RISON - The Cleveland County Cutters & Strutters Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) could be moving its Jakes Day youth event to the Cleveland County Fairgrounds next year after seeing a record turnout this year.
Earlier this month, the Cleveland County Fair Board approved a motion made by board member John Appleget to offer the fairgrounds in Rison as host for the event in 2024. His motion was unanimously approved.
Jimmy Edmonds, one of the primary organizers of the Cutters & Stmtters’ Jakes Day event for the past few years, said the move by the fairgrounds is a welcomed one, especially consider the overflow crowd they saw this year.
Appleget was among the more than 400 people that attended the 2023 Jakes Day at what is commonly referred to as the Old Turkey Farm off Mt. Elba Road south of Rison. Edmonds said more than 200 youth registered for the event, and there overall county of who all attended was over 400.
The event was so successful that the NWTF featured the event on its national website.
With size of the crowd attending this year’s event, Edmonds said they had issues with parking. What parking spaces that were available close the venue were wet and vehicles were subject to get stuck. Many parked along the side of Mt. Elba Road and had to make the nearly quarter- mile walk to get to the festivities.
Edmonds said the fairgrounds will provide them with a much better parking situation, and will also provide them with some covered space in the event of rain. In addition, he said it will help them with setting up the educational stations that are at the heart of the event.
Youth are divided into different age groups, and those groups then travel from station to station learning about various aspects of the outdoors. Edmonds said there was some confusion about moving from station to station this year with the layout. He said he felt the fairgrounds will allow t...
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