2nd Class Master-at-Arms Tommy Sills,left, from Naval Air Station Meridian, hands out gifts to Benjamin Jackson of Philadelphia and Georgia Chapman of Leesburg, Va., Wednesday during Meridian Day at the Neshoba County Fair.

Tradition of Meridian Day continues at the fair

      PHILADELPHIA – Despite soaring hot temperatures, a huge crowd gathered under the pavilion in Founders Square at the Neshoba County Fair Wednesday for Meridian Day.

    Meridian Day has been a longstanding tradition at the week-long fair, and Meridian is one of the event’s last participating cities.

    Casey Holladay, events coordinator for East Mississippi Business Development Cooperation, said it is an honor for Meridian to be invited to the fair each year.

    “We had vendors here with their tents set up handing out all kind of goodies and great door prizes for fair-goers,” Holladay said. “We also brought our Jimmie Rodgers Youth Talent winner Macey McMurphy, who sung ‘The National Anthem,’ and entertained the crowd with her rendition of Hank Williams ‘Jambalya.'”

    One highlight of Meridian Day is the famous Navy bean soup served by NAS Meridian personnel as people gather around Founders Square. Tim Jewell, who is employed with Public Works at Naval Air Station Meridian, said he has served soup during Meridian Day since 2002.

    “A lot of the same people come back each year because they look forward to us coming,” Jewell said. “When our pot starts getting low, people will come out of their cabins bringing bowls for us to fill up with soup.”

    One of those cabins, #51, has been on Founders Square for more than 75 years. It is owned by the four children of the late Myrtice and Henry Skinner. One of those children Sandra Kuykendall, said she has been coming to the fair since a few days before she was born 77 years ago.

    “My mom was expecting me just any day, but she didn’t want to miss the fair,” Kuykendall, said. “She was moping around the house about it, so my dad said he would bring her. At that time, there wasn’t a cabin; so they slept in covered wagons.”

    Kuykendall said her mom prepared for the fair all year long.

     “My mother came as a child, she loved the fair and was always involved in a lot at the fair,” Kuykendall said. “She exhibited her canned items and quilts. She died in 2007, just one year after we built the new cabin.”

    Kuykendall said she had seen a lot of entertainers and famous people through the years, but her fondest memories are just being with family members – like her niece, April Skinner Smith, a granddaughter of the late Skinners.

    “I have been coming since I was born, 41 years ago, and have never missed a fair,” Smith said. “I remember coming and helping my grandmother set up her exhibits. “She won a lot of times, too. She even competed with her sister; they would try to out do each other.”

    For Smith, coming to the fair is not only a family reunion, but also a class reunion.

    “It is a lot of fun to see everybody you went to school with and catch up on what they have been doing,” Smith said. “It means a lot seeing people you wouldn’t see any other time, except at the fair.”

    Smith said she doesn’t remember her fondest memory, however she was told country singer Tammy Wynette kissed her on the head when she was a baby.

    “I think that’s probably one of the highlights of my being at the fair each year,” Smith said.