For the past eight years around August, the arrival of the Albemarle County Fair has been marked by the cropping of white tents on the cattle fields of Bundoran Farm, several miles south of Charlottesville. Those fearing a move because Fred Scott sold the property to developers can rest assured: The fair has a long-term lease, which will keep it on the property for years to come.
Unlike larger state fairs, which often have permanent homes, the county fair’s presence is strictly ephemeral in nature: Within a month, facilities appear and disappear completely in North Garden.
Or almost completely. “We did aerial photography right after last year’s fair,” says David Hamilton, project manager for the Bundoran Farm development that will soon occupy the Scott site. “What was left behind looked like crop circles.”
Fair officials and developers originally had plans to move the site to higher ground, where flooding would be less of an issue and more space is available for an event that “has just grown and grown and grown,” in the words of fair President Carol Carder.
The 25-year old volunteer-run fair, which isn’t officially affiliated with Albemarle County, is currently situated on low-lying ground near an intermittent stream. That has caused problems before: In 2003, some fair-goers were trapped in a tent that collapsed after a thunderstorm suddenly flooded the area. Several people were injured, including one man who was struck by lightning, according to media reports.
But the suggestion for a move came too late this year. “We ran out of time for all the things [the electric company] needed to order,” says fair Director Carol Carder. “We could do it, but it would cost too much money. We couldn’t afford it.”
Hamilton says that Qroe will work to get electricity to the new site next year, which could be mutually beneficial for some of their development needs.
In other Bundoran news, Qroe will appear before the Albemarle Planning Commission August 8 to ask for special permits to privatize roads, among other things.
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