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Interstate Fair comes to a close

MINERAL WELLS –Another edition of the West Virginia Interstate Fair and Exposition at the Wood County Fairgrounds is in the books.

Saturday’s events included a picnic for first responders of the IEI fire on Camden Avenue last year.

Sunny Naik, operations manager for IEI, said the picnic had good attendance Saturday.

“We have a lot of volunteers, raffle and tons of food,” he said.

Naik said the picnic was to thank fire first responders.

“Obviously everybody knows what they went through then, nine months to the day,” he said. “We can see what the community can do whenever they get together, it was pretty awesome how people helped when we were down and rolling in the dirt.

“It’s been a hard nine months and we are getting back on our feet.”

Naik said the cleanup at the site in south Parkersburg is close to complete.

“Cleanup is pretty close to done, at the end of the month,” he said. “Waste Management is taking out 30 trucks a day, removed almost four million tons of metal from the site.

“We should be done by the end of the month, it is really exciting.”

Two vendors at the fair said they thought business off a bit this week at the fair, but they added they noticed downturns at others.

Michelle Parsons, of Athens, Ohio, sells jewelry and other items at fairs. Although she has been to many fairs, this was her first time as a West Virginia Interstate Fair and Exposition vendor

“This is our first year (at Mineral Wells) and it has been kind of slow,” she said.

Parsons said she has not made any decisions about what fairs and festivals she will attend in 2019.

Scott Adkins, a vendor from Charleston, said it seemed a little slow,

“We had a blast here.” he said.

Compared to others he said it was about the same.

“The numbers seem to be down,” he said. “But the weather plays a big factor in how we do. We expect a good crowd (Saturday night) since the tractor pulls usually go well.”

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