September 23, 2012 12:00 AM
After a week of hearing the helicopter at the Lenoir County Agricultural Fair go over their house, Crystal Kennedy and her three daughters were more than ready to try it out for themselves Saturday.
?All week long, they?ve been watching it right from their bedroom windows,? Kennedy said as she watched 8-year-old Cassidy ride a roller coaster with a dragon theme on the midway ? her younger daughters Makayla, 7, and Emma Grace, 6 were with her watching.
Cassidy Kennedy was eager to get on the helicopter, which takes fairgoers above the midway, a short distance across N.C. 11 South and then back to the landing area between the midway and the demolition derby track.
?It was weird,? Cassidy said of the experience of having the helicopter over her home. ?It sounds like vibrating.?
Fairgoers who had been on the chopper described the experience as ?awesome.?
?It?s a beautiful view, a nice smooth ride,? said Stephanie Glass of the Baltimore, Md. area.
Glass came to the fair Saturday with her cousin and brother, along with family members they were visiting in New Bern.
?I think it?s pretty nice,? she said. ?They?ve got a lot of good stuff here. It?s nice to see the community get together.?
In addition to the helicopter rides, major draws at Lenoir County?s 57th annual fair included a circus, complete with a ?globe of death? motorcycle cage, a human cannonball, and more.
?Plus fair food ? everybody loves fair food,? said Waylon Adams, president of the Lenoir County Fair Association.
Adams estimated 7,500 to 8,000 people have come since the fair began Tuesday, and hoped for a crowd of 10,000 Saturday.
The main attraction Saturday was the heats for the demolition derby ? the championship race will be at 3 p.m. today.
Fairgoers surrounded the demolition derby track as the heats got underway, cheering loudly as the cars smashed into each other.
?You have the hometown boys out here in these cars that have a lot of family and friends supporting them ? it just draws a big crowd,? Adams said of the derby drivers.
One local man, who had been driving in demolition derbies since his teens, did not race Saturday, but watched many of the cars he has worked on go around the track.
?A lot of these cars have my motors in them. ? It's like a man and his machine type of thing,? said Reggie Davis, 40, of Deep Run. ?You try to build the toughest car you can, tougher than your competitors, and try to drive smarter and try to come out on top.?
One car in the field, No. 78, was built by Davis to honor his friend and fellow driver, Jackie Potter, who died of a heart attack following a derby at the Wayne County Fair in 2008.
Potter was 28 years old.
Davis said he was ?trying to retire? from demolition derbies, but was glad to know he could still be a part of the sport through his work on the cars.
?This sport, it's still in my blood,? he said. ?I?ll always be a derby driver at heart.?
Saturday also included a brief tribute to the late Free Press Chief Photographer Charles Buchanan, who passed away in March.
A tribute ceremony was held Thursday with a flight of model airplanes, and Lloyd Moody, past president of the Fair Association, said a second was held Saturday for the benefit of the crowd.
?He pretty much documented our history (in Lenoir County) for 35 years,? Moody said of Buchanan.
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Sunday at the fair
Lenoir County fair schedule
n For more information on the ?Love a Fair? photo contest, visit Facebook.com/lenoirfair
n For more information on the fair, visit lenoircountyfair.org
n Today?s predicted weather: high temperature of 75 degrees, sunny and clear
n Today?s scheduled activity at the fair: Demolition derby championship 3 p.m. Gate opens 1 p.m.
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David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or David.Anderson@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at DavidFreePress.
Source: http://www.enctoday.com/news/helicopter-85136-kfpress-fair-daughters.html
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