When Dan Held was announced as the 2026 Adair County Fair Person of the Year at the Kentucky County Fair Convention Saturday, his first reaction was disbelief. Held said the recognition came as a complete shock and insisted the honor belonged to everyone, not just him.
Each county fair in Kentucky can nominate one person for the award each year. The Adair County Fair Association chose Held for his dedication, countless hours of hard work, and persistence in assuring Adair County had a county fair.
The county fairs go hand in hand with the state’s agriculture. Livestock shows, youth engagement including 4H and FFA, and agricultural exhibits are the key elements of a county fair. Growing up on a farm, Held was determined to bring these events back to Adair County.
The land on Industrial Park Road where the current fairgrounds are located was donated to the Adair County Fair Association by the Bank of Columbia when the old location was sold. The land was overgrown with brush and trees and required a lot of work before a fair could be held. Countless hours by volunteers including Held were spent transforming the land to host the Adair County Fair.
“Dan spent every spare moment working the grounds, building a main event track, walkways, roadways, and bleachers…The list of his physical work is endless,” said the recommendation letter that was written by his fellow fair association members. “Dan had and continues to have meetings with our local extension agents and club leaders to get the youth more involved with the fair on an agricultural aspect.”
Held said he was there six days a week doing as much as he could to prepare the grounds, which encouraged other members to get involved.
“This is where I don’t want the credit because we had a lot of the members who went out and got the community to put the carnival on the first year to make it a free event,” said Held. “They went out again last year and got sponsors to bring the carnival in again so that way we could keep the gate prices down.”
“I’ll never feel that I done it by myself, but I think it was just the fact that I wasn’t giving up and I was bound and determined it was going to happen,” said Held. “If it was something I couldn’t do, I would ask somebody. Everything we’ve done has been 100 percent donations, grants, or volunteers.”
Held had no idea that he was receiving the award. His dad, Bruce Held, drove to Louisville to witness the presentation. However, Dan thought he was there because he had helped on some of the projects.
“Just the fact that he came and supported our club actually meant more to me than winning the award,” said Held. “He knew how hard I had worked and even fussed at me for working so hard several times.”
Held’s favorite part of the fair was bringing the agriculture events back. He enjoyed watching the kids show their chickens, rabbits and dogs.
“These little kids, I walked around and I asked them questions and they would tell me all about their animal and it made my day. It made my heart happy because they were proud of what they had done,” said Held. “And that’s the whole point of the county fair. It’s the representation of agriculture throughout the community.”
A horse arena is in the works and should be ready to use by the 2026 fair and they hope to have a lot of youth shows.
“I am not doing it for the recognition. I don’t want to be a title; I just want to do. I want to see these kids have something. There’s nothing for the kids to do around here,” he said.
“I didn’t do it by myself, I can grant you that. I didn’t put the fair on by myself. We have got one group of people working together and I couldn’t have done it without them,” said Held.
“I’m just happy that the community has a fair again. I’m just happy that the kids have a fair again,” he said. “Hopefully we can get sponsors for the carnival again to keep the gate cost down.”
Held said that the fair association has several events throughout the year for the community. They held an Easter egg hunt and a rodeo. The association also gives toys and necessities to children in need at Christmas, helps people who lose belongings in fires, and holds many events throughout the year. Ultimately, he hopes to have at least one event per month that local children can enjoy.
“We are community, that’s our big thing. We are trying to give back to the community for all that the community is. It’s our county. This is Adair County. We are doing it for our county,” said Held.
“I would have been happy if they didn’t give me the award. Everybody in our club got the award. I didn’t want to be singled out. I feel we all deserved it. I wasn’t any more deserving of it than anyone else,” said Held.
By Amy Pike
amy@adairvoice.com
