EDITORIAL
If you’re a relative newcomer to Rockdale, your reaction to the five-inch-plus rain that interfered with the 2018 Rockdale Fair was probably “really?”
But if you are a longtime resident, your reaction was probably “here we go again.”
It’s been much less of a problem in recent years, but, for at least its first couple of decades, Mother Nature used to remind us every couple of Fairs that it’s October and this is sometimes what we get in October.
One year the Fair was moved to September, a consequence of the new “no-pass, no-play” policy for Texas schools. The reasoning was to have the event before the first six weeks was up so grades would not affect the ability of students to participate in Fair competitions.
At that Saturday night livestock auction, the man at the microphone—auctioneer Ronnie Wiley—explained the decision thusly:
“The farmers asked if we could move up the Fair because they wanted to get that five inches of rain early this year.”
The Fair was only three years old in 1979 when horse racing, what was then the main attraction, was canceled when rains hit.
This year’s wet grounds were unpleasant but Rockdale dodged a real bullet in 1984 when a squall line spawned a small tornado that, mercifully, missed Fair Park.
There was a close call, though. The twister demolished a building at the Rockdale ISD bus barn just a few hundred feet from the junior-high gym which was hosting a 16-team volleyball tourney.
At the park, people huddled under the pavilion and kiosks as rain and hail pelted the fairgrounds. Fortunately, there were no injuries either place. It rained again the next year, not as bad.
In 1994 the timing was better. As the last 4-H/ FFA member finished cleanup on the day after the livestock auction, it began to rain.
It didn’t stop until two days later. Ten inches fell. Four years later a Fair weekend rain resulted in water rescues by the Rockdale VFD out in the bottomlands.
Then there’s this year. Yes, the rain interfered with some events as the rodeo and carnival were canceled. And some people who had already purchased season tickets were understandably upset. A handful demanded that the businesses/organizations who had sold them the tickets reimburse the cost. Most understood those places were only acting as agents for the Rockdale Fair Association. Just for the record, on the back of those tickets the “legal language” states the ticket holder voluntarily assumes all risk incidental to the event, whether prior, during or after.
Of course, nobody feels worse about not being able to provide those much-anticipated forms of entertainment than the hard-working, all-volunteer RFA.
It’s true, of course, that Rockdale residents sustained some disappointments and inconveniences (power outages) during the week due to the weather.
We wonder, however, if the former residents of Mexico Beach, Florida, feel too sorry for us.—M.B.
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