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Delta Fair Board honors Volunteer Rachel Lane
KENNETT, Mo. - It’s a family tradition for The Delta Fair Board’s Volunteer of the Year.
Rachel Lane, 28, of Paragould, Ark., formerly of Kennett, was chosen as this year’s honored worker.
Volunteering for the fair is second nature for Lane, who follows in her parents’ well-trodden, Delta Fair bootsteps.
“Oh my gosh,” she said. “I honestly do not know how long I’ve been doing this.
“My dad was on the fair board,” she continued.
That would be her father, the late Bryan Lane.
“And then my mom is currently on the fair board,” she said.
Lane’s mother is Delta Fair Board member Michelle Lane.
“So, at least a decade,” Rachel Lane said. More like 15 years, I imagine.”
For Lane, the greatly-anticipated annual event represents both inspiration and comfort.
“I wanna come back every year and volunteer for the fair,” she said. “Because the fair for me is just community rallying together.
“Everyone getting together and having a great time,” she mused. “Sharing stories. Eating food. Going on rides. It’s just about one big community coming together and in this one little peaceful moment, no matter how crazy the world becomes, we are joined together and everyone’s there just to have a good time. For fun. For smiles and laughter. We, I think, need so much more of that.”
“I think the only fair I ever missed was when I was a freshman at college,” she added. “And that’s just because I couldn’t get out of classes to come. But that’s the only one I’ve missed.”
A veteran fair attendee and volunteer would notice the dynamics of the event. And Lane is both of those.
“I feel like it’s grown a little honestly,” Lane noted. “I feel like the fair is just grown because the people are growing.
“Like there’s more people coming because it’s always something to do,” she explained. “Because it’s just like I said earlier, the fair just is something that brings the community together. So it just reinforces how great of a community we are here in the Bootheel of Missouri.”
Lane enjoys so much about the Delta Fair it’s tough to single out a favorite bit.
But she tried.
“I love going to the derby,” she said of a featured fave.
The Delta Fair Demolition Derby draws fans from all over the region to watch mud-slinging, fender-bending, ear-splitting, heavy-metal action.
“I love watching everybody go out there and do their thing,” she said. “That’s one of their biggest fundraisers.”
So the Delta Fair Volunteer of the Year must have opinions about volunteering, right?
“I think without the volunteers, the board members and everybody would be a lot more overwhelmed than what they needed to be,” she said. “Volunteers help the fair run smoothly.
“If something happens we’re always there to help solve the issue,” she continued. “We help set up the fair. We help doing like booths and stuff. For example, my main thing is helping my mom with hanging up all the childrens art and getting all that nice and decorated and organized and then keeping track of that. And then also we help with providing assistance during the derby. Helping people out to find their seats and just overall managing booths and helping out in that aspect. Flexibility is the key word.”
And the job isn’t complete just because the fair comes to an end.
“We start cleaning up the next day,” Lane said. “Then, honestly, every year we just talk about how good it was.
“What makes it great,” she reminisced. “The music. The Midway. The food. And it’s always just how the community came out and how we all work together as a team, more or less just one big family. Like the members and volunteers during this time, the last couple of weeks, we’re truly just one big, huge family. And it’s great to be back and be a part of that family. Every single year.”
So, the Delta Fair is, for Lane, a family tradition.
In more ways than one.