GRAY, Tenn. (WJHL) — The Appalachian Fair will be celebrating it’s 99th birthday this week, which has a special meaning for fairgrounds manager Phil Booher.

“Most fairs haven’t been around that long. You know, where we started out as the country fair and have grown up to a regional fair,” Booher said. “We roughly have about 200,000 come through here during the week. But, you know, it’s just to be around that long, it’s pretty impressive.”

There will be plenty of live music on the main stage, exciting rides for kids, and even a demolition derby. But, plenty of things were still being set up on Sunday leading into the grand opening.

“Well, they’ve got the rides set up, so that’s ready to go, but we’re taking in our livestock right now. Beef cattle come in this weekend. We’re taking in our perishables for the farm and all the building here for the 4H building,” Booher told News Channel 11. “We normally start as soon as this fair is over, getting stuff ready for next year, but it usually takes about two months to set everything up. We’ll start probably first of July, getting things ready.”

The Proud Protector is one of the vendors people will see. Vice President Cathy Denton said they came to this year’s fair in honor of their founder.

“Well, one of the reasons why we wanted to do this is due to our director, who was the president, Donna Street passed away,” Denton said. “Our main goal was to collect money and put it back into, hopefully ,we were trying for retreats to help our soldiers suffering from PTSD.”

Part of The Proud Protectors stand will feature a life-sized inflatable soldier for veterans.

“So to keep her legacy and her heart going with what she started out to do, we are going to give one of these to each veteran or soldier that comes by and shows us their DD-214 or their veteran card, and they will receive one of these free,” Denton added.

With so much going on throughout the week at the fair, Booher said the main goal is for everyone to have fun.

“We’ve got bull riding going on, monster trucks and demolition derby, which everybody loves. You know, come out and enjoy the barnyard nursery, watch the ducks go down the slides and just come out and have a great time,” Booher added.

The fair will open Monday at 3p.m. For a full list of events at the fair, click here.