The Bedford County Fair is coming up on July 14-19, 2025 at the Ag Center in Shelbyville, TN (2119 Midland Road). Entries for the Exhibition Hall including creative arts, food preservation, foods, agricultural products and beekeeping, will be taken on Sunday, July 13 at 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. All Bedford County Residents, Bedford County FCE members and Bedford County 4-Hers are eligible to enter. In the Creative Arts Department, members of the Happy Hands Quilt Guild, Fleece on the Duck Fiber Arts Guild, Bedford County Arts Council and Cheekwood Embroiderers’ Guild are eligible to enter, regardless of residency. The Beekeeping Show is open to all youth (ages 5-18) and adults.
In an effort to align more closely with the Tennessee State Fair, there are some major changes affecting the entries. One of the changes is that Youth Entries are divided into two age groups (in place of the pre-4-H and 4-H categories) – Youth 5 years old to 8 years old and Youth 9 years old to 18 years old. Adults are 19 years old and over. No entries for youth under 5 years of age at the time of the fair will be accepted.
Eliminated lots include scrapbooking, upcycled craft, photograph series and gluten free baked items. Also eliminated are the candies (hard candy, peanut brittle, divinity, caramel corn, other candy) and some of the youth only lots (exhibit, 4-H scrapbook, 4-H poster, collection).
New lots include sewn household item, lap quilt, other quilt, machine embroidery, digital art, wreath, color photograph and agriculture/farm life photograph. In fine arts, pen and ink is its own lot with pencil (colored or graphite) as a separate lot and crayon as a separate lot.
There is also a major change in the way photographs are prepared for entry. All photographs must be 5” x 7” and mounted on or under an 8” x 10” mat board. No cardboard, foam core, construction paper, etc. will be accepted. As in past years, cannot be in a frame and must not be taken by professional photographers – amateurs only.
Support our county fair by entering or by coming to the fair to see the entries each evening of the fair!
Be sure to check the lots and the rules for your entries by going to bedford.tennessee.edu or https://bedfordcountytnfair.org. Call the UT/TSU Extension Office at 931-684-5971 for questions.
