COLUMBIA, S.C. — For many, the South Carolina State Fair is a tradition but few can say they haven't missed a single fair in the last 25 years.
One Charleston family says they've been going consecutively since the 1990s. However, the tradition of attending the fair started much earlier.
Lacy Duncan has been the fair date for his granddaughters Ellie and Sarah Feuerstein since Sarah was an infant 25 years ago. But Duncan first attended the fair in 1968 when his daughter was born.
With her birth came the beginning of a longstanding date night.
“In October, me and my wife would come out to the fair and look around. I worked with Southern Railroad at the time at night," Duncan said. "I would sleep a couple of hours and then come to the fair."
In 1997, Duncan became "Papa Lacy" and started the annual tradition.
“That was when she was going to be one year old in November. I brought her to the fair," Duncan said.
“Cause I’m the first grandchild,” Sarah added.
The tradition didn't stop with her. The more the family grew, the more people Papa Lacy would escort to the fair.
“Every year now I’ve had to buy them a wristband and bring them to the fair,” he said.
Even when COVID-19 threatened the fair, Ellie stood in a two-hour line for food during the fair's drive-thru. And that wasn't the first time something almost put a stop to the family's yearly treat.
“Five years ago, we can’t go to the fair no more she said, 'But, papa, that’s tradition we gotta go to the fair,'” Lacy said.
For the past 25 years, Papa Lacy and his girls have made it back to their land of cotton candy and elephant ears.
