The gavel being used this year by the new President of the Kentucky Fair and Horse Shows Association is “homemade,” so to speak, having been made by a local business.

The gavel replacement came about when the old one got misplaced after a meeting in Louisville, when Clinton County’s own fair board member, Hershell Key, was serving as president.

Key, who was elected President of the organization and took office January 13, 2022, explained that each year, past presidents would line up and pass the gavel all the way down the line to the new incoming leader, starting from the oldest living president to the newest.

Key recalled that following the meeting, he laid the gavel (which was about worn out anyway, he noted) aside and it must have gotten misplaced when the stage was dismantled, thus a new gavel had to be found.

Single Tree Leather & Woodwork of Albany, owned and operated by Jeff and Brandon Pharis, was contacted and they made a new gavel for the fair association to use this year.

The gavel measures around 5 1/2” tall, 2 1/2” round, with a 16” handle.

Ironically, other than the new aforementioned gavel being used at the state level this year, Key said two other gavels were made for him by local residents.

Harvey Aaron and Denton Neal both carved out walnut gavels for the past state level president.

What will those gavels be used for?

Key said one was donated to be used by the Clinton County Fair Board, and current President Mike Matthews, and he was going to keep the other one for himself.

The first Kentucky State Fair was organized in 1816, just five years after the U.S.’s first fair in Massachusetts.

Fayette County farmer Colonel Lewis Sanders (no known relation to Colonel Harlan Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame) was the organizer.

The gavel was made from three distinct woods whose trees are native to Kentucky–Red Oak, White Oak, and Wormy Tulip Poplar.

The Red Oak is found in every county in Kentucky. The White Oak is used to make the barrels that gives Kentucky bourbon its unique taste. Tulip Poplar is the Kentucky State Tree.

The trees for the new gavel were raised and harvested here in Clinton County, Kentucky.

Key noted there were two other long-running fairs in Kentucky, including Harrordsburg (Mercer County) and the Old Germantown Fair.

Even though a small rural county, Clinton has been fortunate to have not one, but three past state association presidents, as Jackie Flowers and Dudley “Pitt” Hay have also served in that capacity in the past.

The body convenes four times annually, in January, April, August, and October to conduct business.

Key explained there is a process that takes about 13 years for anyone to be eligible to be elected as the Kentucky County Fairs and Horse Shows Association President, by first being elected to one of three directorships in three zones in the state.

Zone 1 includes the western part of Kentucky to the Bowling Green area; Zone 2 (of which Clinton County is a part), includes the most central areas around Harrodsburg, Danville and Frankfort; and Zone 3 includes the eastern most part of the state.

Each committee person elected per zone usually serves a three year term prior to moving up to the state level where nominations and votes are taken on positions such as second vice-president, first vice-president and president.

Each president serves a maximum of a one year term before the gavel is passed on. The current 2023 President of the Kentucky Association is Kenny Hought of Meade County.

Key, who has been a Clinton County Fair Board member for around 35 years, has served as vice-president and treasurer, most of all those years alongside the aforementioned Flowers and Hay. Currently, he says he is just a “regular board member.”

The Clinton County Fair first became incorporated 58 years ago, in 1964. The Kentucky Fair Association was incorporated on January 14, 1949.