Tobacco barn in Heritage Circle celebrates 20 years of curing tobacco during the State Fair

This year the old tobacco barn in Heritage Circle will celebrate its 20th year of being used to cure tobacco during the fair.  But it’s impossible to know just how many seasons of tobacco have come through its short, single door and how many times fires were lit to begin the curing process.

But you can bet it will continue to be a functioning tobacco barn under Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. It was Troxler’s vision for the area that saw the tobacco barn being the centerpiece of a transformed and reinvigorated Heritage Circle, much like tobacco barns had been the foundation of rural communities across the state.

“I looked around and saw my heritage and way of growing up disappearing around me, and I wanted to do something to show people what that was like,” Troxler said. “I thought curing a barn of tobacco during the State Fair using the traditional ways was the perfect demonstration for Heritage Circle.”

Having the vision and making that vision a reality fell to Pat Short, who was a longtime friend of the Commissioner through the tobacco industry and a number of tobacco research projects.

“I remember thinking that first year that I didn’t know how we were going to fill that barn at the fair,” Short said, “But the Commissioner was never worried. He said ‘don’t worry about that. You get me the tobacco and I’ll get the people to fill it.’ And he did!”

Troxler put out a call to friends and on that first Friday of the fair people showed up and starting working and pretty soon that barn was filled. And, for 19 years since, teams of people have shown up to compete in the popular Tobacco Stringing Contest for a chance to win a share of $1,000 in prize money offered by the John Deere Boys Ice Cream booth that sits at the entrance to Heritage Circle.

Sandy and Ken Jones of Pink Hill were there the first year and nearly every year since. In fact the husband and wife duo, along with son-in-law Michael Sunday are nine-time champions of the tobacco tying competition and plan to defend the title at this year’s fair.

“We were there the first year and were walking through and we asked what was going on,” Ken said. “Pat asked if we knew how to tie tobacco and if so would we help fill the barn. We said ‘it’s been 30 years!’ and he said ‘it has been for all of us.’ And then we spent the rest of the afternoon looping tobacco and filling the barn.”

During the competitions, Sandy loops the tobacco with a steady pace, while her husband and Sunday hand her bundles of three leaves. Each stick of tobacco is judged on the number of hands on the stick, the evenness of leaves, and time.

The competition is like a homecoming of sorts, where people gather and reconnect year after year.

“It’s been fun! Some of the people we have competed against, we have gotten to be good friends with,” Ken said. “Plus, it’s the fair and we love the fair. So, you’ve got the excitement of the fair and knowing you are helping out and doing something a lot of people don’t know anything about.”

After the contest, people stick around to tie the last of the roughly 400 sticks of tobacco it takes to fill the barn. The Jones’ 10-year old granddaughter has caught the tobacco tying bug, too. Last year she was asked to be a hander for another team that needed a third person and later she explained to people from New York what they were doing.

The barn and the tobacco offer teachable moments — part of the reason behind the exhibit. One of the biggest lessons is that Sandy Jones and the other stringers make it look way easier than it is.

“From movie stars to TV personalities, we show everyone who wants to learn how to do it,” Ken said. “It’s about meeting people and sharing a lifestyle we enjoyed growing up.”

And that is exactly what Troxler envisioned when he decided to cure tobacco in the barn — bringing people together and shortening the distance between the city and the country.

There were a few hiccups along the way, but the tobacco barn continues to bring people together.

“What most people don’t know is we had to redo the old barn because the first year we cured tobacco in it, the logs would catch fire and people tending to the fire would have to spray it down when that happened,” Troxler said. “I have seen tobacco barns burn to the ground before, and while I like to attract attention to the State Fair, burning a barn down at the fair is NOT the way to do it!”