For 10 years now, Bernard W. Carr has been rounding up groups of kids for an annual trip to the Delaware State Fair. With the help of parents and chaperones Carr organizes a trip to the state fair for kids from the Woodbridge and Seaford area. This year on Tuesday July 23, the group of around 30 kids made the trip to Harrington to experience Kids Day.
Carr and his family used to attend Kids Day at the Delaware State Fair when he was younger, and he remembered how fun and exciting it was for him and his siblings. He wanted to be able to give kids that feeling of going to the fair. So in 2014, Carr started to advertise his idea, “We hired a bus driver, put out flyers, and posted on social media. I usually bring a set number of kids because I can’t take the whole community so, usually the kids that I started with, if they still want to go, I take them first,” said Carr.
Bernard W. Carr poses with local youth as they prepare to enter the Delaware State Fair on Tuesday. Carr has been sponsoring youth to the fair for 10 years. Photo by LaToya Harris
Last year Carr had a partner that worked with him in organizing the trip and they were each able to bring about 50 kids. Carr mentioned that his biggest trip ever was around 70 kids. In the past couple of years Carr has also started to bring kids with mental and physical disabilities with a caretaker, “We feel that all kids should be able to enjoy the experience of the state fair.”
Back when Carr first started the trips, he would hire a bus driver to take all the kids at once, a trend that stopped due to multiple factors, one being COVID. Nowadays parents drive the kids to the meet-up spot. This year all the kids met at the McDonalds, who last year provided all the kids with meals, for a bite to eat then traveled to the fair where Carr provided the kids with all-ride wristbands.
The all-ride wristbands cost around $20-40, so to help with that cost, Carr has recently started looking for corporate sponsors. This year the sponsors included McDonalds, Cornerstone Community Center, Mt. Calvary United Methodist Church, and Harrington-Greenwood-Felton Centennial Rotary Club. Individual sponsors were Bryant Bell, Frank Newton, Peggy Anderson, and Billy Roach. All contributed in helping local kids enjoy the day at the fair.
LaToya Harris is the executive director at the Cornerstone Community Center, who joined Carr at this year’s trip to the state fair with her three kids, Klyar, Makayla, and Bryana. “They enjoyed it, they always have a good time hanging out with their favorite community dad,” said Harris.
Carr plans to continue the annual trip to the state fair for kids in the community. He is encouraging corporate sponsors to partner with him so more kids can attend and be able to enjoy the experience of the fair like he did when he was a kid.
