Paula Merritt / The Meridian StarSophia Perry, foreground, and her sister Amara paint pictures and scenes on their family cabin at the Neshoba County Fair Thursday afternoon. The fair begins today and runs through next week. 

 Ask Doug Johnson about Neshoba County, and he’ll tell you there’s only two seasons there.

“If you want to do something in Neshoba, it’s either before Christmas or after Christmas, or before the fair or after the fair,” said Johnson, the manager of the Neshoba County Fair. “Those are the two seasons we have here in Neshoba County.”

The Neshoba County Fair, more fondly known as “Mississippi’s Giant House Party”, kicks off Friday, July 21 at 8:30 a.m. with the art show in the exhibit hall.

The event will transition into full swing at 5 p.m. when the midway, sponsored by Mitchell Bros. and Sons Amusement, opens for business.

By that time, the three-story cabin of Tracy and Jay Johnson, known as “Ladd’s Landing” will already be filled with close to 30 guests from around the country.

Like many of the other cabins at the Neshoba County Fair, Jay Johnson’s cabin has been in his family for generations.

“It’s been in the family longer than me,” joked Jay Johnson, whose grandparents built their family cabin in the late 1960s.

The Johnson family considers the fair a family reunion, based around spending time with loved ones.

“Here, as far as cabin wise, a lot of cooking goes on, making ice cream, just sitting around. You have family from near and far. Mostly it’s just catching up,” said Tracy Johnson.

The featured music line up for the eight-day event will start Tuesday night with a performance by William Michael Morgan. The week will also see performances by Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, Frank Foster, and Brothers Osborne.

Fair patrons can also expect classic food like chicken on a stick and Penn’s catfish, as well as the excitement of the horse races, which start Sunday.

In addition to the main attractions, there will also be plenty of friendly competition going on, according to Doug Johnson.

“We will have an exhibit hall, homemakers, fresh produce that will be judged, an art show, dairy show, sheep cattle show, beef cattle show, and possibly a goat show,” said Johnson. “Because we are an agricultural fair, we try and promote these things.

On Wednesday, the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation will present the fair’s annual “Meridian Day,” at 11 a.m. at Founders Square.

“We really have a good turnout and they always have a good program on Meridian Day,” Doug Johnson said.

He encourages anyone who has not been to the fair to give it a try.

“It’s probably nothing like you have ever seen before, and you might not see it again, because we are the only campground-type fair left in the United States, as far as we know,” he said. “You just have to see it to believe it.”

A season pass to the fair cost $40; day tickets are $15 and children nine years old and under get in free.