This year the event will be held at Becker Village Mall, not only for the security, but as a tribute to the Dallas Jones Roanoke Valley Veterans Center.
“I think it helps Becker Village Mall,” King said Friday. “We owe them a lot for the veterans museum. We just felt like it would be a good way to show our appreciation.”
This will be the fifty-fourth year of the fair, which started as an agricultural fair. This year posters for the event, which will be held from September 7 to September 11, will advertise it as the American Legion Shaw-May Post 38 Fall Fair, with a tribute to the veterans center. Time of the fair will be from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. and 1 p.m. to midnight on Saturday.
King said there will be as many as 16 rides from Inners Shows, which is headquartered in Franklinton, along with food vendors. The mall gets 50 percent of the payout and the veterans center and legion post split the rest.
The center is a treasure for the area, King said. “Oh, man, it’s fantastic. People who visit it for the first time said they were really surprised.”
The legion post will use its share to fund the rest of an improvement project at the post home on American Legion Road.
For mall owner Ellen Heaton, the decision by the post to have the fair at the mall was huge and a way to continue efforts to breathe life into the shopping center. “It’s a real good spot for it. When you shoot across town you can’t miss it.”
The announcement the fair will be at the mall comes after last week’s National Night Out event. “Everywhere I go that’s all I hear, how great it was, how good the band was,” Heaton said. “Now that I’m out here a lot, I want this mall to be and feel like it was 20 years ago, a place where groups of people who want to have an event can come here.”
Heaton said many events are planned at the mall and the having the fair is another feather. “It’s a safe, clean environment. We’ve had a lot of different groups come and do things. We have scheduled some big events people can depend on us having every year.”
National Night Out was a big night for the mall. “It was just fun,” Heaton said. “There were hundreds in here. It reminded me of the way it was back then. That’s the way it needs to be again, a center of activity.”

New events planned at the mall

• The second Saturday of every month Kidz Klub for children 5 to 10; Boho the Clown, magic show, balloon tricks. It starts at 11 a.m.
• In September, Mothers Morning Out; structured and free play time for children and other activities for mothers and their children.
• The second Christmas for Kids Car and Motorcycle on September 18 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Also planned are programs with Historic Halifax, Sylvan Heights, an outdoor adventure trade show, a winter wedding fashion show, a Shot in the Valley photo contest.