UPDATED: Franklin-Southampton Fair canceled after storm damage - The Tidewater News (2024)

What the National Weather Service is reporting preliminarily as a “thunderstorm wind event” left a wake of destruction in its path at the Franklin-Southampton County Fairgrounds on Sunday evening, Aug. 4, leading to the cancellation of the fair, which was set to start three days later.

Fair officials and the NWS confirmed that no one was injured during the weather event, but it left some outbuildings and the food court area at the fairground in ruins, also ripping open the back of the largest building on the property.

SUMMARIZING WHAT OCCURRED

The National Weather Service’s Wakefield office sent a team to Southampton County on Monday, Aug. 5, to conduct a damage survey. The office released a report that afternoon that it noted was preliminary and subject to change pending final review of the event and publication in NWS Storm Data.

“The survey team determined that the damage to the Southampton County fairgrounds was from straight line winds of 80-90 mph,” the NWS Wakefield office stated on its Facebook page.

The post linked to the damage survey report, which noted that the weather event started at 6:03 p.m. on Sunday on the fairgrounds west of Franklin and concluded at 6:05 p.m. at the Virginia Department of Transportation Franklin Yard west of Franklin.

The report stated that the length of the thunderstorm wind event’s path was 300 yards and its width was 50-75 yards, with peak wind gusts at the fairgrounds estimated at 80-90 mph.

“An area of intense thunderstorm straight line winds began south of the Southampton County Fairgrounds and snapped several trees,” the report stated. “The winds also picked up large tree limbs and blew them up to 100 feet away and caused extensive damage to a couple of wooden outbuildings in the fairgrounds. The outbuilding roofs completely collapsed, and the walls sustained significant damage.

“The path of straight line winds continued to the north and blew open an overhead door of a metal building on the north side of the fairgrounds,” the report continued. “The winds then snapped a few more trees near the VDOT Franklin Yard and along the south side of New Market Road.”

The report also stated, “A separate area of thunderstorm wind damage was observed at Riverdale Elementary School, where a small shed was blown over and a few large tree limbs were downed. Peak wind gusts (there) were estimated at around 60 mph.”

Franklin-Southampton County Fair President Glenn Joyner said that when the weather event occurred, the majority of the fair board’s members were at Southampton High School helping clean up after the Little Miss and Miss Franklin-Southampton County Fair pageants.

However, he noted that there were 10-12 midway workers starting to set up rides at the fairgrounds during the weather event, and there was also a mother and daughter and another man working in the barns.

Joyner said he received a call from one of the midway workers.

“He told me, ‘You need to get here. You’ve got trees and buildings torn all to pieces,’” Joyner recalled.

Joyner indicated that more than one of the midway workers witnessed the weather event and disagreed with the report that it was simply straight line wind.

Relaying the account of one of the men who saw it, Joyner said, “He was sitting on the picnic tables under our pavilion. He saw it drop down over the tree, come across his midway area. It actually picked up a tractor and trailer he had about a foot in the air and slammed it back on the ground, and then it came right through the back corner of our barn, which we call our lawnmower shed, and took the whole side wall out of that, and then it went right to our food court.”

Joyner explained that the food court consists of about eight buildings in a long row.

“It just took every one of them and just twisted them up, and then it went right over the back building,” he said. “It took the roof of the building off and tied it around trees in our pavilion area where our trees are. It tore down trees all the way through there.

“The building we call our information booth had probably a 15-inch limb fall on top of that and knocked a hole in that,” he continued. “And then it went right in front of our stage and went right in that corner.”

He stated that the weather event came past the rear of the largest building on the fairgrounds and destroyed the roll-up door there, noting that it “just snatched it and balled it up and threw it out there on the ground, and it pulled the metal away from the back wall of that building.”

After that it hit three or four big pines and laid them across the highway, he said.

Joyner said one of the witnesses laughed at the mention of the weather event being a straight line wind, saying, “I saw it. I had my eyes on it.”

Joyner added, “Even one of the other midway guys told me that, ‘I actually saw it when it ripped the roof off of that food court and spun it in the air about three times and threw it back on the ground.’”

Joyner and other fair board members visited the fairgrounds Sunday evening to survey the damage and then made the decision to cancel the fair, which was set to begin Wednesday, Aug. 7, at 4 p.m. and run through Saturday, Aug. 10.

“We all gathered in one of the buildings here, and we threw the options out there,” he said. “We looked at all of it. That (cancellation) decision was made within an hour of the damage. It was so devastating we knew we couldn’t recover that quick.”

REACTIONS TO THE DAMAGE AND CANCELLATION

Joyner spoke on behalf of himself and the rest of the fair board when he described the overall reaction to the storm damage and consequent cancellation of the 2024 Franklin-Southampton County Fair.

“It’s very devastating to all of the board members,” he said in a Tuesday morning, Aug. 6, interview. “I don’t think it finally hit me until this morning.”

He indicated that the fair is the culmination of seven months of planning that begins with a meeting in January.

However, he also highlighted the positives that have emerged amid the severe disappointment.

“We’re fortunate that there wasn’t nobody hurt at all,” he said. “That’s a good thing.”

He noted that what was damaged or destroyed were material things that can be replaced.

“We’re insured,” he said. “It’s just a matter of fixing it.”

Franklin Mayor Robert “Bobby” Cutchins said, “Our thoughts go out to everyone directly involved with the Franklin-Southampton County Fair. The fair board and those directly involved put in a ton of work each year to make the annual tradition a success. From everybody involved, from the board members to all the vendors, there are so many that are helpful in putting this event together at a high level, year in and year out.

“There are many broken hearts,” Cutchins continued. “There are so many things that go into putting something like this together that so many don’t see, from food permits, beer licenses, products ordered by vendors, and the list goes on and on. From emergency personnel to security it’s just an endless process of needs and participation. Unfortunately at times like this it is totally out of everyone’s control.

“Franklin and Southampton County have experienced levels of devastation in the past as well, unfortunately, but of one thing we can be assured, the fair will bounce back and be as strong or stronger than it has been,” he said.

Southampton County Board of Supervisors Chairman Dr. Alan W. Edwards said the storm damage and fair cancellation were unfortunate, and he noted the significance of the fair.

“It’s sort of the initiation of the end of summer and the beginning of fall,” he said. “Kids go back to school not long after the fair.”

Of the weather event, he said, “It was unfortunate, but fortunately, it didn’t get any homes, it didn’t hurt anybody, and I tell you what, think about it if it would have happened with the fair going on — it would have been a disaster. So there are some positive things to look at.”

MEASURING THE DAMAGE AND CANCELLATION’S IMPACT

Joyner said that as of Tuesday morning, Aug. 6, “we’re waiting for the insurance appraiser to come out and tell us how much the actual damage (is). We haven’t gone deep into the areas where we’ve been told to keep out because of the insurance adjusters, so we’re just kind of keeping people out.”

He made a point to apologize for any perceived silence on behalf of fair officials in the wake of the storm damage.

“We didn’t have anything to tell the public, no more than what it was till today,” he said on Tuesday. “We weren’t trying to keep our community unaware of what went on. If they stay in contact with our Facebook page, we’ll keep updates on where we stand, but in the meantime we please ask people to not be coming out, just riding around the grounds.”

He said he has been trying to get in touch with all of the vendors that were coming to the fair and the sponsors that provided money to support the fair, and he said the support from the public “has been awesome.”

“I had 87 calls come in Sunday on my phone alone, so people have been wanting to help,” he said. “I’ve had local businesses that have offered a percentage of their earnings to give back to us. So it’s been overwhelming to us, the support we’ve had.”

He said, “A lot of the sponsors we had have told us to keep the money that they sponsored us with to help rebuild. So we’re insured, but that won’t cover all the content and stuff that we’ve gained over years.”

In measuring the financial impact of canceling the fair, Joyner noted that the fair is supported by sponsors and gate attendance, but he expressed optimism about how things would end up financially.

“We’re not here to make money,” he said. “We’re here to break even and give the community something back. So really, I could say I’m just about sure that all the money we had to put out for the entertainment side of it will be taken care of as far as not having to pay. We’ll probably take a small loss maybe in the midway side of it, none like we would have taken.

“Overall, with the sponsors giving their money back, we’re covered pretty much,” he added. “I think we’re going to be OK. After all is said and done, we’ll be fine.”

Edwards said the county has been quick to respond to the storm damage.

“We’ve already gotten the insurance people to take a look at it and got that process going, so hopefully it won’t take very long to have things cleared up,” he said Tuesday afternoon.

FUNDRAISER TO HELP WITH REPAIRS

Joyner said Daniel “Bull” Johnson, a fair board member and one of the food vendors set for the fair, had about 112 Boston butts in freezers ready to thaw out and cook for the fair.

“So what we’re going to do is, so he won’t lose them, we’re going to cook them all, and we’re going to sell them for $30 a butt Thursday,” Joyner said.

He noted that at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 8, people can come to the fairgrounds and buy them.

“We’re not going to take orders,” he said. “We’re going to sell them till they’re gone. So we’re just trying to do that to give some money back to the fair.”

Proceeds from the sale of the pork barbecue will help with the rebuild of the fairgrounds.

Johnson is also the head coach of the Franklin High School wrestling team.

“He cooks his barbecue for the Franklin wrestling team, but he said right now that the fair could use the money better than his wrestling team,” Joyner said.

WHEN PEOPLE CAN RETURN TO THE FAIR

Joyner took a moment to speak to those who were looking forward to attending the fair this year, and he shared insight on when they can next experience it.

“We greatly appreciate the support, wanting to be here with us,” he said. “If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t have the fair. We wouldn’t have had it for 42 years. And we’re planning already for next year. We’re planning on coming up bigger and better. We don’t see nothing to stand in our way, unless the weather comes up again. But besides that, we’re preparing for next year, so we’ll see them next year at the fair.”