For instance, what is the oldest house in town? What is its history?

     What is the oldest business building in town?

     Where is the magnificent old billboard-size roster of WWII men and women in service? (It used to be displayed on the wall of the American Legion. Its names are lost to us.)

     What were some of the outstanding entertainment events held in the old Opera House?

     Trace the family histories of Monticello’s notable early settlers.

     Study the “power politics” of the city.

     “There are a hundred more topics like these, topics which could fill a library shelf with books as bulky as this one,” concluded the book. “Have at it. We wish you well, and we hope some energetic person, perhaps not yet born, will one day find the time and energy to continue the work which we humbly acknowledge we have only just begun.”