The 174th Annual Shelby County Fair will open with a Kick-Off concert on June 12.
Multi-platinum country music artist Deana Carter will perform at the fairgrounds grandstand in Shelbyville.
“We were looking for some grandstand events for the fair and this conversation happened back in the fall,” said Christa Weaver in an interview Friday with Johnny McCrory of GIANT fm. “We decided to offer something a little different that we hadn’t had in the grandstand for many years.”
Carter’s albums have produced three Billboard country charts No. 1 singles – “Strawberry Wine,” “We Danced Anyway,” and “How Do I Get There.”
The grandstand is traditionally busy throughout fair week with motorsports events. The board agreed it was time to add something new to the schedule.
“When you literally have the nicest grandstand around, and maybe in the state of Indiana for a county fair, you need to figure out some different stuff,” said Thopy, fair board president. “This was an opportunity to go outside of our comfort box and try to figure out what we can do to make something huge happen. Christa has been all over it. She has made tons of phone calls and gotten sponsorships.”
The Shelby County Co-Op, Knauf, and Peterman Brothers are the lead sponsors for the Kick-Off concert.
“None of this would be possible if it weren’t for, I don’t even want to call them sponsors, I want to call them community partners because that is what they most definitely are,” said Weaver. “Those (three) are our biggest sponsors and we do have a lot of others as well.”
The Shelby County Fair, running June 12-17 this year, will release the Kick-Off concert’s ticket purchasing information Sunday on its Facebook page.
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