Learning details of the fairgrounds recovery
Published 2:18 pm Friday, June 6, 2025
Presenting the new food court building at the Franklin-Southampton County Fairgrounds are, from left, Daniel Johnson, Glenn Joyner and Anthony Martinette. Martinette and Johnson, of Anthony Drake Builders, led the construction effort after the August 2024 storm left the old building in ruins. (Photo by Titus Mohler)
Pictured is the new and improved food court building at the Franklin-Southampton County Fairgrounds. (Photo by Titus Mohler)
Franklin-Southampton County Fair Board of Directors President Glenn Joyner showcases the double-sized fair room that is at one end of the new food court building. (Photo by Titus Mohler)
The rear section of the big building on the Franklin-Southampton County Fairgrounds has been restored after the August 2024 storm had damaged it. (Photo by Titus Mohler)
Southampton County Fairgrounds has been replaced after the old one was ripped out by the August 2024 storm. (Photo by Titus Mohler)
The large roll-up door at the rear of the big building on the Franklin-Southampton County Fairgrounds has been replaced after the old one was ripped out by the August 2024 storm. (Photo by Titus Mohler)
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Franklin-Southampton County Fair Board of Directors President Glenn Joyner recently took time to share details of the fairgrounds recovery process that took place from late September/early October 2024 to mid-May 2025.
Southampton County Administrator Brian S. Thrower noted that the Franklin-Southampton County Fairgrounds restoration project expenses total $306,700.
On Aug. 4, 2024, what the National Weather Service (NWS) reported preliminarily as a “thunderstorm wind event” left a wake of destruction in its path at the fairgrounds. Fair officials and the NWS confirmed that no one was injured during the event, but it left some outbuildings and the food court area at the fairgrounds in ruins, also ripping open the back of the largest building on the property.
The Franklin-Southampton County Fair, which was set to start three days later, was canceled.
Since then, support from the community has poured in to help with the fairgrounds’ recovery, putting them in position to host the fair once again this year, from Aug. 6-9.
“We can’t thank the community enough for the support that we have, the sponsors we have,” Joyner said during a Monday, June 2, interview. “We have sponsors that told us, ‘Keep what you got, and we’ll see you next year as far as sponsorship’s going.’ And they’ve already started back for this year. Just the outpouring from the community, it makes us proud to think that we can put (the fair) on and the community appreciates it.”
Joyner confirmed that aside from “odds and ends,” the recovery project is complete.
“The community came out and wanted to help a lot,” he said. “Of course, we had to wait for the insurance company to do their thing. And we have had a bunch of volunteers to come out to help us do stuff.
“These contractors that I used, all three of them are sponsors of the fair, and that’s one reason I like going with them,” he added.
Anthony Drake Builders LLC handled most of the building construction work, the most prominent example of which was the food court building. A ribbon-cutting ceremony took place Saturday morning, May 31, at the building to commemorate its completion.
First Line Construction LLC handled the restoration of metal building materials.
Pinky’s Tree Service handled cleanup and removal of trees, as well as cleanup of building debris.
A fourth contractor named Pantego Overhead Doors LLC also contributed to the fairgrounds recovery, replacing the large roll-up door at the rear of the largest building on the grounds.
Joyner noted he was sure from the start that the grounds could be restored soon enough to host the full fair in August 2025.
“These contractors, they made me fully understand that they would have this back together,” he said.
Thrower shared a spreadsheet providing a record of expenses related to the fairgrounds wind damage.
The spreadsheet noted that $217,700 were received from the Virginia Risk Sharing Association.
As of Thursday, May 29, restoration project bills had been paid in the amount of $280,950.
Amounts still to be paid included $17,200 to Anthony Drake Builders for additional work to the food court and $8,550 to the same contractor for concrete components of the food court, totaling $25,750.
Joyner went through the list of major damages that occurred at the fairgrounds as a result of the thunderstorm wind event and the recovery work that has taken place.
He said the wind first damaged one of the pavilions on the back fence of the land.
“It didn’t tear it down, but it messed the roof up,” he said. “They had to put a new roof on that, and that’s the one we usually put our petting zoo under.”
He noted that then the wind “went across the yard and took out what we call the lawnmower shed, took out the whole side wall of that. I’m still finding tools that I’m missing — no idea where they went. But anyway, we got that back together.”
“And then of course, the food court, the whole food court,” he said, indicating that the storm ravaged all but the slab it was actually sitting on.
The new food court building features improved vendor and fair staff spaces that now include the addition of air conditioning.
Joyner said the storm then crossed the lawn and took out quite a few trees.
“I want to say 19 trees that were either damaged or had to be removed,” he said. “Then it went between our stage and our back of what we call ‘the big building’ there where we have the craft shows and all, and it actually pulled all the metal away from the back of the building. It snatched a big roll-up door, just snatched that out and threw it out in the yard like a beer can. It was all bent all up. And it twisted the beams.
“So we were able to replace the beams, we were able to replace the metal, we were able to replace the insulation,” he said.
He noted that the storm damaged the bathroom wall at the rear of the big building, breaking two rows of cinder blocks. Anthony Drake Builders had block layers fix the wall.
Joyner also referenced a building in the middle of the fairgrounds.
“It acts like an information booth, the one that sits right there in the middle of everything, that had to have a new roof put on it,” he said. “Tree limbs fell atop that roof, so that’s an all-new roof.”
He noted that the majority of the money in the restoration project was put into the food court building.
