Love the ’90s

The fair is going old school.

Jay County Fair Board has announced that Tracy Lawrence will be the entertainment headliner for this year’s fair. Joe Diffie will serve as his opening act for the concert July 17.

The performance will be part of a lengthy fair that will run from Friday, July 10, through Saturday, July 18, with rides available throughout. It highlights grandstand entertainment that includes two other concerts, the return of a truck and tractor pull and bookend demolition derbies.

Lawrence, who released his debut album nearly 30 years ago, will visit Jay County as one of his five currently scheduled tour dates in July, coming from Austin, Texas, the previous week. He will perform at the Blame My Roost Festival in Belmont, Ohio, the next day and then the Faster Horses Festival July 19 in Brooklyn, Michigan.

Eight of Lawrence’s songs have reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country chart, the most recent of which was “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” in 2006. The re-recording of that song featuring Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney won Musical Event of the Year from the Country Music Association and Vocal Event of the Year from the Academy of Country Music.

His longest run at the top of the charts came with “Time Marches On” in 1996. He was ACM’s Top New Male Vocalist in 1992.

“’90s music, it’s coming back,” said fair board treasurer Aaron Loy. “A lot of people don’t like the newer country where it’s more like pop music. So there’s kind of resurgence of ’80s and ’90s country. We felt this would play really well with our crowd.”

Diffie, a 61-year-old from Oklahoma, fits that mold as well. He broke through as a solo artist in 1990 and has had five songs reach No. 1, including “Pickup Man” in 1994.

The fair board worked with Illinois-based Grandstand Concerts to book the concert and Edwards Marketing on promotions.

Tickets went on sale to stockholders at 8 a.m. this morning at jaycountyfair.com and will be available to the general public beginning at 8 a.m. Friday. Tickets are $50 for the center box and standing pit, $35 for the side box and track and $30 for the grandstand.

Two other concerts at the grandstand during fair week will bring the return of oldies group 45RPM and the addition of a Christian concert.

45RPM, which will perform on Thursday of fair week, returns for its second year in a row. Cold Hearts, featuring Portland native Andy Frantz on guitar and vocals, will open the show.

There will also be a local connection Wednesday, July 15, as Frye Family Band takes the stage to open the night. The group that was formerly based in Portland and now plays out of Nashville, Tennessee, will open for Jordan Feliz.

“We’ve never had a Christian concert,” said fair board president Brian Aker. “We’re listening to what everybody wants. They’ve been after us to do this, so we’re giving it a shot.

“We needed an opening act,” he added of Frye Family Band. “We had some local people that reached out to us who said, ‘Hey, would you consider this?’”

Demolition derbies, which in recent years have closed the fair on Friday and Saturday nights, will now instead be the opener and the closer. There will be one derby on Friday, July 10, and another on Saturday, July 18.

“Part of the reason is because guys like to work on their cars,” said Aker. “And when you have back-to-back derbies, it doesn’t give them a lot of time to do that.”

In addition to the date change, the derbies will have a youth class for 12-to-16-year-olds this year.

The rest of the grandstand entertainment will feature Full Throttle Monster Trucks on Saturday, July 11, with 3 Bar J Rodeo on Monday and a truck and tractor pull Tuesday, which is also Kids Day. Sunday’s attraction has not yet been finalized.

The fair is also bringing in some new “ground entertainment,” with magic shows throughout the nine-day run, a butterfly exhibit and sideshow acts running July 13 through 17.

The board has also scheduled demolition derbies in April, June and November, with the possibility of another in October, and a Farmer’s Building Concert featuring Brothers Walker and Rachel Lipsky on June 20. Those events are in addition to the annual Tri-State Antique Gas Engine and Tractor Show and Vintage Motorbike Show that are mainstays at the facility.

“We’re now in the mindset that this is a year-round fairgrounds, so let’s try to get all these events drawn to it,” said fair board secretary Travis Theurer. “We want to utilize it as best we can.”