By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
ONE FEATHER STAFF
The headliners have been named for the 100th Anniversary Cherokee Indian Fair. Country bands Sawyer Brown and Lonestar will set the stage on fire on Thursday and Saturday nights respectively.
Country band Sawyer Brown is set to play the Cherokee Indian Fair on Thursday, Oct. 4. (Photo contributed)
Sawyer Brown was founded in 1981 in Apopka, Fla. and has released 16 studio albums and garnered seven number one singles. The group was named CMT Video Group of the Year in 1993, 1994 and 1995 and won the Academy of Country Music Vocal Group of the Year award in 1997.
Lonestar was founded in 1992 in Nashville, Tenn. and has released seven studio album and garnered nine number one singles. The group was named the CMA Vocal Group of the Year in 2001 and won the Academy of Country Music Single of the Year award in 1999.
This year’s Fair will also see the return of the once widely popular Pretty Legs Contest scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 6 at 10pm.
The daily themes for this year’s Fair are the same as in previous years: Tuesday is Parade Day, Wednesday is Children’s Day, Thursday is Elder’s Day, Friday is Veteran’s Day and Saturday is Community Day. Also, fireworks will be shot three times during the Fair.
“Fireworks will be the largest ever shot in Cherokee and they will be 12 minutes long on Thursday and Friday and 20 minutes on Saturday,” said Howard Wahnetah, Cherokee Indian Fairgrounds manager. “They will be shot from the old transit site so almost everywhere in Cherokee they will be able to be seen.”
Cherokee Indian ball or stickball will be played at the Fairgrounds itself this year, not the Unity Field as in the past several years. The matches will be kicked off with a youth stickball game on Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 1pm. Other stickball games currently scheduled include:
– Wolfetown v. Hummingbirds, Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 5pm
– Elder’s stickball exhibition, Thursday, Oct. 4 at 5pm
– Wolfetown v. Big Cove, Friday, Oct. 5 at 5pm
– Big Cove v. Hummingbirds, Saturday, Oct. 6 at 3pm
The junior royalty pageants are scheduled this year as follows:
– Little Miss Cherokee, Friday, Oct. 5 at 6pm
– Junior Miss Cherokee, Thursday, Oct. 4 at 6pm
– Teen Miss Cherokee, Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 6pm
Competitions will be held throughout the Fair, but are mainly focused on Children’s Day and Community Day. Scheduled for Children’s Day is a baby crawling contest, youth archery, animal show and turtle race, bubblegum blowing contest, longest hair contest and a corn shucking contest. Community Day will feature contests in corn shucking, blowgun, food such as bean bread and fry bread, clogging, volleyball, and wood chopping.
