Cullen Baker is baccckkkk!

It was officially announced on the Bloomburg Community social media page that the Cullen Baker Fair will be back. Typically the event is held in the first week of November. The event highlights the notoriety of infamous, Cullen Montgomery Baker, the town’s probably most well-known historical figure. Baker was a “Confederate deserter, murderer, and lawless Reconstruction era ruffian.” That said the event is “from its inception, has been devoted to ideals and principles that stand in stark contrast to those that governed the life of the Civil War-era outlaw whose name is associated with the event,” noted from Don Shirley’s historical research paper.

“Plans for the first Cullen Baker Country Fair began to take shape not long after the creation of Bloomburg’s volunteer fire department. In an interview with long-time fair supporters Tommy and Sharon Cash at their Bloomburg home on March 29, 2008, Mr. Cash detailed the origins of both the fire department and the fair and explained the connection between the two. According to Cash, Bloomburg was unable to provide its residents with the kind of fire protection that they needed. As a result, rates for homeowner’s insurance policies in the community were quite high. To solve the problem, the community decided to equip and train volunteer firemen and to establish the Bloomburg Volunteer Fire Department. The Cullen Baker Country Fair was conceived as a means of raising funds to help support the new fire department,” notes Shirley.

On June 24 it was announced on the Bloomburg Community Facebook page that “The Cullen Baker Fair is baccckkkk!!! I want to encourage any and everyone to help us make this happen as smoothly as possible.”

In the post it was announced that there are several ways to help including prize donations; advertising; booth rentals are needed; food trucks needed and parade floats.

The post encouraged people to “spread the word, volunteer, help organize, make calls and participate in meetings if you can. If you can’t make meetings and have ideas, message me.”

The next meeting will be on July 28, at 6:00 p.m. Contact Latoya Mai-Jones on Facebook for more information.