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Beating the heat: Wilson County-Tennessee State Fair kicks off Thursday

Beating the heat: Wilson County-Tennessee State Fair kicks off Thursday
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WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Wilson County - Tennessee State Fair in Lebanon kicked off Thursday.

They regularly welcome hundreds of thousands to the fairgrounds each year, which can be a lot of fun for the family as long as you know how to beat the heat.

"It is just so hot," said one fair organizer Thursday.

"It was hot. Period," agreed a fair attendee.

It's the hottest day 1 of the state fair in years. NewsChannel 5 meteorologist Katie Melvin reports Thursday's 90 degrees tops 85 degrees in 2022 and 80 degrees in 2023.

However, fair organizers say keep calm: they have fans installed, water available, and air conditioning blasting. They add police, the sheriff's office, fire, and county emergency services are also all present in case of any heat emergencies.

"Well the thing about Tennessee weather. If you don't like today's weather, wait 24 hours, it'll be different," attendee Jerry Smyth laughed.

Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at nikki.hauser@newschannel5.com.

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Students help relaunch donation drive for Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt

Young or old, we all love to play board and card games! Those games become even more important when you are indoors and don't have the ability to get outside, like patients in a hospital. Austin Pollack shares the story of students in a Nashville family who have helped re-launch the Red Wagon project to collect games for patients at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt.

- Lelan Statom