By Alaina Denean

The Selma Times-Journal

It’s that time of year again. Football is back, the air is starting to cool, and it’s almost time for the Central Alabama Fair.

Back for the 58th year, the fair will open on Monday, Sept. 29 and run through Saturday, Oct. 4. Organized by the Selma Lions Club, the fair serves as the organizations largest fundraiser.

“It’s the only fundraiser we have to give back to the community. If we didn’t have the fair we wouldn’t be able to donate at all,” Lions Club member and fair manager John Haskell said.

Haskell estimated that 12,000 people attended last year’s fair.

And while the fair has had tremendous success in its 58 years, this year’s event will offer some changes.

One of the more dramatic changes, is the addition of two Central Alabama Fair Pageants. This year, there will be six total pageants.

“We’re going to have two on Monday night, two on Tuesday night and two more on Saturday,” Haskell said.

This year, the fair is also changing up the very popular Kids Day.

“We changed up our Wednesday night gate prices. We used to let the children first grade to 12th grade get in free, but this year, they’ve got to bring some kind of canned good to get in the gate,” Haskell said. “[Children will have to] bring in some kind of canned good, or dog food, or cat litter, just something like that to get in the gate. We’re going to donate that back to the animal shelter and the Christian Outreach Program.”

The popular Central Alabama Sing-Off, sponsored by Dixie Country 98.5 and 100.1, is also set to return.

One more change this year is where to buy tickets.

The old National Guard Armory has been closed, forcing organizers to sell tickets at a new location. The new ticket location will be on the west side of the Armory.

Haskell said banners will be hanging up telling you where to go, so it should be easy to find.

The fair will open Monday, Sept. 29 at 5:20 p.m. On Tuesday, the gates will open at 5:30 p.m.

Wednesday, which is the annual Kids Day, gates will open at 2 p.m. The gates will open at 5:30 p.m. on both Thursday and Friday.

The final day of the fair, Saturday, gates will open at 1 p.m.