A Little Thing Happened In Bledsoe County

If you don’t live in Southeast Tennessee, maybe this sounds like one of those “only in the South” deals—part county fair, part spectacle, part mystery as to how exactly we all ended up here. But if you’ve spent any time in these parts, you know the fair is a big deal. You’ve got your livestock shows, your funnel cakes, your demolition derby. And, apparently, this year, you had… this.

From the Facebook page of the Bledsoe County Fair comes an apology that reads like the aftermath of a fireworks show that went wrong in three different directions. The fair board thought they were booking a family-friendly “midget wrestling” event. What they got instead was something else entirely—something they didn’t see coming, weren’t ready for, and are now very sure they’ll never book again. They even asked the outfit responsible, Extreme Dwarfanators Wrestling, for their own apology. The group declined.

So now, in true small-town fashion, the fair is making amends the only way they know how: half-price gate admission tomorrow night, and a promise that next year’s entertainment will be a little more wholesome, or at least a little less likely to get them roasted on Facebook.

I think I speak for most when I say, exactly what the fuck happened last night at the Bledsoe County Fair?