NEA District Fair to be nine-day event

Gates will open at 10 a.m. Sept. 23 and Sept. 27-30, and at noon Sept. 22, 24, 26 and Oct. 1. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at noon on Sept. 26.

Rides will run from 4-11 p.m. weekdays and noon to 11 p.m. Saturday for both weeks.

Regular gate admission will be $6 for adults and $4 for children ages 3-12, except on Saturdays when the gate will be $6 for everyone. Children under the age of 3 will be admitted free throughout the event.

Armbands will be available every day, except Sept. 27, for $20 weekdays and $25 Saturdays. There will discounts for certain days and times.

Another new feature this year will be the availability of online ticket purchases.

“We are testing the process this weekend and hope to have everything ready to go by opening day,” Fair Manager Mitch Johnson said.

The online purchase option will certainly be available by Sept. 26.

“People can go online to buy tickets and we’ll scan them at the gate,” Johnson added. The fair website is neadistrictfair.com.

A number of special nights and a variety of entertainment are set for Sept. 26-Oct. 1.

On the 26th, Rewind will take the stage at 7 p.m. playing rock and some country classics.

Sept. 27 will be Two for Tuesday night with gate admission and rides only $2. Certain $2 food items and game specials will be available on the Midway. There will be no armbands.

Nine-year-old guitarist Griffin Evans, “Griff the Drifter,” a fourth-grader at Trumann Elementary School, will perform at 7 p.m. with 11-year-old Zaden Gallion, an Elvis tribute artist from Jonesboro, taking the stage at 7:45 p.m.

The Northeast Arkansas District Fair Combined Junior and Senior Youth Talent Contest will begin at 7 p.m. Sept. 28. Deadline for entry forms and demos is 5 p.m. Sept. 26. Entry forms are available at neadistrictfair.com/youth-talent-contest-2.

Senior night is scheduled for Sept. 29 with everyone age 65 and older admitted free from 1-6 p.m.

Rooster Blue will perform classic rock ‘n’ roll at 7 p.m.

Sept. 30 will be Children’s Day with everyone ages 12 and younger admitted free between 1-6 p.m.

Jim “Moose” Brown, a Nettleton High School alumnus turned Nashville singer/songwriter/musician will headline his own Jim “Moose” Brown Homecoming Show at 7 p.m.

The show will include Brown’s special guests Nashville singer/songwriters Steve Azar, Wynn Varble and Don Sampson performing a Nashville songwriter “round” style show.

Brown won a Grammy award for Best Country Song for co-writing “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere,” and has had songs recorded by Martina McBride, Willie Nelson, Steve Wariner, Jamey Johnson, Ronnie Milsap and David Allen Coe, among others. He has toured and recorded as a member of Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band and was inducted into the Arkansas Entertainer’s Hall of Fame in 2010.

Oct. 1 will be Armband Day but single-ride tickets will also be available. Greasy Tree will perform at 7 p.m.

The Northeast Arkansas District Fair is held at Nettleton Baptist Church, 7001 E. Johnson Ave. in Jonesboro.