There is a time and place for everything.

In January, there is time set aside to make resolutions, take a look at your priorities and announce that you’re going to lose a few pounds or 20.

Later in spring, there is time set aside for spring break, family vacations and appointments with your physician about those pesky allergies.

During the summer, ah the summer, there is time again for vacations, heading to watch the Braves, the Vicksburg Farmers’ Market and understanding again just why people who live in the north during the summer live in the north.

Hint, Sunday’s high in Fargo, North Dakota is 73.

That’s right, 73 and far less humidity than the steam shower we call Vicksburg.

In the fall, there is time set aside for Saturday’s at the Grove or in Starkvegas.

For those who like to see wins, there’s time on the Quad in Tuscaloosa (never too early to get a shot in). There’s fall festivals, Halloween and weather you wish you could place in a Tupperware and open in mid-July.

As for November and December, there’s time set aside for family gatherings, large meals and presents. It’s also the time of year when you pack on those 20 pounds that you commit to losing in January.

But back to the fall for a moment, that is a time of the year when you usually have a county fair.
There are blue ribbon competitions for art and baking. There are livestock competitions and those fair games where you spend far too much trying to win a stuffed bear for your girlfriend that you could have ordered on Amazon for a third of the price.

And while Mississippi has a state fair, complete with concerts, rides and games, Warren County does not have a nostalgic festival like that. There isn’t a midway with rides, or balloon games.
There’s not the competitions for best pie or best photograph.

There is a lack of blue ribbons in our county and that is a shame.

County fairs offer a sense of community like other events cannot provide. There are the “American Idol”-type competitions that have your brother-in-law on stage making a fool of himself. That alone would be worth the price of admission for most.

In communities in which I have lived, community organizations such as the Lions and Rotary have organized the fair, using the proceeds to support their programs in the community.
There have been funnel cake stands, dunking booths and rides that you really weren’t sure were put together just right.

Yes we are in the midst of summer, just beginning our roasting through mid-September, but before you know it, leaves will be falling, college games will be consuming our Saturdays and the weather will be almost nice.

It would be nice if what awaited us along with the nice weather was a county fair to call our own.

Tim Reeves is editor of The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at tim.reeves@vicksburgpost.com.