08/13/2026
A STATEMENT TO OUR COMMUNITY: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY
Following the recent WJHL coverage and the rumors, speculation and borderline slanderous comments surrounding the inaugural Sullivan County Tennessee Fair, we believe it is time for our community to hear directly from us.
This is going to be a long statement, but there is no way to explain months of planning, six days of operations, financial losses, outstanding obligations, contract disputes, and everything that happened behind the scenes in a few sentences.
First, let's acknowledge what is undeniable:
Our inaugural fair was not as successful as we planned or hoped it would be.
We had bad weather. We made planning mistakes. We were underfunded. Attendance was substantially below projections. We did not receive the level of community support we anticipated.
Those things are true, and we take responsibility for the things that were within our control.
But they are not the whole story.
THIS FAIR FACED OPPOSITION LONG BEFORE THE GATES OPENED
Planning for the Sullivan County Tennessee Fair began in October 2025.
The original vision was significantly larger than what ultimately appeared when the gates opened.
At different stages of planning, we had a carnival lined up and approximately 35 additional attractions and activities, including inflatables, rock climbing walls, entertainment, competitions, and other activities designed to give families something they could enjoy together.
As opening day approached, that roster continued to shrink.
Throughout the planning process, we faced intense community opposition and numerous situations that created confusion surrounding the event.
There was opposition surrounding BZA meetings. We received reports of people contacting ticketing agencies and claiming shows had been canceled. We received reports that performers or their representatives were being contacted and told events had been canceled.
Rumors and speculation spread repeatedly.
Every time misinformation circulated, we had to stop building the fair and start defending the fair.
And misinformation has consequences.
Our advance ticket sales of our Keith Wallen Unplugged concert ultimately resulted in a net negative $630 after refunds, cancellations, processing costs, and other ticketing activity associated with the presale period.
By fair week, we were desperately trying to encourage people to come through the gates.
Our admission price went from approximately $25 at the beginning of the fair to as little as $10 by the end as we tried to get people onto the grounds.
A couple of the most discouraging examples happened during our drone shows and band performances.
We had people literally sitting along the road watching the shows from outside rather than buying a ticket and coming inside to support the event.
Our bands were playing to empty seats and had little support from the community. Once the community heard the bands were not being compensated right away, they gave them their full support. The same can be said for the attraction companies.
People certainly had every right to do that. But it illustrates the problem we were facing: there was some interest in what we created, but that interest was not translating into the attendance necessary to financially sustain it.
HERE ARE THE NUMBERS
Addressing a rumor that we owe over $300,000 to bands, vendors and staff.
Our sponsors and vendor fees paid for most of the infrastructure, permits, licenses, insurance, advertising/marketing, lease and other setup and preparation costs.
Ticket sales were meant to cover the rest.
Entertainment: $55,650 for band and attraction contracts
Labor: $6,960 for fair workers
Now compare that with the ticket figures:
Unplugged Concert Presales: -$630
Week-of Fair Sales: $5,503
Those numbers tell a very different story from simply saying, "The fair didn't pay people."
When the gates closed, there simply was not enough available money to immediately satisfy every outstanding obligation.
We aren't hiding that.
We aren't proud of it.
And we aren't saying that makes those obligations disappear.
It doesn't.
OUR VOLUNTEERS HAVE BEEN PAID
We want to make an important clarification regarding volunteer stipends because this is one area where the current situation may be misunderstood.
As of the date of this statement, all volunteer stipend payments have been made.
Immediately following the fair, we did experience a temporary funding shortfall. Lower-than-projected attendance and weather left the organization without enough immediately available funds to pay every stipend in full the moment the fair ended.
We communicated that situation directly to our volunteers rather than hiding it.
At the time, volunteers were notified that we intended to begin by paying 50% of the stipend amounts owed and issue the remaining balances as additional funds became available.
Our communication specifically stated:
"We recognize that you volunteered with the understanding that you would receive this stipend, and we intend to honor that commitment. This is a delay in funding, not a cancellation of the remaining amount owed."
And that commitment has been honored.
All volunteer stipend payments have now been issued.
There may be individual disagreements regarding the number of hours someone believes they should have been credited for, scheduled hours versus claimed hours, or how a particular stipend was calculated. Especially those who had expected a 76 hour paycheck when the fair was limited to 48 hours total per our permit from the Sullivan County BZA and we were only open 44 hours total. Those are separate disputes and should not be confused with the claim that the Sullivan County Tennessee Fair simply failed or refused to pay its volunteers.
We had a temporary funding problem. We told our volunteers about it. We developed a plan to address it.
And as of this statement, our volunteers have been paid.
That distinction matters, especially when the public is being asked to form an opinion about what happened.
OUR PERFORMERS, VENDORS AND CONTRACTORS WERE ALSO CONTACTED
We also sent written communication to bands, attraction vendors, and contracted partners.
We did something that is uncomfortable for any organization to do:
We acknowledged our situation.
We told them that weather and lower-than-anticipated attendance prevented the fair from generating the revenue necessary to fulfill all contractual obligations according to their original payment terms.
We acknowledged that failure to pay according to those terms could constitute a breach of our agreements.
We explained that we were pursuing an insurance claim and other potential sources of revenue.
And we proposed solutions.
Those included establishing monthly installment agreements, conducting targeted fundraising efforts, or considering another reasonable resolution proposed by the contractor or their authorized representative.
We also made this clear:
We are not refusing our financial obligations. We are asking for additional time and the opportunity to establish mutually acceptable plans for resolving legitimate outstanding balances.
For the most part, our employees, volunteers, performers, vendors, and contractors have been remarkably understanding.
Many have communicated professionally and have been willing to work with us.
We sincerely appreciate them.
"THEY BLOCKED ME" OR "THEY STOPPED TALKING TO ME"
We have also seen accusations that we stopped communicating with certain individuals.
There is an important distinction that needs to be made.
If someone tells us that they have retained an attorney, instructs us to speak with their lawyer, or provides attorney contact information regarding a dispute, we may stop discussing the substance of that dispute directly with that individual and direct further communications through the appropriate representatives.
That should not automatically be interpreted as someone being ignored or an organization attempting to avoid an obligation.
There are also several legitimate contractual disputes that still have to be resolved.
Those disputes involve issues such as whether contracted performers or personnel actually appeared as agreed, whether contracted services were completely provided, regulatory or licensing requirements, inspection issues, equipment incidents, weather-related damage, and other questions concerning performance under individual agreements.
Those matters will be addressed individually using the contracts, documentation, records, and applicable law.
We aren't going to conduct those disputes on Facebook.
Just as contractors have the right to demand that we honor our agreements, the fair has the right to determine whether the other parties fulfilled theirs.
If a contract calls for a particular service and that service wasn't delivered, there may be a legitimate dispute over what is actually owed.
That isn't "refusing to pay."
That's a contract dispute, and those disputes have processes for resolution.
AND NOW WE ARE BACK IN THE NEWS
Now, after an incredibly difficult inaugural year, we find ourselves facing another public controversy involving a dispute over a stipend and the number of hours an individual claims to have worked.
We understand why unpaid or delayed compensation gets people's attention.
It should.
However, all volunteer stipend payments have now been issued.
What may remain are disagreements concerning scheduled hours, recorded hours, approved hours, or the amount an individual believes should have been paid.
Those are fundamentally different issues.
A disagreement over the number of compensable hours does not mean no payment was made.
Those disagreements should be resolved using schedules, records, documentation, and the applicable agreements—not rumors, Facebook comments, or whoever can tell their side of the story first.
We provided information concerning the situation to the media.
Now we're providing information directly to you.
We encourage everyone reading any story about this situation to remember that there can be multiple sides to a financial or contractual dispute.
WE ARE NOT BLAMING EVERYONE ELSE
This part is important.
It would be very easy for us to blame the weather, critics, contractors, volunteers, vendors, the media, or the community for everything that went wrong.
That would be dishonest.
We made mistakes.
Our planning could have been better.
Our financial reserves should have been stronger.
Our contingency planning should have been better.
Some decisions should have been made differently.
We attempted something extremely ambitious for a brand-new organization, and there are things we would absolutely change if we could do them again.
We own that.
But acknowledging our mistakes does not mean pretending the extraordinary amount of opposition, rumors, cancellations, disputes, and misinformation surrounding this event didn't hurt it.
Both things can be true.
We can accept responsibility for our failures while also acknowledging circumstances outside our control.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
We move forward.
We work through the remaining outstanding balances.
We work through legitimate contract disputes.
We pursue available insurance proceeds and other funding.
We communicate with the people and businesses to whom legitimate balances remain due.
We learn from the enormous mistakes of our first year.
And we determine what comes next.
Nobody involved in creating this fair spent nearly a year planning it because we wanted to hurt our community.
We wanted to create something new.
We wanted families together.
We wanted local businesses making money.
We wanted local musicians on stages.
We wanted attractions for children.
We wanted people eating together, laughing together, listening to music together, and ending their evening looking into the sky at a drone show.
That was the vision.
It didn't turn out the way we hoped.
But failure does not automatically equal fraud. Financial difficulty does not automatically equal dishonesty. A disputed bill does not automatically mean someone refuses to pay. And one person's version of a disagreement is not automatically the complete story.
We know some people have lost confidence in us.
We know some people are angry.
And we know there are performers, vendors, contractors, and other parties with legitimate outstanding obligations who don't particularly care about our explanation—they simply want the situation resolved.
We understand that.
Resolving legitimate outstanding obligations is now one of our highest priorities.
But when it comes to our stipend volunteers, we want the record to be clear:
As of this statement, all volunteer stipend payments have been made.
We aren't asking anyone to forget what happened.
We're asking people to look at the entire picture.
To everyone who stood beside this fair when supporting it wasn't popular—to our volunteers, sponsors, vendors, performers, contractors, families, and community members who walked through those gates:
Thank you.
To those with whom we still have legitimate outstanding contractual obligations: we have not forgotten you. We are not pretending those obligations don't exist. We are working through an extremely difficult financial situation and intend to work toward resolving what is legitimately owed.
And to our community: before accepting every rumor, Facebook comment, accusation, or headline as the complete story, we simply ask that you consider all of the facts.
This was a painful first year.
It will take time to heal the financial and community wounds left behind by it.
But we're going to face them.
— Sullivan County Tennessee Fair
