Faithfulness at the Fair: How One Woman Makes a Huge Impact in the Lives of Fairground Workers
Written by Lori Brown
For twenty-four years, Norma Melton has worked behind the scenes of the Mountain State Fair Ministry to make a big impact on the lives of fair workers. She is definitely a “Game Changer” when it comes to the business of serving others.
As a teenager growing up in Cleveland, Tennessee, she felt a strong call to Christian ministry and service while attending a youth conference at the Ridgecrest Conference Center in Western North Carolina. Little did she know that one day she would return to these mountains and lead life-changing ministries.
Following high school graduation, Norma attended Belmont University and later expanded her studies with a Master of Religious Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. She attended seminary with her beloved husband, Randy, her hometown sweetheart, who was studying to become a minister.
Photo Credit: Lori Brown
After seminary, the young couple moved to Asheville, NC, as Randy became a Minister of Music and Associate Pastor of a local church. It was the move to Asheville that enabled Norma to first volunteer and later assume a full-time role with the Buncombe Baptist Association (BBA) – an entity whose purpose is to support the missions and ministries of Baptist churches in Western North Carolina. Norma’s current title is Missions Mobilization Coordinator.
Norma has a rich 35-year history serving churches, ministers, and community-based ministries in Buncombe County, with twenty-four of those years including the annual Mountain State Fair outreach each September. But Norma cannot do this work alone. She oversees a minimum of thirty teams from local churches and other associations that sign up for 5-hour shifts. Volunteers agree to serve in hot, humid, and busy conditions that go hand in hand with an outdoor event. So why has the BBA and the hundreds of local volunteers working alongside Norma decided to serve fair workers, you ask? Because their lives can be hard.
Amidst the fun and excitement of fair cotton candy, ring tosses, swings, animals, competitions, and funnel cakes is a large team of Mountain State Fair workers who work long hours involving manual labor and who live transient lives. They may sleep in a camper, in a fairground bunk, or even in their cars, as they are never in any given place for more than about two weeks. Many are away from children and other loved ones, which can add stress. Scheduling necessary doctor, dentist, or hair cut appointments is challenging with no permanency. For this reason, the Fair Ministry that Norma leads is focused on offering a mobile medical bus provided by the NC Baptist on Mission. Volunteer dentists and doctors offer services at no cost to workers. Other services offered to fair workers include:
Break Tent: Workers are offered three free meals daily and a late-night snack served at 10 PM when they complete their day’s work.
Haircut and Manicure Tent – Providing services that help workers feel special.
Comfort Items: Providing hygiene kits, blankets, towels, shoes and socks and coats to fair workers.
Courtesy Cars: In partnership with the Agriculture Center, they provide golf carts on the fairgrounds for attendees at the fair.
Fair Attendee Services: Fair attendees can stop by the booth to learn more about the ministry efforts and to pick up items that include “Jesus loves you” teddy bears, Bibles, tracts, and stickers.
Photo Credit: Lori Brown
The number one question that Norma receives is “Why?” – Why are you providing this ministry at the fair?” Without hesitation, she explains that this ministry is an extension of her faith. She is putting her Christian faith into action by loving and serving others like Christ, starting with basic needs for food, comfort, and rest. In fact, over the years, many fair workers have become a part of Norma’s extended family, with frequent notes, cards, or even in-person visits after the fair has moved on to another city. Fair workers state they have never been so well loved or served as they are in Asheville.
Although Norma took a brief break from the fair ministry while serving as a caregiver for Randy (who passed away from complications of Parkinson’s), she explains that Randy was a man of deep service, and she honors his life’s work by continuing to be a missionary servant at the fair today. She is supported in this effort by her grown son and daughter and multiple grandchildren who bring an added layer of joy to her busy schedule.
Although the fair is only one component of Norma’s broader ministries, including the Red Box Christmas Ministry that collects gift items for incarcerated women, the fair holds a special piece of her heart, because it is the full embodiment of putting feet to faith.
If you’d like to learn more about opportunities to serve, reach out to Norma at the BBA.
Norma Melton
Interim, Missions Mobilization Coordinator
(828)-252-1864 ext. 108