For most of the year, the Long cabin and the Bates cabin couldn't be more different.
The tiny Long cabin was built in 1968, didn't get air conditioning until a decade later, and is still unfinished on the inside. The Bates cabin is brand spanking new, is equipped with a large, new kitchen, and a flat screen television. It's three stories high and sleeps 52.
But during the week of the Neshoba County Fair, what happens in and around the two cabins could hardly be more similar. As fair cabins, both are home to enormous meals, family reunions, hospitality, camaraderie, and fun.
Tommy Long lives in Huntsville, Ala., but was born and raised in Neshoba County and has been coming to the fair his entire life. Over the years, he said, only one really noticeable change has taken place at the fair.
"Fifty years ago," he said. "There were not nearly as many cabins. But the atmosphere, the food, the fun, the family activities (haven't changed)."
Like many families with fair cabins, the Longs make the fair a time for family reunions — bringing in relatives from as far as Portland and as near as two miles down the road.
Family, friends, and fair neighbors all love to gather at the Neshoba County Fair.
"If they don't come here, they never see each other," Long said of some of his family.
To Long, the real value of the fair comes from the people and the atmosphere of hospitality.
"You could walk into any cabin at any mealtime and get fed," he said. "When you're fixin' for 20 people, fixin' for 30 is not that big a deal."
Still, Long said, he doesn't just hang around his cabin visiting with friends and offering drinks to strangers all week long. He likes to get out and enjoy the events of the fair as well.
The horse races, he said, are exciting, and he loves to watch the night time music programs.
One of Long's favorite memories of fair music, though not his favorite listening experience, is of Molly Hatchet, a 1970's southern rock band.
He had never heard of the band, he said, when he decided to go and check them out. Based on the name, he expected a solo female act.
"The two walls of speakers on the stage should have been a clue," he said. "I sat there about 10 minutes and had to leave. My body couldn't take the soundwaves."
For the Bateses, The Miss Neshoba County pageant is the main event. Hannah Lee, who won the title two years ago, comes by it naturally. Her mother and aunt both placed in the pageant in their day.
The best thing about the fair for the Bateses, though, is the same thing that attracts the Longs.
"To me (the fair has changed) just because I've gotten older," said Hannah's mother, Tammy Bates Lee, "but the family part is still what we really enjoy about the fair... Just getting to be with friends and family is the best part of the fair."
Tammy has been coming to the fair, where her parents, W.J. and Carolyn Bates, own a cabin, since she was a small child. But to her, the cabin itself is the only thing that's really changed.
The new cabin is built where the old one once stood, but has been updated and expanded to sleep 52. The clever use of numerous bunk beds, all extremely colorful and pushed close together, and the efficient placement of the cabin's many bathrooms help the cabin sleep so many. The cabin is large, but looking from outside, one would never guess it could hold so many.
"We have one double bunk bed for each member of the family," she said. "So each one has room for three guests."
At the Neshoba County Fair, whether it's done through feeding as many people as possible or sleeping them, the party is all about the people.
Local News
Related Photos
Discussion
Different cabins, same fun
- Local News
-
-
High Honor
The flowers and balloons Crestwood Elementary School Principal Kimberly Kendrick received at school Monday were not an early Valentines' Day gift.
Kendrick has been named Meridian Public School District's 2012 Administrator of the Year – an announcement that both surprised and wowed the 17-year veteran educator when made by MPSD Superintendent Dr. Alvin Taylor. -
Master Dance Class
-
Digital system promises better communication
Hopefully in the near future you won't hear someone in the emergency services ask over the radio, "Can you hear me now?"
A digital communications system, one which is being pushed by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), is a few months away and, in some cases, is already in the testing phase in Lauderdale County. -
Inmate escapes custody
Mississippi Department of Corrections officials said Monday afternoon an inmate escaped from custody Friday and is still being sought.
Officials said Johnny Hall Jr. escaped from two Wilkinson County Correctional Facility officers’ custody while being escorted from his father’s wake at the Picayune Funeral Home in Picayune. Preliminary information indicates Hall left the officers and jumped into a waiting black vehicle with a white female driver. -
Citizen’s Police Academy begins today
The work law enforcement conducts on a daily basis is often misunderstood by the general public.
Officials at the Meridian Police Department developed a program to inform and educate citizens on what police do in serving and protecting the population. The program, The Citizen's Police Academy, has been gaining speed for a couple of years since it was first offered. Officials said it shows residents are interested in police work and how it is conducted. - Woman: decongestant brought meth charge in Alabama
-
Star Of The Week: Dominique Goodwin-Jenkins
-
SoMiSPO brings steel drum rhythms to MCC
-
About face
Nothing is forever in the military and after a months-long battle to secure a C-27J Spartan flying mission and its field training unit at Key Field and the 186th Air Refueling Wing, it seems all of that is flying the way of the KC-135 tankers that used to fill the skies over Meridian.
- Marriages & Divorces: Sunday, February 5, 2012
- More Local News Headlines
-
Former Komen Exec Defends Funding Cut
Skip the Coffee Cup and Inhale Your Caffeine Fix
Calif. Gay Marriage Ban Ruled Unconstitutional
Jury Selection for Ex-UVa Athlete Enters 2nd Day
Raw Video: Giants Celebrate Another Super Bowl
Cab Driver Helps Wis. Family Escape House Fire
Greek Leaders Seek Deal As Bankruptcy Looms
Bernanke: Recovery Depends on Consumer Spending
Staff Removed at LA School During Abuse Probe
Eastwood in Super Bowl Ad 'Compassionate'
Stranded Fishermen Rescued From Bay of Green Bay
Analyst: Outside Troops Won't Intervene in Syria
Police: Father Planned Deadly Fire for Some Time
US, UK Pressure on Syria; More Homs Violence
Raw Video: Mass Killer Wants Medal, Freedom
Court Strips Contador of Tour De France Title
Runaway Goat Leads Police on Wild Chase
And the Winner for Best Super Bowl Ad Is...
Romney Latest Poll to Join Let-me-explain Club
